7.

II. WRENCHING versus BLOCK-FAULTING

II-A) INTRODUCTION

Wrenching affects competent and incompetent rocks in different ways.

In hard, consolidated rocks, cratonic areas or in the deep structural

levels, shearing will induce mainly faulting. In ideal cases, initial
en-echelon fracture-systems will merge to form shear-corridors, where
rhomb-shaped blocks will emerge between two master-faults. But conso-
lidated domains are usually old platforms where the inherited fabric,
the heritage will prevail. The result will be a combination of
"expected" (see § I above) and "inherited" patterns with possible
interference effects. In other words, the new stress-field may not
create its own new structures as much as rejuvenate preexisting ones ;
old structures closest in line with new stress-fields will in fact
determine the tectonic regime.

A few of the better-known field-examples will be reviewed here,

together with interpretations of most operational significance.

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 II-B) FIGURES Fig. n

Wrench-corridors and Gash-faults

Central Montana (USA) /JOHNSON/ II-l
Gash-faults Bourgogne (France) /BERGERAT/ II-2

Mega-shears and lineaments /BAARS/ II-3

Lozange-basins : RATON B., U.S.A. /DE VOTO/ II-4

N.W.T., Canada /PATTERSON/

Paired uplifts and basins /HAM, WALPER/ II-5

/CROWELL/ II-6

Keyboards (touches de piano) /DE WIT/ II-7

/G.Z./ II-8

Gash-fault systems of central Montana /U.S.G.S./ II-9

U.S.A.

. Fault systems of the western Pyrenees /G.Z./ 11-10

S.W. France

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