ABSTRACT Large strike-slip fault zones commonly develop through-going architectures through progressive linkage of fault segments. However, quantitatively characterizing the through-going evolution of strike-slip fault zones remains challenging. Based on the pure strike-slip tectonic setting of the Tarim Basin, twelve sandbox analogue experiments were conducted to quantify the through-going process and evaluate its controlling factors, including displacement pattern, cover thickness, and displacement velocity. The results indicate that simple-shear strike-slip fault zones evolve through a progressive sequence from the en échelon stage to soft-linkage, hard-linkage, and ultimately a through-going stage. Each evolutionary stage corresponds to distinct threshold values of relative displacement ( D / L ). En échelon faults initiate at the base of the model during the embryonic stage and propagate upward to the surface during the soft-linkage stage when D / L ranges from 1.37% to 2.38%. Subsequently, Y-shear faults link individual fault segments during the hard-linkage stage at D / L values of 2.59%–4.81%, followed by the formation of a fully through-going fault zone at D / L values of 6.14%–7.76%. Generally, displacement threshold values increase with greater cover thickness during upward fault propagation. Threshold values also increase from bilateral codirectional displacement to unilateral displacement, and further to bilateral antidirectional displacement patterns, whereas higher displacement velocities tend to reduce the threshold values. The experimentally derived quantitative evolution is consistent with the fault segmentation and linkage mechanisms observed in strike-slip faults of the central Tarim intracratonic basin. These results demonstrate that the through-going process of pure strike-slip fault zones can quantitatively constrained by displacement, while strata thickness, displacement patterns, and displacement velocity exert significant control on the corresponding threshold values.
Wu et al. (Mon,) studied this question.