DEFORMATION IN FOSSIL AND ACTIVE CONVERGENT TECTONIC REGIONS: EXAMPLES FROM SUDBURY, ONTARIO, AND RHODES, GREECE

Abstract

<p>The kinematics and associated deformation of upper crust in fossil and active convergent tectonic settings require different methods of study. In this thesis, I analyzed an example of a fossil convergent setting, the formation of the eastern portion of Paleoproterozoic Sudbury Basin, Ontario, and an example of an active convergent plate interface represented by the ongoing subduction along the Hellenic Arc at Rhodes, Greece. In Sudbury, using paleomagnetic remanence directions and Matachewan dyke orientations, I constrain the magnitudes of rotation associated with the formation of the NE-lobe, a tight secondary fold of the Sudbury Basin, as well as localize the fold axis and magnitude of rotation along the West Bay Anticline, a hitherto unknown fold of the Basin.</p> <p>For the Island of Rhodes, I corroborate the existence of two phases of Plio-Pleistocene or younger deformation including providing their principal strain axis orientations from a fault-slip analysis. In addition, I estimate the magnitude of slip from faults to generate respective incremental strain ellipses of the two deformation phases for the Island. The first phase is characterized by vertical shortening (ŝ₃) and N-S extension (ŝ₁) with associated normal faulting while the second phase is characterized by N-S shortening (ŝ₃) and E-W extension (ŝ₁) associated with strike-slip faulting.</p>