Unraveling progressive stages of formation and examining relative roles of proximity to fault, mechanical stratigraphy on fracturing in the leading-edge of thrust sheets: Insights from Ramgarh thrust, Darjeeling Himalaya

Abstract

We decipher the progressive stages of fracture formation and examine the competing effects of proximity to a thrust, lithology, and bed thickness on fracture abundance, orientation, mode, and length. We address this study in the interfoliated quartzite-phyllite sequence of the leading-edge (∼3.4 km) of the Ramgarh thrust (RT) sheet, the roof thrust of the lower Lesser Himalayan duplex in the Darjeeling Himalaya. Only ∼30 % of the total studied fractures (n = 884) preserve slickenlines and plumose structures. Due to favorable orientations relative to the vertical outcrop bearing, small displacement faults (shear fractures) (n = 236; ∼27 % of total fractures) with slickenlines are better exposed than opening-mode (n = 32; ∼4 %) with plumose structures. Further structural analyses reveal coexisting shear (∼59 %) and opening-mode (∼41 %) fractures. Through crosscutting, fold test, and intensity distribution, we establish fracturing initiated with low-angle, shear fractures during early layer parallel shortening. High-angle, shear, and opening-mode fractures formed post-folding. Fracture density fluctuates with perpendicular distance from the footwall contact due to variation in lithology and bed thickness. Fracture density most strongly depends on lithology (quartzite_fractures > phyllite_fractures), followed by bed thickness (thin beds_fractures > thick beds_fractures) and distance from the RT. Fracture mode and orientation, with respect to bedding, are similar across lithologies, only intensity differs. High-angle and Riedel shear fractures are localized proximal to the RT. Shear vs opening-mode proportions remain unchanged with increasing distance from the RT. Litho-boundaries and early-formed fractures constrain fracture lengths (n_traces = 10,758), irrespective of their mode and orientation. Fracture networks show more evolved length distributions close to the RT.