Geometry and kinematic of the basement-involved structures at the Tordillo stream zone, Malargüe fold-thrust belt, Mendoza

Abstract

Detailed studies made at the Tordillo and Blanco streams, in the Malargüe fold-thrust belt, allowed us to recognize a broad variety of tectonic structures affecting both, basement and cover rocks. Using surface structural data together with sub-surface information we made a retrodeformable structural cross-section of the outcropping structures and its continuity in deep, and interpreted the kinematic evolution. Two pairs anticline-syncline, possibly involving basement rocks, occur at the westernmost area. These structures are carried by an eastward vergent basement wedge that in its movement toward the east produces a fault-propagation fold in the sedimentary cover. When this slip is obstructed, two basement-involved backthrusts occur at the toe of the wedge. In this complicated structural setting, the thrust responsible for the basement wedge is reactivated like an out-of-sequence fault. Finally, a new thrust generated at the east, produce another basement wedge which uplift the previous structures. The kinematic interpretation presented here allowed the measurement of tectonic shortenings for each structural stage and the understanding of close relationship between the different structures.