Calculating the long‐term displacement rates of a normal fault from the high‐resolution stratigraphic record (early Tethyan rifting, French Alps)

Abstract

Abstract Displacement rates of normal faults deduced from stratigraphic data are often unreliable. Here we calculate the velocity of motion on a normal fault from the variations in accommodation potential on both sides of the fault within a high‐resolution time‐frame established by biostratigraphy and physical stratigraphy. Our example is the Ornon normal fault bounding the Early Jurassic Bourg‐d'Oisans Basin formed during Tethyan rifting. We show that motion on the fault was discontinuous when examined at high resolution and over a long time interval. During a first interval (Hettangian to Sinemurian Arietites bucklandi zone) a low rate of displacement (=202–423 m Myr −1 ) coeval with diffused extensional deformation throughout the sedimentary basin is observed. A second interval of localized deformation (Early Sinemurian Caenisites turneri zone) is characterized by higher rates of displacement on the fault (1846 m Myr −1 ). Our results concur with recent numerical models identifying the main stages of extensional deformation.