A new structural interpretation relating NW libya to the Hun Graben, western Sirt Basin based on a new paleostress inversion

Abstract

The present study is based on fault-slip data (striated fault planes with known sense of slip) measured in outcrops in two structural domains located along the Hun Graben, western Sirt Basin (150 fault-slip data) and the Jifarah Basin and Nafusah Uplift, northwest Libya (200 fault-slip data). Pre-existing field data collected in two previous studies were reprocessed using standard inversion methods in MyFaultTM (v. 1.03) stereonet software, produced by Pangaea Scientific Ltd. The aim of this study was to use paleostress orientations and relative paleostress magnitudes (stress ratios), determined using the reduced stress concept, to test a new understanding of the kinematic characteristics, the relationship between the two areas and the paleostress fields that controlled the evolution of the fault systems responsible for the observed deformation. Various types of faults (normal faults, sinistral normal faults, dextral normal faults and strike-slip faults) were recorded from outcrops comprised of Mesozoic and Cenozoic sedimentary sequences in which a lineation rake is present on minor structures with displacement ranging from several centimetres to several metres. Two different domains of a NNE-SSW directed extension regime ranging from N12◦E to 25◦E and minor ENE-WSW and WNW-ESE compression were identified in the analysis. The results are remarkably homogeneous at all sites and consistent with progressive collisional coupling of Africa and Europe, being under approximately WNW-ESE reactivated compressional stresses during the Late Eocene-age. The new kinematic and structural conceptual model that has been proposed is a test of the prevailing tectonic models describing the Cenozoic kinematic evolution of the areas. The results show the remarkable influence of basement fabrics of different ages on the subsequent structural development of NW Libya.