Dawsonite as an indicator of multistage deformation and fluid pathways within fault zones: Insights from the Fore-Dukla Thrust Sheet, Outer Carpathians, Poland

Abstract

The structural pattern developed within metre to microscopic scale thrust and strike-slip fault zones exposed in the Palaeogene flysch rocks of the Fore-Dukla Thrust Sheet in the south-eastern part of the Silesian Nappe, Outer Carpathians, Poland, reveals evidence for upper crustal deformation and fluid flow. Syntectonic dawsonite [NaAlCO3(OH)2] indicates the following series of deformational events within the fault zones: i) detachment and buckle folding resulting from movement along thrust faults; ii) faulting as a compensation of the shortening, resulting in the fault propagation folding, breakthrough thrust faulting and imbrications; and iii) strike-slip faulting. The microstructural pattern coupled with the growth of a related sequence of carbonate minerals within the fault zones, followed by present-day dawsonite precipitation and tufa formation, indicate a continuing influence of fluids within the Silesian Nappe up to and including modern time. Structural observations at metre to microscopic scales coupled with EDS mapping of rocks indicate that dawsonite is a unique tool for the reconstruction of subsequent deformation in the Fore-Dukla Thrust Sheet.