Tectonics, erosion, and sedimentation in an overthrust system: A numerical model

The frontal overthrust structures of a collision ridge and its foreland basin together form an area where the movement of imbricated overthrust structure, erosion, sedimentation, and substratum subsidence occur simultaneously. These various phenomena interact and lead to a subsequent sequence of exhumations and burying of the sheets forming these structures. Separate models have been developed in Turbo Pascal for each of these phenomena (imbricate movement, erosion, sedimentation, differential subsidence of the bedrock) and these models are coupled in a general algorithm. By changing the values of the geometrical and mechanical parameters, it is possible to study and quantify the effect of various phenomena on the development and tectonic history of the collision ridge front. Ancillary programs for reconstructing the geometry of the sedimentary bodies of the transported basins and the series of cross sections also were developed and are used to analyze the geometry predicted by the models and to compare them with natural examples.