High-resolution Kinematic Study of Décollement Folding
     

With funding from Lehigh University, the Gulf Coast Affiliated Geologic Societies, two oil companies and NSF (EAR-0230053), Ph.D. candidate Diana Latta and myself seek to establish/refine the predictability of carbonate deformation during folding and generate high-resolution records of folding. In northeast Mexico, Cretaceous synsedimentary deformation of platform carbonates preserves Milankovitch periodicities in carbonate production and dust accumulation which we are evaluating with magnetic susceptibility measurements. Furthermore, predictable glacio-eustatic and tectonically driven facies migration within the platform are providing data to establish and test facies-based rules governing carbonate deformation. Field data,  twinning studies, and AMS measurements in pregrowth strata support the kinematic study. The preliminary data are very exciting (Latta & Anastasio 2003a, 2003b).