Strain fabric evolution within and near deformed igneous sheets: The Sudbury Igneous Complex, Canada

Deformation structures differing in style and orientation within a given terrane are often attributed to distinct tectono-metamorphic events. However, mechanical heterogeneities may locally cause strain perturbations that can have a profound effect on the geometry of such structures. Here we document highly variable orientations of planar structures, metre- to kilometre-scale folds and shortening directions inferred from brittle fault analysis within the synclinal and layered Sudbury Igneous Complex (SIC) and its Huronian host rocks. NW–SE shortening during Palaeoproterozoic deformation led to the formation of planar structures in the host rocks that are parallel to the NE–SW striking contact of the southern SIC. During deformation, local contact-parallel shortening became more important than regional NW–SE shortening and generated contact-orthogonal planar mineral fabrics and folds. Local contact-parallel shortening is attributed to the shape change of the southern SIC from a convex outward to a concave inward curvi-planar geometry. Contact-parallel shortening accounts for the formation of a previously unidentified kilometre-scale buckle fold in the SIC and respective axial–planar mineral fabrics in Huronian host rocks. This buckle fold shares similar structural characteristics with known higher-order buckle folds of the eastern SIC. We suggest that non-cylindrical buckling and associated mineral fabric development accommodated the shape change of the SIC. This resulted in mutually perpendicular fabric orientations, which are compatible with overall NW–SE shortening. The original shape of the SIC seems to have had a profound influence particularly on the geometry of metamorphic foliations. Our structural analysis supports earlier structural studies advocating that highly discordant planar strain fabrics can be generated by local strain perturbations near igneous sheets under uniform regional shortening.