Control of 3-D tectonic inheritance on fold-and-thrust belts:  insights from 3-D numerical models and application  to the Helvetic nappe system

Spitz, Richard; Bauville, Arthur; Epard, Jean-Luc; Kaus, Boris J. P.; Popov, Anton A.; Schmalholz, Stefan M.

doi:https://doi.org/10.5194/se-11-999-2020

Articles | Volume 11, issue 3

https://doi.org/10.5194/se-11-999-2020

© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

https://doi.org/10.5194/se-11-999-2020

© Author(s) 2020. This work is distributed under
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.

Articles | Volume 11, issue 3

Research article

|

17 Jun 2020

Research article |

| 17 Jun 2020

Control of 3-D tectonic inheritance on fold-and-thrust belts: insights from 3-D numerical models and application to the Helvetic nappe system

Richard Spitz, Arthur Bauville, Jean-Luc Epard, Boris J. P. Kaus, Anton A. Popov, and Stefan M. Schmalholz

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Final revised paper (published on 17 Jun 2020)
Preprint (discussion started on 02 Dec 2019)

Interactive discussion

Status: closed

AC: Author comment | RC: Referee comment | SC: Short comment | EC: Editor comment

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- Supplement

RC1: 'se-2019-173', O. Adrian Pfiffner, 19 Dec 2019
- AC1: 'AC to RC1', Richard Spitz, 04 Mar 2020
RC2: 'Review of paper Control of 3D tectonic inheritance on fold-and-thrust belts: insights from 3D numerical models and application to the Helvetic nappe system', Frédéric Mouthereau, 21 Jan 2020
- AC2: 'AC to RC2', Richard Spitz, 04 Mar 2020
EC1: 'A discussion of a related article in Solid Earth', Susanne Buiter, 20 Mar 2020

Peer-review completion

AR: Author's response | RR: Referee report | ED: Editor decision

AR by Richard Spitz on behalf of the Authors (05 Mar 2020) Manuscript

ED: Referee Nomination & Report Request started (22 Mar 2020) by Susanne Buiter

RR by O. Adrian Pfiffner (25 Mar 2020)

Suggestions for revision or reasons for rejection

Comments to
Spitz et al se-2019-173-manuscript-version3

Control of 3D tectonic inheritance on fold-and-thrust belts: insights from 3D numerical models and application to the Helvetic nappe system
The authors have taken the suggestions into account and improved the manuscript significantly.
I have two aspects that the authors should consider:

1) The reference Ayrton 1980 is incomplete. The article appeared in Eclogae geological Helvetiae, vol. 73/1, 137-172

This article is about the Chamonix zone, which fwas formerly called Chamonix syncline. Since this point is one disagreement between the authors and myself I took the time to read Ayrton 1980 once again very carefully. It turns out as I said earlier on that most of the Triassic-Jurassic-Cretaceous cover of this zone pertains to the Mont Blanc massif and is subvertical to overturned. There are some Jurassic sediments adjacent to the Aiguilles Rouges massif. Between the two there is a socalled „median zone“ which would today be called a tectonic mélange; locally it is mylonitic.
So much for a „syncline“. The authors might have second thoughts on what they publish.

2) The publication Pfiffner et al. 2011 actually consists of two things:
a) The map sheets, authors are Pfiffner et al. as cited, but the year is 2010
b) The Explanatory Notes, written by Pfiffner and published in 2011.
The authors might wish to differentiate in order to give a correct reference. To help I list the lines where reference to the maps is correct and where the Explanatory notes give a better reference:
Pfiffner et al 2010: lines 91, 93, 161, 523
Pfiffner 211: lines 66, 70, 170, 538

Apart from this the manuscript can be published.

Adrian Pfiffner

Referee Report: PDF

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ED: Publish subject to minor revisions (review by editor) (25 Mar 2020) by Susanne Buiter

AR by Richard Spitz on behalf of the Authors (20 Apr 2020) Author's response Manuscript

ED: Publish as is (21 Apr 2020) by Susanne Buiter

ED: Publish as is (21 Apr 2020) by Susanne Buiter (Executive editor)

AR by Richard Spitz on behalf of the Authors (11 May 2020) Manuscript

Short summary

We apply three-dimensional (3D) thermo-mechanical numerical simulations of the shortening of the upper crustal region of a passive margin in order to investigate the control of 3D laterally variable inherited structures on fold-and-thrust belt evolution and associated nappe formation. The model is applied to the Helvetic nappe system of the Swiss Alps. Our results show a 3D reconstruction of the first-order tectonic evolution showing the fundamental importance of inherited geological structures.