Journal of Structural Geology 69 (2014) 281e283
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Journal of Structural Geology
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jsg
Editorial
Fluids and structures in fold and thrust belts with recognition of the work
of David Wiltschko
This issue of the Journal of Structural Geology titled Fluids and
Structures of Fold and Thrust Belts is dedicated to the memory of Da-
vid V. Wiltschko (1949e2012) and the impact he had on the field of
structural geology through his own work and that of the colleagues
he influenced and the students he mentored.
Dave's research focused on many aspects of the structural geol-
ogy of collisional mountain belts. His favorite research questions
were related to mechanisms of folding, the origin of syntectonic
veins, the effects of fluids and fluid pressures, the processes by
which thrust faults ramp, the formation of duplexes and triangle
zones, and the crustal-scale tectonics of collisional margins. Dave
chose to study these topics in the Appalachians of the eastern United
States, the IdahoWyoming thrust belt of the western U.S., and the
active fold-thrust belt of Taiwan. The papers in this Special Issue
reflect the themes found in Dave's research as well as the locations
of much of his field work. The pursuit of Dave's scientific interests
continues to offer all of us intellectual challenges and satisfaction.
1. Brief description of the contents of this issue
C Detachment folding. Detachment folds above a non-planar
lower detachment in the Appalachian Plateau fold belt are
featured in the paper by Mount, Structural Style of the Ap-
palachian Plateau Fold Belt, NortheCentral Pennsylvania. This
paper is based on a large 3-D seismic survey and provides
new insights into structures first interpreted by Wiltschko
and Chapple in 1977.
C Folding associated with thrust ramps. Four papers address the
geometry and evolution of thrust-ramp related structures.
Schlische et al. present profile-view kinematic and sandbox
models together with a seismicereflection profile in their paper,
Quantifying the geometry, displacements, and subresolution
deformation in thrust-ramp anticlines with growth and erosion:
From models to seismic reflection profile. The paper shows how
the area-depth-strain relationship is used to interpret structures
with growth strata or erosion. Huang and Byrne use the field
evidence provided by rotated cleavage in their paper, Tectonic
evolution of an active tectonostratigraphic boundary in accre-
tionary wedge: an example from the Tulungwan-Chaochou Fault
System, southern Taiwan, to infer that a regional anticlinorium
represents the surface manifestation of a major fault-bend fold.
Two related papers by Schmidt et al., Southern boundary of the
Helena structural salient, southwestern Montana (USA) and
Whisner et al., Structural analysis of the Lombard thrust sheet and
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jsg.2014.09.003
0191-8141/© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
adjacent areas in the Helena salient, southwest Montana, USA, use
detailed field mapping to interpret the geometry and evolution
of map-scale structures associated with a large lateral ramp.
C Fractures, veins and their fillings. Four papers exemplify
the use of fractures at microscopic to outcrop scales to
interpret structures up to the crustal scale. Anders et al., in
their paper, Microfractures: A review, focus on the formation
and fillings of microscopic opening-mode fractures and their
value for interpreting fracture growth and size-scaling, the
evolution of stresses around propagating faults, far-field
tectonic stresses, and insight into the state of stress leading
to earthquakes. In their paper, The role of silica redistribution
in the evolution of slip instabilities along subduction interfaces:
Constraints from the Kodiak Accretionary Complex, Alaska,
Fisher and Brantley suggest that the fabric of shear-zone
quartz veins indicates that the rate of silica redistribution
may control the frequency of slow earthquakes. Chandonais
and Onasch use fluid inclusions in quartz veins to determine
the relationship between the fluid history and structural
evolution in their paper, Fluid history of the central Appala-
chian Blue Ridge: Implications for regional fluid flow. The fab-
rics and ages of fractured zircon grains provide the data for
interpreting an exposed continental collision zone in the
paper, Crustal Thickening by Tectonic Wedging in Southern
New England, USA: Evidence from Cataclastic Zircon Micro-
structures and UePb ages, by Wintsch et al.
C Faultezone fabrics. The previously mentioned paper by
Fisher examines controls on the development of a brittle
fault zone. The localization of strain and fabric evolution in a
ductile fault zone is documented experimentally in the paper
by Holyoke et al., Microstructural evolution during strain
localization in dolomite aggregates.
C Pore Pressure. Four papers provide new data and in-
terpretations of the role of pore pressure in deformation. The
paper by Couzens-Schultz and Azbel, Predicting pore pressure
in active fold-thrust systems: An empirical model for the
deepwater Sabah foldbelt, examines the link between tectonic
compaction and pore pressure. Acoustic velocity, density or
electrical resistivity have traditionally been used to predict
pore pressures in extensional stress settings where the un-
derlying assumption is that burial depth and vertical effec-
tive stress control the compaction through porosity loss. In
an active fold-thrust belt, the horizontal compressive
stresses further reduce the porosity and increase the acoustic
velocity of mudrocks. In Fluid overpressures and strength of
282 Editorial / Journal of Structural Geology 69 (2014) 281e283
the sedimentary upper crust, Suppe explores the predicted
shapes of strengthedepth profiles using data from over-
pressured regions, especially those dominated by the wide-
spread disequilibrium-compaction mechanism and finds
that the constant-strength approximation is more appro-
priate for overpressured crust than the classic linearly
increasing model. Yue and Suppe, in their paper, Regional
pore-fluid pressures in the active western Taiwan thrust belt: A
test of the classic Hubbert-Rubey fault weakening hypothesis,
find that other mechanisms of fault weakening are required,
such as the dynamical mechanisms documented for the
ChieChi earthquake. Aydin and Engelder use deformation-
mechanisms to infer high fluid pressures in their paper,
Hubbert-Rubey pore pressure model as applied to the Pine
Mountain thrust: inferences from bedding-parallel
detachment surfaces within middle Devonian gas shale, the
Appalachian basin, USA. They find that the greater
abundance and the orientations of slickensides and
cleavage duplexes in organic-rich black shale compared
with those of gray shale point to abnormal pore pressures
that are generated during thermal maturation, which facili-
tate detachment through the Hubbert-Rubey pore pressure
model.
2. Dave's legacy
Dave's legacy goes beyond the papers he and his students have
published. Dave loved the geosciences for the interesting ideas they
offer and the interesting questions that could be pursued. His ambi-
tion was to help his students and colleagues find and attempt to
answer those questions that most intrigued them. Whether these
questions were fully answered in any one study, or in a lifetime
was hardly the issue. What was important was to contribute to
an important question and enjoy doing so.
Dave loved challenges and he loved to challenge us. In his
courses and while mentoring students, he would ask “What are
the ten most important unanswered questions in structural geol-
ogy?” This always proved to be an easy question at first as his stu-
dents listed three to four outstanding research problems, and then
became more challenging as his students attempted to complete
their list with solid, interesting problems. Next, Dave would ask
his hard question. With the student's list on the chalk board,
Dave would ask: “So, which of these problems are you working
on?” If a student was able to identify his/her thesis topic among
the top ten problems of structural geology, Dave was satisfied
that his student was spending her/his time wisely and pursuing
research that was most fruitful and promising. If the student's
research topic was not amongst the top ten, Dave's final question
was “Why not?”
Another example of Dave's interest in fostering discussion is the
formation of the Appalachian Tectonic Studies Group. It began over
lunch, at a snow-covered picnic table during a field trip run at the
1984 Geological Society of America meeting in Reno, Nevada. Dave
and Rick Groshong discussed their respective Appalachian field in-
terests and lamented the lack of a meeting that regularly covered
the entire sedimentary part of the fold-thrust belt. They resolved
to start an informal, research-oriented field meeting devoted to
the structure of the sedimentary Appalachians. The focus was to
be on fostering interactions among students and faculty actively
working on fold-thrust belts. The only rule was no guidebooks.
Dave persuaded Peter Geiser to lead the first trip in 1985, a weekend
excursion across the Appalachian Valley and Ridge Province in cen-
tral Pennsylvania. The next year, Dave himself led the trip to the Pine
Mountain thrust sheet in Tennessee and Virginia. Each year at the
end of the first day there was a banquet and a business meeting
where next year's leader volunteered. Over the years the trips
were led by many different Appalachian structural geologists and
were well attended by students and faculty working in the region.
The trips served their purpose admirably: friends were made, great
outcrops visited, vigorous discussions held, and horizons widened.
More than one student participant later remarked that this was their
first experience of real scientific debate where faculty members
argued with each other over the interpretation of an outcrop.
Dave received his Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of
Rochester. He went on to do graduate studies at Brown University,
where he worked with Bill Chapple, receiving his MS in 1974 and
his PhD in 1977. Dave taught at the University of Michigan from
1977 to 1983, and at Texas A&M University from 1984 to 2012. At
Texas A&M, Dave was recognized by College-level Distinguished
Teaching and Research Awards, he served as the Director of the
Center for Tectonophysics, and he held the Michel T. Halbouty Chair
in Geology. Those of us who knew him will remember him for his
genuine friendship and the joy he shared in the intellectual and
personal lives of his colleagues, friends and family.
3. Selected publications by David V. Wiltschko
C Folding
Wiltschko, D.V., Chapple, W.M., 1977. Flow of weak rocks
in Appalachian Plateau folds. AAPG Bull. 61, 653e670.
Narahara, D.K., Wiltschko, D.V., 1986. Deformation in the
hinge region of a chevron fold, Valley and Ridge Province,
central Pennsylvania: J. Struct. Geol. 8, 157e168.
C Syntectonic veins
Anders, M.H., Wiltschko, D.V., 1994. Microfracturing,
paleostress and the growth of faults. J. Struct. Geol. 16,
795e815.
Lee, Y.J., Morse, J.W., Wiltschko, D.V., 1996. An experi-
mentally verified model for calcite precipitation in veins.
Chemical Geol. 130, 203e215.
Lee, Y.J., Wiltschko, D.V., 2000. Fault controlled sequential
vein dilation: competition between slip and precipitation
rates in the Austin Chalk, Texas. J. Struct. Geol. 22,
1247e1260.
Wiltschko, D.V., Morse, J.W., 2001. Crystallization pres-
sure versus “crack seal” as the mechanism for banded
veins. Geology. 29, 79e82.
Wiltschko, D.V., Lambert, G.R., Lamb, W., 2009. Conditions
during syntectonic vein formation in the footwall of the
Absaroka Thrust Fault, Idaho-Wyoming-Utah fold and
thrust belt. J. Struct. Geol. 31, 1039e1057.
Cervantes, P., Wiltschko, D.V., 2010. Tip to midpoint ob-
servations on syntectonic veins, Ouachita orogen,
Arkansas: Trading space for time. J. Struct. Geol. 32,
1085e1100.
 Editorial / Journal of Structural Geology 69 (2014) 281e283
C Fluids and Fluid Pressure
Carter, N.L., Kronenberg, A.K., Ross, J.V., Wiltschko, D.V.,
1990. Control of fluids on deformation of rocks. In, Knipe,
R.J., Rutter, E.H., (Eds.), Deformation mechanisms,
rheology and tectonics. Geol. Soc. London Spec. Publ. 54,
pp. 1e14.
Smith, R.E., and Wiltschko, D.V., 1996. Generation and
maintenance of abnormal fluid pressures beneath a
ramping thrust sheet: isotropic permeability experi-
ments. J. Struct. Geol. 18, 951e970.
C Thrust ramps
Wiltschko, D.V., 1979, Mechanical model for thrust sheet
deformation at a ramp. J.Geophys. Res. 84, 1091e1104.
Wiltschko, D.V., Medwedeff, D.A., Millson, H.E., 1985.
Distribution and mechanisms of strain within rocks on
the northwest ramp of Pine Mountain block, southern
Appalachian foreland - a field-test of theory. Geological
Society of America Bulletin. 96, 426e435.
Schedl, A., Wiltschko, D.V., 1987, Possible effects of pre-
existing basement topography on thrust-fault ramping.
J. Struct. Geol. 9, 1029e1037.
Kilsdonk, B., Wiltschko, D.V., 1988. Deformation mecha-
nisms in the southeastern ramp region of the Pine
Mountain block, Tennessee. Geological Society of America
Bulletin. 100, 653e664.
Apotria, T.G., Snedden, W.T., Spang, J.H., Wiltschko, D.V.,
1992. Kinematic models of deformation at an oblique
ramp. In: McClay, K.R., (Ed.), Thrust Tectonics. Chapman &
Hall, New York, pp. 141e154.
Goff, D, Wiltschko, D.V., 1992, Stresses beneath a ramping
thrust sheet. J. Struct. Geol. 14, 437e449.
Goff, D.F., Wiltschko, D.V., Fletcher, R.C., 1996. Decolle-
ment folding as a mechanism for thrust-ramp spacing. J.
Geophys. Res.-Solid Earth. 101, 11341e11352.
Panian, J., Wiltschko, D., 2004. Ramp initiation in a thrust
wedge. Nature. 427, 624e627.
Panian, J. and Wiltschko, D.V., 2007, Ramp initiation and
spacing in a homogeneous thrust wedge: Jour. Geophys.
Res. doi:10.1029/2004JB003596
C Duplexes and triangle zones
Couzens, B.A., Wiltschko, D.V., 1996. The control of me-
chanical stratigraphy on the formation of triangle zones.
Bull. Canadian Petroleum Geology. 44, 165e179.
Couzens-Schultz, B.A., Vendeville, B., Wiltschko, D.V.,
2003. Duplex style and triangle zone formation: insights
from physical modeling. J. Struct. Geol. 25, 1623e1644.
C Appalachian thrust belt
Hatcher, Jr., R.D., Thomas, W.A., Geiser, P.A., Snoke, A.W.,
Mosher, S., Wiltschko, D.V., 1990. Alleghanian Orogen: In,
Hatcher, Jr., R.D., Thomas, W.A., Viele, G.S., (Eds.), The
Appalachian-Ouachita Orogen in the United States. The
Geology of North America v. F-2, pp. 233e318.
Wiltschko, D.V., Groshong Jr., R.H., 2012. The Chamberlin
1910 balanced section: Context, contribution, and critical
reassessment. J. Struct. Geol. 41, 7e23.
C Western U.S. thrust belt and foreland structures
Wiltschko, D.V., Dorr, J.A., 1983. Timing of deformation in
overthrust belt and foreland of Idaho, Wyoming, and
Utah. AAPG Bull.: 67, 1304e1322.
Craddock, J.P., Kopania, A.A., Wiltschko, D.V., 1988. Inter-
action between the northern IdahoeWyoming thrust belt
and bounding basement blocks, central western Wyom-
ing. In, Schmidt, C.J., Perry, W.J., (Eds.), Interaction of
283
Rocky Mountain foreland and the Cordilleran thrust belt.
Geol. Soc. America Memoir 171, pp. 333e352.
Kraig, D.H., Wiltschko, D.V., Spang, J.H., 1988. Interaction
of the Moxa arch (La Barge platform) with the Cordilleran
thrust belt, south of Snyder Basin, Wyoming. In: Schmidt,
C.J. and Perry, W.J., (Eds.), Interaction of Rocky Mountain
foreland and the Cordilleran thrust belt. Geol. Soc.
America Memoir 171, pp. 395e410.
C Taiwan active thrust belt
Hung, J.H., Wiltschko, D.V., Lin, H.C., et al., 1999. Structure
and motion of the southwestern Taiwan fold and thrust
belt. Terrestrial Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences. 10,
543-568.
Hickman J.B., Wiltschko, D.V., Hung, J.-H., Fang, P.-F., and
Bock, Y., 2002. Structure and evolution of the active fold-
and-thrust belt of southwestern Taiwan from GPS anal-
ysis. GSA Special Paper 358, p. 79e96.
Wiltschko, D.V., Hassler, L., Hung, J.-H., et al., 2010. From
accretion to collision: Motion and evolution of the
Chaochou Fault, southern Taiwan. Tectonics. 29, Article
Number: TC2015
Rodriguez-Roa, F.A., Wiltschko, D.V., 2010. Thrust belt
architecture of the central and southern Western Foothills
of Taiwan. In: Goffey, G.P., Craig, J., Needham, T., et al.
(Eds.), Hydrocarbons in Contractional Belts. Geological
Society Special Publication 348, pp. 137e168.
C Tectonics of collisional margins
Schedl, A., Wiltschko, D.V., 1984. Sedimentological effects
of a moving terrain. J. Geol. 92, 273e287.
Moore, V.M., Wiltschko, D.V., 2004. Syncollisional
delamination and tectonic wedge development in
convergent orogens. Tectonics. doi 10.1029/
2002TC001430, 27 pp.
Moore, V.M., Vendeville, B.C., Wiltschko, D.V., 2005. Ef-
fects of buoyancy and mechanical layering on collisional
deformation of continental lithosphere: results from
physical modeling. Tectonophysics 403, 193e222.
Wiltschko, D.V., Hassler, L., Hung, J.-H., Liao, H.-S., 2010,
From accretion to collision: Motion and evolution of the
Chaochou Fault, Southern Taiwan. Tectonics 29, TC2015,
DOI:10.1029/2008TC002398.
Richard H. Groshong Jr.*
The University of Alabama, Emeritus, 2504 Twain Drive, Tallahassee,
FL 32311, United States
Andreas Kronenberg
Center for Tectonophysics, Department of Geology and Geophysics,
Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, United States
Brent A. Couzens-Schultz
Shell International Exploration and Production, Inc., 200 N. Dairy
Ashford, Houston, TX 77079 United States
Julie Newman
Center for Tectonophysics, Department of Geology and Geophysics,
Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, United States
*
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: rhgroshong@cs.com (R.H. Groshong).
29 August 2014
Available online 16 September 2014