Thrust faults (continued) Cross sections Importance to oil exploration

Cross-sections Thrust faults cut up-section only! (or section-parallel) Every flat or ramp in the FW should correspond to an equivalent flat or ramp in the WH Bed thickness is preserved (conservation of volume and mass) Other than that - it’s all interpretation!

A trip along the Athabasca River

Roche Ronde More Canadian Cordillera

Boulle Range

Roche Ronde Boulle Range

Other types of shortening-high angle; typical reactivate older structures (“inversion tectonics”)

Thrust belts contain a significant fraction of the Earth’s oil deposits- typically form in anticlinal traps