Overlapping faults, intrabasin highs, and the growth of normal faults

Normal fault systems bounding extensional basins are typically adjoined by a series of subbasins separated by intrabasin highs. The strata within these basins form syndepositional anticlines and synclines whose axes are transverse to the strike of the main bounding fault. One possible explanation for these intrabasin highs is that they result from persistent along-strike deficits in fault displacement. Such deficits are incompatible with scaling relationship observed between fault displacement and length based on large populations of faults. The paper presents data from active normal faults within the Basin and Range province and from inactive normal faults of the Newark basin of eastern North America demonstrating a clear correlation between the along-strike position of overlapping splay faults and the location of intrabasin highs as well as syndepositional transverse faults. -from Authors