article · Geological Journal
Flanking-style fault-related folds, including drag folds, rollover anticlines, and forced folds, form through localised layer bending adjacent to major extensional normal faults in rift settings. By analysing surface and subsurface examples across the Red Sea, Gulf of Suez, and East African Rift systems, structural patterns can be mapped across scales from outcrops to full basins. The research shows that these folds typically develop through normal dragging, forced folding, and roll-over along fault segments. These structural morphologies serve as diagnostic tools for interpreting deformation style, kinematic direction, and the sequence of tectonic events. Because these folds directly affect reservoir architecture, trapping mechanisms, and subsurface migration pathways, their characterisation provides a framework to improve geological models in complex extensional terrains.
Understanding how rock layers bend and fracture around geological faults helps scientists interpret subsurface structures accurately. This knowledge clarifies how energy resources are trapped beneath the ground, enabling more dependable geological mapping and lowering exploration risks in complex, underexplored rift basins across Africa and neighbouring regions.
This early-stage research provides structural analysis methods that can be used by exploration geologists and energy companies evaluating frontier rift basins. The models can help technical teams de-risk exploration programmes by better predicting reservoir trapping and migration routes. The findings operate at the level of foundational structural concepts, requiring integration into existing commercial seismic interpretation workflows before field-level deployment.
AI-generated from the published abstract. Always read the original work before citing.
ABSTRACT Flanking‐style fault‐related folds, including drag folds, rollover anticlines, forced folds and fault‐propagation folds represent a class of deformation features that develop in extensional rift settings. The term ‘flanking‐style’ is applied as an analogy to describe localized layer deflection and drag geometries adjacent to major extensional normal faults, drawing conceptual similarities with classic meso‐scale flanking structures. They exhibit a variety of morphologies that serve as diagnostic tools for interpreting deformation style, kinematic direction and strain distribution. Their analysis enables reconstruction of tectonic histories and enhances our understanding of the sequence of deformational events in complex geological terrains. Here, we shift focus to outcrop‐ to basin‐scale fault‐related folds—that, akin to ductile flanking structures, develop by local flexure or bending of layers as a result of displacement being accommodated by cross‐cutting faulting. This conceptual link suggests a continuum of flanking deformation across different rheological regimes, with implications for interpreting structural styles across scales and tectonic settings. The current study explores surface and subsurface examples of flanking‐style fault‐related folds within Oligo‐Miocene rift systems, specifically the Red Sea, the Gulf of Suez and the East African Rift. Our analysis shows that flanking folds developed as: (1) normal dragging, (2) forced folding, (3) roll‐over along fault segments. These structures are of significant interest in hydrocarbon exploration due to their impact on reservoir architecture, hydrocarbon trapping and migration pathways. These case studies aim to improve structural interpretation in rift‐related settings and support more accurate hydrocarbon exploration strategies and energy resource development in highly promising, less explored hydrocarbon frontiers.
This page summarises published work. The authoritative version sits with the publisher.
DOI: 10.1002/gj.70463
Is something wrong with this record? Report it or request removal.
Discussion
Have you built on this work, tried to replicate it, or seen it applied in practice? Share what you know. Verified researchers and MARATTO™ domain experts can open a discussion, and any member can reply. Contributions are reviewed before they appear.
No discussion yet. Open the first thread.
New to MARATTO™? Create a free account.
