Fracture patterns in the Zagros fold-and-thrust belt, Kurdistan Region of Iraq

Fracture data have been collected in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, which is a poorly accessible and unexplored area of the Zagros. Pre to early folding NE–SW striking extensional fractures and NW–SE striking contractive elements represent the older set affecting the exposed multilayer of the area. These latter structures are early syn-folding and followed by folding-related mesostructural assemblages, which include elements striking parallel to the axial trend of major folds (longitudinal fractures). Bedding perpendicular joints and veins, and extensional faults belonging to this second fracture set are located in the outer arc of exposed anticlines, whilst longitudinal reverse faults locate in the inner arcs. Consistently, these elements are associated with syn-folding tangential longitudinal strain. The younger two sets are related to E–W extension and NNE–SSW to N–S shortening, frequently displaying reactivation of the older sets. The last shortening event, which is described along the entire Zagros Belt, probably relates with the onset of N–S compression induced by the northward movement of the Arabian plate relative to the Eurasian Plate. In comparison between the inferred palaeostrain directions and the kinematics of recent GPS measurements, we conclude that the N–S compression and the partitioning into NW–SE trending folds and NW to N trending strike-slip faults likely remained unchanged throughout the Neogene tectonic history of the investigated area.

► Investigated were the fracture systems developed in the NW Zagros, Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
► Based on outcrop studies, three main mesostructural assemblages have been identified.
► Deformation model including five stages with inferred deformations and their relative ages was proposed.
► Reactivation of older fractures was observed during the two last stages.