Ductile duplexing at a bend of a continental-scale strike-slip shear zone: example from NE Brazil

During the Pan-African orogeny, the Borborema Province in NE Brazil developed a continental-scale shear-zone system that comprises NE- and EW-trending ductile strike-slip shear zones. Remote sensing and structural mapping has revealed a pattern of arcuate anastomosing strike-slip shear zones separating sigmoidal lenses of less deformed material, located at the western end of the EW-trending Patos shear zone, which is one of the largest shear zones of the Province. This structure of imbricate shear zones was initiated under high-temperature deformation conditions. It is interpreted as a ductile strike-slip duplex and may represent a kinematic pattern for strain accommodation in response to a bend of a ductile mega-shear zone.