Elevated fluid pressure in compression facilitates flexural reverse faulting
Abstract
Elastic flexure of tectonic plates shapes large-scale topographic features and can induce notable slip on lithosphere-scale faults. At mid-ocean ridges, recent evidence shows that up to 50% of extensional fault offsets formed within axial valleys can be reversed by compressional slip across valley flanks. While standard models predict the location of this faulting, they consistently underpredict the depth-extent of compression and related surface offsets. Here, using numerical models, we show that elevated pore fluid pressures in compression allow increased slip on flexure-driven reverse faults. Quantitative agreement between modeled and observationally inferred reverse fault–bending strain is achieved only when pore-fluid pressures in reverse faults approach lithostatic levels. These findings highlight the critical role of inherited structural heterogeneities and high pore-fluid pressures in facilitating deep-seated reverse faulting during lithospheric unbending. This mechanism may also amplify flexure-induced seismicity in continental forebulges, such as the 2001 Bhuj earthquake (moment magnitude, 7.6), and underscores pore-pressure modulation as a fundamental control on global tectonic hazards.
Related
- Distributed normal faulting and relatively low heat flow conditions during early rifting in the southern Okinawa Trough
- Source Representation and Earthquake-Ocean Coupling in Tsunami Generation by the 2020 Samos Normal-Faulting Earthquake
- Constraining Lithospheric Delamination on Venus with Flexural Topography and Trench Geometry
- Wolbachia facilitates the reproduction of a parthenogenetic ladybug
- The atomic-scale structure of rare earth elements in deep-sea sediments facilitates their extractability
BibTeX
@article{liu2026elevated,
title = {{Elevated fluid pressure in compression facilitates flexural reverse faulting}},
author = {Zhonglan Liu and W. Roger Buck and Jean-Arthur Olive},
journal = {Science Advances},
year = {2026},
month = aug,
doi = {10.1126/sciadv.aef2975},
url = {https://hal.science/hal-05734963v1},
note = {CC BY-NC 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Elevated fluid pressure in compression facilitates flexural reverse faulting
AU - Zhonglan Liu
AU - W. Roger Buck
AU - Jean-Arthur Olive
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/08/14
JO - Science Advances
DO - 10.1126/sciadv.aef2975
UR - https://hal.science/hal-05734963v1
AB - Elastic flexure of tectonic plates shapes large-scale topographic features and can induce notable slip on lithosphere-scale faults. At mid-ocean ridges, recent evidence shows that up to 50% of extensional fault offsets formed within axial valleys can be reversed by compressional slip across valley flanks. While standard models predict the location of this faulting, they consistently underpredict the depth-extent of compression and related surface offsets. Here, using numerical models, we show that elevated pore fluid pressures in compression allow increased slip on flexure-driven reverse faults. Quantitative agreement between modeled and observationally inferred reverse fault–bending strain is achieved only when pore-fluid pressures in reverse faults approach lithostatic levels. These findings highlight the critical role of inherited structural heterogeneities and high pore-fluid pressures in facilitating deep-seated reverse faulting during lithospheric unbending. This mechanism may also amplify flexure-induced seismicity in continental forebulges, such as the 2001 Bhuj earthquake (moment magnitude, 7.6), and underscores pore-pressure modulation as a fundamental control on global tectonic hazards.
SN - 2375-2548
ER -