Journal of Geological Society of India (Online archive from Vol 1 to Vol 78)

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Recording and Analyzing Geospatially Accurate Structural Data Through 'Digital Mapping' Technique: A Case Study from the Canisp Shear Zone, NW Scotland


Affiliations
1 Department of Geology, University of Delhi, Delhi-110 007, India
2 Department of Earth Science, Durham University, Durham DH1 3LE, United Kingdom
     

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Spatial accuracy of structural data is an important factor for construction of a properly scaled model of crustal structures. Digital Geological Mapping methods can add the required spatial accuracy to the data, and also can improve the versatility of the geological/structural map in many ways, which are difficult to achieve through conventional mapping techniques. The present paper describes the methodology of digital mapping and discusses its applicability in structural analyses in the Canisp Shear Zone (CSZ) - a reactivated continental basement structure in the Precambrian Lewisian Gneiss complex of NW Scottish Highland. The CSZ is reinterpreted as a major dextral transpressional shear zone developed during Laxfordian deformation. It overprinted an earlier Inverian shear zone fabric, and was later reactivated and/or overprinted by brittle shearing of different phases and different scales. Spatial analyses within the ArcGISTM environment has helped bring out the geological relationships between different types of structural data in the shear zone, highlighting the partitioning of deformation into zones of high and low strain. A kinematic interpretation based on the geospatial data analysis, combined with conventional stereographic projection technique, is presented.

Keywords

Digital Mapping, Geospatial Accuracy, Geographical Information System (GIS), Shear Zones, Northwest Scotland.
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  • Recording and Analyzing Geospatially Accurate Structural Data Through 'Digital Mapping' Technique: A Case Study from the Canisp Shear Zone, NW Scotland

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Authors

A. Chattopadhyay
Department of Geology, University of Delhi, Delhi-110 007, India
R. E. Holdsworth
Department of Earth Science, Durham University, Durham DH1 3LE, United Kingdom
K. J. W. Mccaffrey
Department of Earth Science, Durham University, Durham DH1 3LE, United Kingdom
R. W. Wilson
Department of Earth Science, Durham University, Durham DH1 3LE, United Kingdom

Abstract


Spatial accuracy of structural data is an important factor for construction of a properly scaled model of crustal structures. Digital Geological Mapping methods can add the required spatial accuracy to the data, and also can improve the versatility of the geological/structural map in many ways, which are difficult to achieve through conventional mapping techniques. The present paper describes the methodology of digital mapping and discusses its applicability in structural analyses in the Canisp Shear Zone (CSZ) - a reactivated continental basement structure in the Precambrian Lewisian Gneiss complex of NW Scottish Highland. The CSZ is reinterpreted as a major dextral transpressional shear zone developed during Laxfordian deformation. It overprinted an earlier Inverian shear zone fabric, and was later reactivated and/or overprinted by brittle shearing of different phases and different scales. Spatial analyses within the ArcGISTM environment has helped bring out the geological relationships between different types of structural data in the shear zone, highlighting the partitioning of deformation into zones of high and low strain. A kinematic interpretation based on the geospatial data analysis, combined with conventional stereographic projection technique, is presented.

Keywords


Digital Mapping, Geospatial Accuracy, Geographical Information System (GIS), Shear Zones, Northwest Scotland.

References