Dear Abdullah,

it is very difficult to answer your question using your picture. However, according to azimuth/plunge criteria of slickenside lineation I think it is the same tectonic phase with the same kinematics. It is very unlikely that during the three independent deformation phase you observed striation with the same kinematics and the same orientation.

With best wishes,

Rasto

Thanks for you, I know what you mean in your answer...my question is about the age of calcite itself without the striations which show only the last tectonic event except for the superimposed ....can we infer from the appearance of calcite itself ?

It seems to me none of the blue, green and yellow are exactly on the same plane; intead of a single fault plane you may be dealing with a small fault zone, consisting of several (near) parallel planes over a few cm wide zone (the 5 lineations marked in white beneath the SE mark would be on another plane). As Rasto said, I would say same tectonic phase, maybe same event (but no way to be sure) for all the lineations, and calcite coating prior to the faulting event may have been deposited during a single phase of fluid circulation (no way to be sure on this pict).

As the calcite was deposited via fluid circulation, a fracture had to be there in the first place=> 1) fracturation (probably a first faulting event) 2) calcite coating 3) calcite striation during another faulting event (and as you mention superimposed features, the cycle 2-3 may be repeated several times within the same deformation phase).

Sometimes, when the fault plane is well exposed and not washed up,  you can have tiny calcite geods at the end of the striation; that forms when more calcite was deposited after the last faulting event, but often, the fault plane is too altered to preserve these. Hope that helps a little bit.

Best wishes

Dear Abdullah,

I have spent quite a bit of time looking at the two photos and I commend you for having provided both the marked and unmarked versions. I apologize, however, because I cannot make out anything more than layering inclined rather gently towards the NW. I believe you regarding both the slicks you have accentuated and the steps you described on the calcite indicating dextral slip, but cannot see the calcite coating anywhere nor, obviously, the steps on the calcite even in the outlined areas.

On the scale of your photo it appears that the fault is actually a small zone comprised of at least 3 parallel slip surfaces. Referring to your hand-drawn traces of the slicks within each of your colored outlines all are horizontal. Because of my inability to see in the photos that which you have described I can only suggest a single episode of calcite emplacement followed by one episode of strike-slip.

Dear Abdullah,

I fully aggree with all the former comments. If you really wish to analyze the calcite generation I think the only methodology is to work with thin sections and use, as suggested by Max Arndt, cathodoluminescence technique. I personnally think that calcite could have been generated during a single strike-slip event. However from these images it is really difficult to conclude.

Best wishes

Dear Abdullah,

Actual state of rocks in geosphere cannot be regarded as compessed hydrostatically because of complicated stress distribution under natural conditions. In this work, samples of heterogeneous solids (CaCO3) were loaded stepwise in a high-pressure chamber with applying 12 combinations of lateral and axial deformation. The relative effect from lateral and uniaxial deformation on the mechanical behavior of heterogeneous solids (CaCO3) was studied using acoustic emission (AE) technique. Posteriori changes in the sample morphology were analized using both optical microscopy and an automatic image analyzer Quantimet 720. The main finding of the work is the alteration of predominantly plastic and predominantly brittle behavior in dependence of the loading geometry.

Dear Abdullah,

Given that all kinematic indicators have similar orientation, it is reasonable to think that we are looking at different slip surfaces and slip events which relate to the same deformation. However, similar kinematics just indicate similar stress field and not age. There are methods for absolute dating of calcite crystals (U-Pb). But before sampling and dating calcite crystals i would ask the following questions:

1. Are there regional evidences of multiple tectonic events?

2. Can these different tectonic events result in reactivation of the fault plane with nearly identical kinematics?

Hope this helps!

Regards,

Giulio