Mechanical Stratigraphy Controls Normal Fault Growth and Dimensions, Outer Kwanza Basin, Offshore Angola

Fault growth and dimensions are controlled by mechanical stratigraphy on seismic scales. Here we present a detailed analysis of largely blind faults and their kinematics Offshore, Angola; where, salt bodies and mass-transport complexes (MTC) act as mechanically restricting elements to an array of extensional faults. Our study presents mechanically restricted faults whose data fall within the general scatter present in global displacement-length (D-L) scaling datasets, and yet have starkly different fault growth models to those expected using geometric data alone. We show how using displacement-length data to determine fault growth can mask the not insignificant mechanical controls on growth histories in the absence of detailed kinematic analysis. We present how fault growth and displacement-length scaling relationships must be considered within the context of local mechanical stratigraphy, stress-fields and fault interaction and that conducting such studies across varying scales can provide more robust kinematic constraints in adequately determining displacement-length relationships and fault growth.