Physical models were constructed of 4 cm of layered clay above a 45°-dipping basement fault. They were shortened 2.75 cm at 45° to the strike of the underlying basement fault to simulated oblique compression. Resulting map-view structures include a fault-parallel asymmetrical anticline, outer-arc normal faults oblique to both the basement trend and the compression direction, an en echelon to anastomosing oblique-reverse faults. In cross section structures resemble those formed by dip-slip compression.

The East Kaibab monocline in Utah and Arizona, usually interpreted as the result of dip-slip reverse offset on a steeply dipping basement fault, resembles the models in map pattern. Normal faults on the crest of the fold nearly bisect the angle between the fold trend and compression direction. En-echelon reverse faults accommodate a component of strike-slip offset.

Features at West Sussex-Dougout oil field, WY, the Newport-Inglewood trend, CA, and Sahil field, Abu Dhabi, UAE also resemble the oblique shortening models in map view. The ability to distinguish oblique-compressional from strike-slip or dip-slip structures allows accurate characterization of regional tectonic setting and structural style and better understanding of trap development, location, and geometry in regions of oblique deformation.

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