Journal of Structural Geology xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx

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Journal of Structural Geology

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jsg

Buckling of orogens: Insights from analogue modelling

D. Bouteliera,∗, L. Gagnonb, S. Johnstonc, A. Crudend
a
School of Environmental and Life Sciences, University of Newcastle, University Drive, Callaghan, 2308, NSW, Australia
b
School of Earth and Ocean Sciences, University of Victoria, Victoria, British-Columbia, Canada
c
Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
d
School of Earth, Atmosphere and Environment, Monash University, Clayton, VIC, 3800, Australia

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Three-dimensional analogue models are employed to investigate whether oroclines may develop by horizontal
Orocline buckling. A first series of experiments demonstrates that a crustal ribbon carried by a subducting plate cannot
Subduction buckle and detach from its mantle root because it weakens and deforms when entering the subduction zone, such
Orogen that little compressive stress is transferred through the ribbon. A second series of experiments shows that the
Analogue modelling2010 MSC:
aspect ratio of the ribbon impacts the wavelength of buckling and that the experimental tank employed is too
00-01
small (maximum equivalent length is < 1500 km) to generate multiple buckles. Finally, a third series of ex-
99-00
periments shows that if the plate boundaries surrounding the ribbon resist its horizontal lateral motion, thrusts
or strike-slip fault systems may be generated in the ribbon thereby preventing buckling. We conclude that
oroclinal buckling is favoured when a crustal ribbon is pulled by subduction, causing backarc extension. Hence,
buckling and bending models for orocline formation are not mutually exclusive but reinforce each other.

1. Introduction axis can be generated in response to a horizontal pull produced by a

Structural geologists have long debated the tectonic significance of
the sinuous map patterns of mountain belt trend lines. The term oro-
cline was originally defined by Carey (1955) to denote map-view curves
that developed by bending of an existing linear orogenic belt about a
vertical axis of rotation. Coupled structural and paleomagnetic studies
have demonstrated that in a number of arcuate mountain belts (Iberian,
Alaskan, New England and Lachlan oroclines), the paleomagnetic de-
clination and tectonic shortening direction vary systematically in a
manner indicating that the belt was initially linear and was later bent
about a vertical axis (e.g., Musgrave, 2015). Paleomagnetic inclination
anomalies, and paleobotanical affinities further indicate that some or-
oclines have accommodated up to 3000 km of displacement along their
long axis direction (Johnston, 2013). Although considerable evidence
has thus been reported for oroclines, the mechanisms by which these
belts acquired their arcuate shape remains disputed.
An arcuate shape can be produced by bending or buckling of a linear
object. Bending (flexure) characterises the deformation of a linear ob-
ject subjected to an external load applied perpendicularly to its long
axis, while buckling is the deflection caused by an external load applied
parallel to the long axis. A common view is that oroclines develop in
response to an along-strike gradient of tectonic forces oriented at a
high-angle to the long axis of the orogen. Such bending about a vertical
sinking, negatively buoyant, lithosphere, or in response to a horizontal
push (compression) due to the arrival of an obstacle or indenter in a
subduction zone, or a combination of pushing and pulling (e.g.,
Rosenbaum and Lister, 2004).
An alternative proposition is that oroclines develop by horizontal
buckling in response to a tectonic force oriented parallel or sub-parallel
to the long axis of an orogen. Suggested tectonic scenarios for such
buckling about a vertical axis include escape or extrusion out of a
collisional orogen, attempted subduction of a continental ribbon or
orogen oriented at a high angle to the subduction zone, or by margin-
parallel drag (e.g., Johnston, 2001; Offler and Foster, 2008; Cawood
et al., 2011).
Here we employ three-dimensional analogue laboratory experi-
ments to explore how such buckling may produce an orocline and the
geodynamic conditions required for it to occur.
2. Methods
We employ a simplified kinematic framework whereby the effect of
the shear traction caused by the drag of the asthenosphere on the li-
thosphere is replaced by a piston that imposes constant-rate con-
vergence. The scaling, material properties and modelling procedure are
detailed in a supplementary document. Three series of experiments

∗
Corresponding author.
E-mail address: david.boutelier@newcastle.edu.au (D. Boutelier).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsg.2018.02.005
Received 25 September 2017; Received in revised form 9 February 2018; Accepted 10 February 2018
0191-8141/ © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article as: Boutelier, D., Journal of Structural Geology (2018), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsg.2018.02.005
D. Boutelier et al. Journal of Structural Geology xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx

V = 0.125 mm/s boundaries between the ribbon and side plates were varied by changing
the shape of the contact (inclined cut, vertical cut, and progressive
40
cm thinning corresponding to thrusts, strike-slip faults and spreading ridges
respectively). The density of the side plate was also varied from being
neutrally buoyant to negatively buoyant.
Precise spatio-temporal strain monitoring was obtained using
Particle Imaging Velocimetry (PIV) (Boutelier, 2016).
18 cm

3. Results
cm
45 3.1. Buckling of a crustal ribbon (series 1)

In the first series of experiments, a crustal ribbon was carried by a

lithospheric plate into a subduction zone. After a few centimetres of
convergence, the tip of the continental ribbon entered the subduction
zone (Fig. 2a). In all experiments, the ribbon was subducted or de-
Series 1 formed near the entrance to the subduction channel, but never buckled.
shear stress (Pa)
When the negative buoyancy of the subducting lithospheric plate was
underlying 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 large (Δρ = −3 to − 4 %), the tip of the ribbon penetrated deeper into
oceanic lithosphere
the mantle (>3 cm equivalent to 100 km). Once in contact with the hot
depth (cm)
upper plate

1 asthenospheric mantle it lost its strength, flowed upward and un-

crustal ribbon lithosphere
2
asthenosphere
37 38 39 40 41
temperature (C)
Series 2 Series 3
subducting lithosphere
arc lithosphere ribbon
lithospheric ribbon backarc lithosphere
Fig. 1. Schematic drawings of the model set-up. From the top: perspective drawing of the
experimental apparatus; map views of the models in Series 1, 2 and 3 and temperature
gradient in the model lithosphere with a continental ribbon (Series 1) and associated
rheological stratification.
were conducted with different initial and boundary conditions but all
using the same experimental apparatus, procedures, analogue materials
and scaling (Fig. 1).
In the first series of experiments, the model consisted of two oceanic
lithospheric plates, one subducting beneath the other at a constant
imposed rate. Both model plates rest on a lower viscosity model asth-
enosphere. The subducting plate carries a crustal ribbon continent, the
strength and density of which is lower than the strength and density of
the lithospheric mantle (Fig. 1). Various degrees of coupling between
the crustal ribbon and lithospheric mantle as well as various geometries
of the ribbon, and obliquity of collision were tested (see supplementary
document).
The lithospheric plates were not present in the second series of
experiments, where instead the buckling ribbons were beams of mantle
or crust plus mantle analogues, resting on a lower viscosity model
asthenosphere, and shortened in a vice-like manner at constant rate
(Fig. 1). Various widths, thicknesses and shapes of the ribbons were
tested to investigate whether buckling can be achieved with these
ideally favourable but unrealistic initial and boundary conditions, and
the buckling wavelengths that can be obtained.
In a third series of experiments the model included an arc litho-
sphere ribbon shortened longitudinally in a vice-like manner at con-
stant rate with surrounding oceanic lithospheric plates (Fig. 1). The
derplated the upper plate as obtained in previous thermo-mechanical
experiments of arc-continent collision (Boutelier et al., 2004). The
deeply subducted, positively buoyant ribbon cannot push back up to
cause longitudinal compression in the subducting ribbon. This is be-
cause it cannot resist the buoyancy force and so flows laterally. When
the negative buoyancy of the lithospheric plate was reduced to near
zero (Δρ < 1%), the subducting crustal ribbon was compressed hor-
izontally in between the plates and deformed at the entrance of the
subduction zone. PIV analysis reveals that the crustal ribbon was ex-
truded laterally via a combination of thrusts and strike-slip faults
(Fig. 2a). This indicates that there was a longitudinal compressive stress
in the ribbon near the subduction zone. However, this never led to
buckling of the ribbon away from the plate boundary. The shape of the
ribbon (initially linear or already curved), the obliquity of the con-
vergence (orthogonal or oblique by up to 20°) and the level of basal
coupling between the crustal ribbon and its mantle substratum (fully
coupled, weakly coupled or fully decoupled) and the position of the
ribbon in the system (centre or side) were varied but the same result
was obtained systematically (see additional material).
Our experimental results in Series 1, are remarkably similar to the
results of Mason et al. (2010), although they varied the buoyancy of the
crustal ribbon instead of the lithospheric mantle. Nevertheless, when
the ribbon is negatively buoyant (Δρ = −3%) it subducts with the slab,
while when it is positively buoyant (Δρ = +15%), it is extruded lat-
erally in front of the subduction thrust. Another difference between the
two studies is that Mason et al. (2010) allowed the upper plate to de-
form and the trench to move. Their simulations suggest that this does
not affect the behaviour of the ribbon and therefore our approximation
of a strong upper plate is valid for the purpose of the experimental
series. The observation that an already slightly curved and fully de-
coupled crustal ribbon did not buckle but deformed by extrusion near
the plate boundary indicates that longitudinal compressive stress is not
transmitted away from subduction thrust, but rather causes lateral ex-
trusion. We deduce that bending of the crustal ribbon-bearing lower
plate as it descends into the subduction zone causes sufficient weak-
ening of the continental ribbon such that no longitudinal compressive
stress is transmitted to the still undeformed part of the ribbon. We
conclude that should buckling of a ribbon occur in this type of scenario,
it must be of lithospheric scale.
3.2. Buckling of lithosphere ribbon in a vice (series 2)
In this series of experiments, multiple lithospheric ribbons were
placed in the experimental apparatus and shortened at constant rate in
a vice-like arrangement. Until the ribbons interact with each other, they

2
D. Boutelier et al. Journal of Structural Geology xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx

Fig. 2. Experimental results. a: Model surface view of experiment A1 (first series) with PIV vectors and derivative. b: Model surface view of experiment D1, D2, D3 and D4 (second series).
Exp. D1 shows buckling of four beams with different sizes or shapes. Exp. D2 included three beams with continental crust and lithospheric. Exps. D3 and D4 show that rounded corners of
the beams produce torques which may trigger multiple buckles. c: Cartoon of setup and surface view of Exp. C5 (third series).

are laterally unconstrained. Most ribbons were simply made of the same
analogue material employed to simulate the lithospheric mantle, al-
though several ribbons included both crust and lithospheric mantle
layers following the same assembly procedure employed in model
Series 1. The size and shape of the ribbon was varied in model Series 2
(Fig. 2b).
Most ribbons buckled in these experiments. The width and thickness
of the ribbon affected the wavelength of the buckle folds but for a
realistic range of width and thickness for an arc plate (equivalent to
>100 km wide and ∼100 km thick) only a single buckle fold formed.
This suggests that the natural wavelength of the buckle is longer than
the maximum length that can be implemented with our experimental
apparatus (equivalent to 1500 km) and employed scaling factors.
Following Pastor-Galán et al. (2012), some of the corners of the ribbons
were cut and rounded to facilitate the rotation of the ribbon near the
walls of the experimental apparatus. When the rounded corners were
part of the same long edge of the ribbon, buckling started earlier (Exp.
D-4 in Fig. 2b). When the rounded corners belonged to the opposite
long edge of the ribbon, double buckle folds were initiated (Exp. D-3 in
Fig. 2b), but subsequently one buckle fold amplified at the expense of
the other. Rounded vertical cuts were implemented in an attempt to
accelerate or facilitate the buckling but proved inefficient (top ribbon in
Exp.D-1 of Fig. 2b).
The following additional observations were made from the Series 2
experiments: i) Changing the width of the ribbon along strike localized
the buckle folding, such that wider segments were less bent than nar-
rower ones; ii) A narrow, laterally unconstrained, lithospheric ribbon
was successfully buckled to form an isoclinal fold; iii) Ribbons that
included a crustal layer deformed similarly to those without one, and
the crust buckled together with the mantle substratum (Fig. 2).
This series of models confirms the experimental results of Pastor-
Galán et al. (2012) that laterally unconstrained buckling of lithospheric
ribbon is mechanically possible. We also confirm that the wavelength is
large (>1500 km) and add that spatial variations in the width of the

3
D. Boutelier et al.
ribbon, and presumably its strength, may lead to more complex buckle
folding patterns.
3.3. Laterally constrained buckling (series 3)
In the third series of experiments, an arc lithosphere ribbon made of
mantle lithosphere material, was shortened longitudinally at constant
rate. However, unlike model Series 2, lithospheric plates were placed
beside the ribbon such that one of the long edges of the ribbon acted as
a subduction zone (Figs. 1 and 2c). We varied the negative buoyancy
and thickness of the subducting plate. The second long-edge of the
ribbon was constructed to simulate either a transform fault or a
spreading ridge (i.e., in a backarc basin). In the first case, the boundary
was simply a vertical cut separating two thick lithospheric blocks. In the
second case, the thickness of both lithospheric blocks (ribbon and
neighbouring lithospheric block) decreases towards the boundary
where the thickness scales to only a few equivalent kilometres in nature
(few mm in the model, Fig. 2c).
Experiments with a strike-slip ribbon margin did not produce
buckling. Regardless of whether the subducting plate on the other side
acted to pull or push the ribbon, the lateral motion of the ribbon re-
sulted in shortening by thrusting rather than buckle folding. As in
previous analogue models by Shemenda (1994), we deduce that or-
thogonal motion cannot be imposed on the vertical cut representing a
strike-slip fault without the formation of an inclined detachment. This is
because the model strength is much lower than the lithostatic pressure,
which keeps the cut closed. This condition means that the model li-
thosphere must break, forming a new inclined fault, before the normal
stress required for the vertical cut to open can be reached. Once formed,
the inclined fault precludes a further increase in horizontal normal
stress and opening of the vertical cut. In the case of a strike-slip ribbon
boundary, shortening of the ribbon is therefore accommodated by
thrust faults within the ribbon without buckling.
A spreading ridge along the long-edge of the ribbon offers sig-
nificantly less resistance to the lateral movement of the ribbon and
buckling may occur depending on the stress condition along the other
long-edge of the ribbon (Fig. 2c). When the negative buoyancy of the
subducting lithosphere is low (Δρ ∼ 0 %), the effect of the bending
strength of the subducting plate may not be compensated, resulting in a
compressive normal stress on the plate boundary (Boutelier and
Oncken, 2011). This compressive normal stress will resist the lateral
movement of the ribbon, forming thrusts in the ribbon that accom-
modate shortening. When the subducting plate is sufficiently negatively
buoyant (Δρ ∼ −3 to − 4 %), the slab pull force may compensate the
bending strength resulting in a tensile normal stress on the plate
boundary (Shemenda, 1994; Scholz and Campos, 1995). This tensile
normal stress pulls the ribbon and therefore assists the buckling. If
buckling has already initiated and the compression in the ribbon be-
comes too large, shortening of the ribbon may be accommodated by
strike-slip faults across the ribbon, as observed in the experiment illu-
strated in Fig. 2c.
4. Discussion and conclusions
4.1. Bending and buckling
Our experiments reveal that the most favourable geodynamic set-
ting for the formation of an orocline by buckling is one that would also
drive the formation of an orocline by bending. Therefore, the proposed
conceptual models for the formation of oroclines (bending vs. buckling)
are not mutually exclusive but instead reinforce each other (Fig. 3).
This is because buckling requires little resistance to horizontal move-
ment of the ribbon on the subduction plate boundary as well as along
the second long-edge of the ribbon. This is best obtained when the
overriding plate of a subduction zone is in a tensile regime due to the
negative buoyancy of the subducted lithosphere. This results in a pull
4
Journal of Structural Geology xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx
axial push axial push
slab pull
buckling
slab pull
bending
Fig. 3. Sketch of the continuum between buckling and bending modes of orocline for-
mation.
on the subduction plate boundary that aids buckling movement and
causes extension in the arc leading to the formation of a back-arc basin,
which offers little resistance to the movement of the arc block or
ribbon.
However, this observation does not imply that every orocline must
be driven primarily by a pull on the plate boundary. It is feasible that
slab pull will assist buckling, while the primary driving force remains
the longitudinal shortening of the ribbon. This is well illustrated by the
formation of strike slip faults that led to the extrusion of the ribbon in
some of our experiments. If orocline formation were primarily driven
by a pull force, an opposite sense of movement would be expected on
the strike-slip faults that cross cut the ribbon (Fig. 3). This indicates that
the sense of movement on strike slips faults may be used as indicators of
whether an orocline was driven by a buckling or bending at the time of
formation of the strike slip faults.
The Miocene Gibraltar orocline has been proposed to have formed
by the retreat of a subduction zone into a narrow oceanic corridor
(Rosenbaum and Lister, 2004). As the subduction zone penetrated the
funnel-shaped corridor, the orocline tightened and segments of the
plate boundary were pulled and dragged along the collision zone,
forming strike-slip faults and shear zones with movement senses that
are consistent with lengthening of the segments. However, following
this stage of slab pull-driven orocline formation, the trench stopped
retreating and the horseshoe-shaped orocline is currently undergoing
vice-like tightening between the converging Iberian and African plates
(Duarte et al., 2013). From this example, it is apparent that protracted
orocline formation will likely include switches between bending and
buckling, or vice-versa.
In Eastern Australia, largely unexposed curvilinear geophysical
anomalies in Victoria and New South Wales are interpreted as a pos-
sible Paleozoic orocline (Cayley et al., 2012; Musgrave, 2015). A model
of orocline formation has been proposed whereby the plate boundary
retreated due to slab pull and then wrapped around an indenter (Moresi
et al., 2014). However, the sense of movement on the strike-slip fault
that separated the paleo-arc and back-arc domains (i.e., the Gilmore
fault zone) suggests that the back-arc domain was translated further
south than the arc itself (Morand and Gray, 1991). This either means
D. Boutelier et al.
that the back-arc was extruded southward and orocline formation was
at least partially due to north-south compressional buckling, or that the
orocline was initiated by the pull from the trench and the orocline
subsequently switched from bending to buckling and horizontal ex-
trusion. We acknowledge that the numerical simulations of Mason et al.
(2010) and Moresi et al. (2014) provide insights into the interplay
between flow in the mantle around the sinking slab, and lithosphere
deformation, which cannot yet be accounted for in our analogue
models.
The Calabrian orocline is another modern example of the formation
of an orocline by bending and buckling (Johnston and Mazzoli, 2009).
Buckling was driven by northward advance of Africa, and the bending
was caused by the retreating Calabrian arc.
4.2. Longitudinal compressive shortening
In our and previous experiments by Pastor-Galán et al. (2012),
buckling was initiated due to a longitudinal vice-like shortening im-
posed on the short ends of the ribbon. Although we show that it is
possible to obtain buckling under the geodynamic conditions outlined
above, extrusion of the ribbon via thrusts and strike-slip faults was
obtained multiple times. This suggests that buckling occurs when the
resisting force due to the integrated stress along the long edges of the
ribbon is low, or negative. In this case, only a small magnitude devia-
toric stress is produced in the moving ribbon. However, if the resisting
force due to the integrated stress along the long edges of the ribbon is
significant, the ribbon remains static and the deviatoric stress in the
ribbon increases, causing deformation. This leads us to consider an al-
ternative scenario, whereby longitudinal shortening causing buckling
does not originate from a normal stress imposed on the short ends of the
ribbon, but from horizontal shear tractions along the long edges. It
remains to be explored whether driving and resisting forces derived
from integration of stresses along the same surface area (the subduction
interface) would reduce the deviatoric stress in the ribbon. Oblique
subduction can cause lateral movement of forearc slivers (Fitch, 1972)
and localized trench-parallel extension (Witt et al., 2006) or contraction
(Kimura, 1986). It is therefore conceivable that such contraction could
be accommodated by buckling of the fore-arc sliver or whole arc plate.
By way of an example, oblique subduction has been proposed as a
mechanism for the formation of the New England orocline of Eastern
Australia (Offler and Foster, 2008; Cawood et al., 2011).
4.3. The double buckle orocline
None of our experiments or previous ones by Pastor-Galán et al.
(2012) successfully produce a double buckle, however several well-
studied oroclines clearly consist of two buckles (e.g. Alaskan, Variscan,
and New England oroclines). The Variscan and Alaskan oroclines in-
dicate >1200 km and 3000 km of margin-parallel shortening (Shaw and
Johnston, 2016) and therefore the ribbon must have been significantly
longer than the maximum equivalent length that can be employed in
our modelling apparatus (1500 km). A short ribbon length may explain
the lack of double buckles in our experiments as well as previous by
Pastor-Galán et al. (2012). Furthermore, slab-pull driven bending also
tends to produce a single arc (e.g. Schellart, 2010) but in the presence
of an indenter, a double buckle can be produced (Moresi et al., 2014).
Therefore, it may be possible that double buckles may also be produced
by buckling in the presence of an indenter. This may be particularly
Journal of Structural Geology xxx (xxxx) xxx–xxx
relevant if the margin-parallel shortening is driven by oblique con-
vergence as the double buckle orocline would then correspond to a li-
thospheric drag fold wrapping around an indentor.
Acknowledgments
STJ was supported by NSERC Discovery Grant RGPIN-2014-06533.
DB and ARC acknowledge support by Monash University.
Appendix A. Supplementary data
Supplementary data related to this article can be found at http://dx.
doi.org/10.1016/j.jsg.2018.02.005.
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