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This unit of the course discusses Fractures and Faults By the end of this unit you will be able to:
Differentiate between the different type of fractures Differentiate between the different type of faults Understand the relationship between the different type of stresses and faults Where faults form and how? Faults mechanics Role of fluid in faulting Faults movement mechanisms Shear, Shear zones and different type of shears
FRACTURE
FRACTURE: is defined by Twiss and Moores (1992) as ..surfaces along which rocks or minerals have broken; they are therefore surfaces across which the material has lost cohesion Characteristics of fractures according to Pollard and Aydin (1988) fractures have two parallel surfaces that meet at the fracture front these surfaces are approximately planar the relative displacement of originally adjacent points across the fractures is small compared to the fracture length..
Types of Fractures
Extensional Fracture In extensional fractures the Fracture plane is oriented parallel to 1 and 2 and perpendicular to 3. Three types of fractures have been identified: Mode I fractures (joints) it is the extensional fractures and formed by opening with no displacement parallel to the fracture surface (see above figure). Mode II and Mode III are shear fractures. These are faults like fractures one of them is strike -slip and the other is dip-slip
Same fracture can exhibit both mode II and mode III in different parts of the region.
To understand the nature and sequence of deformation in an area. To find out relationship between joints and faults and or folds. Help to find out the brittle deformation in an area of construction (dams, bridges, and power plants. In mineral exploration to find out the trend and type of fractures and joints that host mineralization which will help in exploration.
Joints and fractures serve as the plumping system for ground water flow in many area and they are the only routes by which ground water can move through igneous and metamorphic rocks. Joints and fractures porosity and permeability is very important for water supplies and hydrocarbon reservoirs. Joints orientations in road cuts greatly affect both construction and maintenance. Those oriented parallel to or dip into a highway cut become hazardous during construction and later because they provide potential movement surfaces.
TYPES OF JOINT
Systematic joints: have a subparallel orientation and regular spacing. Joint set: joints that share a similar orientation in same area. Joint system: two or more joints sets in the same area Nonsystematic joints: joints that do not share a common orientation and those highly curved and irregular fracture surfaces. They occur in most area but are not easily related to a recognizable stress.
Some times both systematic and nonsystematic joints formed in the same area at the same time but nonsystematic joints usually terminate at systematic joints which indicates that nonsystematic joints formed later.
Type of Fractures
Plumose joints: joints that have feathered texture on their surfaces, and from this texture the direction of propagation of joints can be determined. Veins: are filled joints and shear fractures and the filling range from quartz and feldspar (pegmatite and aplite) to quartz, calcite and dolomite.
Type of Fractures
Conjugate fractures: paired fracture systems, formed in the same time, and produced by tension or shear. Many of them intersect at an acute angle which will be bisected by the Curved fractures: occur frequently and may be caused by the textural and compositional differences within a thick bed or large rock mass or they may a result of changes in stress direction or analysis.
Cross cutting relationship and material filling the fractures can help in resolving the chronological order of deformation.
FRACTURE ANALYSIS
Study of joints in an area will give information about the sequence and timing of formation. It will also provide information on the timing and geometry of the brittle deformation of the crust and the way fractures propagate through the rocks.
Strain -ellipsoid analysis of joints in area may help to determine dominant crystal extension directions
Joints are also formed adjacent to brittle faults, and movement along faults usually produces a series of systematic fractures.
Most joints form by extensional fracturing of rock in the upper few kilometers of the Earth's crust. The limiting depth formation of extension fractures should be the ductile-brittle transition.
Rock type Fluid pressure Strain rate Stress difference at a particular time
Characteristics of Fractures
Plumose structure: is the structures formed on the joint surface during its propagation and provides information about the joint propagation direction. Hackle marks: indicate zones where the joint propagate rapidly. Arrest line: forms perpendicular to the direction of propagation and is parallel to the advancing edge of fractures.
Characteristics of Fractures
Bedding and foliation planes in coarsegrained rocks constitute barriers to join propagation. Bedding in uniformly finegrained rocks, such as shales and volcanicalstic rocks, appears to be less of barriers. In sandstone bed propagation of joints through the bed is slightly offset from the layers above or below. Variation in bed thickness also affects propagation direction. In horizontal layering joints will not propagate from sandstone into shale if the least principle horizontal stress in shale is greater than that in sandstone. Fractures will be terminated at the contact between the two rocks.
Joints Classified According to their Environment and Mechanism of Formations (Engelder, 1985) Tectonic fracture Hydraulic fracture Unloading fracture Loading fracture All of these types are based on the assumption that failure mechanism is tensile.
Tectonic fractures:
Form at depth in response to abnormal fluid pressure and involve hydrofracturing. They form mainly by tectonic stress and the horizontal compaction of sediment at depth less than 3 km, where the escape of fluid is hindered by low permeability and abnormally high pore pressure is created.
Hydraulic fractures:
Form as tectonic fractures by the pore pressure created due to the confined pressed fluid during burial and vertical compaction of sediment at depth greater than 5 km. Filled veins in low metamorphic rocks are one of the best of examples of hydraulic fractures.
Unloading fractures:
Form near surface as erosion removes overburden and thermalelastic contraction occurs. They form when more than half of the original overburden has been removed. The present stress and tectonic activity may serve to orient these joints. Vertical unloading fractures occur during cooling and elastic contraction of rock mass and may occur at depths of 200 to 500 m.
Release fractures:
Similar to unloading fractures but they form by release of stress. Orientation of release joints is controlled by the rock fabric. Released joints form late in the history of an area and are oriented perpendicular to the original tectonic compression that formed the dominant fabric in the rock. Release joints may also develop parallel to the fold axes when erosion begins and rock mass that was under burial depth and lithification begins to cool and contract, these joints start to propagate parallel to an existing tectonic fabric. Sheared fractures may be straight or curved but usually can't be traced for long distance.
NONTECONIC FRACTURES
Sheeting joints: Those joints form subparallel to the surface topography. These joints may be more observed in igneous rocks. Pacing within these fractures increases downward. These fractures thought that they form by unloading overlong time when erosion removes large quantities of the overburden rocks. Columnar joints and Mud Cracks: Columnar joints form in flows, dikes, sills and volcanic necks in response to cooling and shrinking of the magma.
Separation: The amount op apparent offset of a faulted surface, measured in specified direction. There are strike separation, dip separation, and net separation. Heave: The horizontal component of dip separation measured perpendicular to strike of the fault. Throw: The vertical component measured in vertical plane containing the dip.
Normal
Normal Fault
Normal Fault: The hanging wall has moved down relative to the footwall. Graben: consists of a block that has dropped down between two subparllel normal faults that dip towards each other. Horst : consists of two subparallel normal faults that dip away from each other so that the block between the two faults remains high. Listric: are normal faults that frequently exhibit (concaveup) geometry so that they exhibit steep dip near surface and flatten with depth.
Normal faults usually found in areas where extensional regime is present.
Normal Faults
Thrust Fault
Thrust Faults: In the thrust faults the hanging wall has moved up relative to the footwall (dip angle 30 or less) Reverse Faults: Are similar to the thrust faults regarding the sense of motion but the dip angle of the fault plane is 45 or more Thrust faults usually formed in areas of comperssional regime.
Thrust Fault
Thrust Faults
Strike-Slip Fault
Strike-slip Faults: Are faults that have movement along strikes. There are two types of strike slip faults: A] Right lateral strike-slip fault (dextral): Where the side opposite the observer moves to the right. B] Left lateral strike-slip fault (sinistral): Where the side opposite the observer moves to the left. Note that the same sense of movement will also be observed from the other side of the fault.
Strike-Slip Faults
Transform Faults
Transform Faults: Are a type of strike-slip fault (defined by Wilson 1965). They form due to the differences in motion between lithospheric plates. They are basically occur where type of plate boundary is transformed into another. Main types of transform faults are: Ridge-Ridge Ridge-Arc Arc-Arc
en-echelon faults: Faults that are approximately parallel one another but occur in short unconnected segments, and sometimes overlapping. Radial faults: faults that are converge toward one point Concentric faults: faults that are concentric to a point. Bedding faults (bedding plane faults): follow bedding or occur parallel to the orientation of bedding planes.
Repetition or omission of stratigraphic units asymmetrical repetition Displacement of recognizable marker such as fossils, color, composition, texture ..etc.). Truncation of structures, beds or rock units. Occurrence of fault rocks (mylonite or cataclastic or both) Presence of S or C structures or both, rotated porphyry clasts and other evidence of shear zone. Abundant veins, silicification or other mineralization along fracture may indicate faulting. Drag Units appear to be pulled into a fault during movement (usually within the drag fold and the result is thrust fault) Reverse drag occurs along listric normal faults. Slickensides and slickenlines along a fault surface Topographic characteristics such as drainges that are controlled by faults and fault scarps.
FAULTS MECHANICS
Anderson 1942 defined three fundamental possibilities of stress regimes and stress orientation that produce the three types of faults (Normal, thrust, and strike-slip)
Thrust fault: 1 and 2 are horizontal and 3 is vertical. Thus a state of horizontal compression is defined for thrust faults. Shear plane is oriented to 1 with angle = or < 45 and // 2. Strike-Slip faults: 1 and 3 are horizontal and 2 is vertical. Shear plane is oriented to 1 with angle = or 45 and // 3. Form also due to horizontal compression. Normal faults: 1 is vertical and 2 and 3 are horizontal. Shear plane is oriented 45 or less to 1 and // 2. Form due to horizontal extension or vertical compression.
Stable sliding: involves uninterrupted motion along a fault, so stress is relieved continuously and does not accumulate. The two types of movement may be produced along the segments of the same fault. Stable sliding where ground water is abundant, whereas, stick-slip occur with less ground water
Other factor that control the type of movement is the curvature of the fault surface. Withdrawal of ground water may cause near surface segments of active faults to switch mechanisms from stable sliding to stick slip, thereby increasing the earthquake hazard. Pumping fluid into a fault zone has been proposed as a way to relieve accumulated elastic strain energy and reduce the likelihood of large earthquake, but the rate at which fluid should be pumped into fault zone remains unknown.
SHEAR ZONE
Shear zones are produced by both homogeneous and inhomogenous simple shear, or oblique motion and are thought of as zones of ductile shear.
2. 3. 4. 5.
6.
Rotated porphyroblasts and porphyroclasts. Pressure shadows Fractured grains. Boudins Presence of C- and Ssurfaces (parallel alignment of platy mineral) Riedel shears.