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Zero - Extension-1 PDF
Zero - Extension-1 PDF
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Abstract
Strains in rocks can be observed but ancient stresses can only be inferred. We should re-examine the potential of strain
geometry as the key to understanding and interpreting common shear structures ranging from faults to plastic shear zones. The
concept of failure along zero extension directions can be applied to natural structures in rocks and is predicated on strain
compatibility between dierently strained volumes. Zero extension directions are considered for two strain congurations, plane
strain (k 1) and uniaxial shortening (k 0). The crucial dierence between shear fractures, or faults, and plastic yield zones is
that the former are preceded by dilatation while the latter are isovolumetric. Volume changes during deformation aect the
orientations of zero extension directions and hence of the resulting structures. With isovolumetric strain, yield occurs on planes
at 458 to the principal shortening direction in plane strain and at 54.78 to this axis in uniaxial shortening. Uniaxial shortening
experiments on rock samples allow estimation of the relative volumetric strains when yield zones initiate. When this volumetric
strain is used to estimate the orientation of shear fractures in plane strain, ca 708 dips are predicted for normal faults at high
crustal levels, decreasing downwards to 458. # 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
0191-8141/99/$ - see front matter # 1999 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S 0 1 9 1 - 8 1 4 1 ( 9 9 ) 0 0 0 1 2 - 7
940 J. Watterson / Journal of Structural Geology 21 (1999) 939948
of a model in which yield structures are treated as numerous shear structures each of which is small rela-
minimum energy responses to a bulk deformation. The tive to the strained volume, so neither the boundaries
concepts used are well established in those disparate nor the shape of the volume play a signicant role in
parts of the spectrum of engineering concerned with determining either the locations, orientations or geo-
the properties and behaviours of materials varying metries of the localised strains. The bulk strain is the
from polymers, soils and metals to granular aggre- sum of the high local strains, shear zones, and the
gates, and the literature on these topics is drawn on lower matrix strains. A major attraction of the simple
freely. As bets a unied approach, the terms failure shear model for rock deformation on both small
and yield are treated as synonyms. `Plastic' is used in (Ramsay and Graham, 1970) and large scales (Escher
its general sense of deformation by intracrystalline or et al., 1975) is that a high strain shear zone remains
diusive ow (Rutter, 1986), encompassing the mech- compatible with its matrix without a discontinuity
anisms associated with `macroscopically ductile' shear developing between the two. This compatibility exists
zones. because a shear zone boundary is parallel to the plane
My interest in the topic arose from eld work on of shear, within which every direction is a line of no
conjugate sets of syn-kinematic mac dyke swarms nite longitudinal strain, and is also a line of no inni-
and on related strike-slip shear zones (Watterson, tesimal longitudinal strain. Ideally, therefore, there is
1978). For both, conjugate angles containing the short- no `mist', or strain incompatibility, between either (i)
ening direction are >908, giving rise to the obvious the deformed shear zone and its, supposedly
questionwhy obtuse angles? unstrained, matrix, or (ii) regions of dierent shear
strain magnitudes within the shear zone, so long as the
shear strain contours are parallel to the shear zone
2. Constant volume strain boundary, or shear plane. Any strain gradient within a
shear zone can be accommodated compatibly so long
2.1. Orientations of shear zones and faults as the gradient is normal to the shear plane. Strictly
speaking, strain compatibility requires only that longi-
A critical dierence between plastic shear zones on tudinal strains on either side of a shear zone boundary
the one hand and `brittle' faults on the other, is that are the same rather than zero but, in practice, non-
the conjugate angle containing the principal shortening zero identical strains would represent a very special
axis of the bulk strain is r908 in the case of shear case (Treagus, 1983) not likely to occur with a simple
zones and is <908 for faults (Ramsay and Huber, shear zone. Complications do arise nevertheless,
1987, p. 612), typically 40608 for normal faults because strain gradients parallel to the shear plane
(Anderson, 1951). Another crucial dierence between must occur in order to accommodate the lateral displa-
plastic yield and brittle failure in rocks is that the for- cement gradients which are universally present along
mer is generally, although not necessarily, a constant both shear zones and faults. These complications are
volume process whereas the latter is always associated not considered further as they do not aect the con-
with a dilatation, or positive volume strain (Rutter, clusions. What follows does not conict with the shear
1986). This dierence suggests that the controls on zone model of Ramsay and Graham (1970) but simply
orientations of plastic shear zones might be more extends it by imposing more restrictive conditions.
simply dened than those of faults, which represent a The now traditional shear zone model predicts noth-
non-isovolumetric variation of the less complex isovo- ing explicitly about the orientation of a geological
lumetric case. Following this line of argument we rst shear zone because, as its matrix is considered as
examine the controls on orientations of plastic shear undergoing no strain, all shear zone orientations are
zones. It is argued that localised shear failure takes equally compatible with their matrix; although if strain
place parallel to zero extension directions in the is accommodated entirely by shear zones their orien-
matrix. Discussion is limited to the two bulk strain, or tations must be such as to accommodate the imposed
loading, congurations represented by plane strain and bulk strain. The freedom of orientation arises from a
by uniaxial shortening, with discussion of the isovolu- simplication in the model, which is that the matrix is
metric case followed by that of the non-isovolumetric considered as being unstrained and therefore not con-
case. tributing to the bulk strain. In practice, there will
always be a penetrative strain of the matrix, either
2.2. Plastic shear zones elastic or both elastic and permanent. As is shown
below, if the local and matrix strains are compatible,
The simplest case to consider is that of localised the principal strain axes of the bulk strain will be con-
simple shear zones accommodating a bulk pure shear gruent with those of the matrix strain.
plane strain, with no volume strain. The bulk defor- The potential strain incompatibility between a shear
mation is assumed to be accommodated exclusively on zone and its matrix is, therefore, the key factor deter-
J. Watterson / Journal of Structural Geology 21 (1999) 939948 941
3. Dilatational strain
3.2. Mohr circles and volume strains Fig. 5. (a) Mohr representation of constant volume plane strain de-
formation in matrix and bulk volume, for small strains. Locus of
Volumetric strains or, as in this case, relative volu- zero extension directions is line OB. (b) Mohr representation of dila-
metric strains are simply taken account of by using the tational plane strain deformation in matrix and bulk volume, with
Mohr construction. Passchier (1991) provides a proof centre of the Mohr circle displaced relative to the origin by an
amount Dv/2. The zero extension direction in the XZ plane, point B,
that a Mohr circle for two-dimensional isovolumetric is <458 to Z. OB is the locus of all zero extension lines. is the
ow is centred on the vertical reference axis and that a original position of the vertical reference axis. The relative amount
Mohr circle centred to the positive side of the reference of dilatational strain is given by the ratio Dv=eZ 1:0.
axis represents dilatant ow. The same principle is
used by Bowden and Jukes (1972) to represent three-
dimensional strains but their example was restricted to with a perfectly oblate strain (k 0) the dilatational
the case of plane strain (k 1). The method is here components of extensions along the X and Y axes are
extended to k 0 strain and can easily be applied to a equal and their product is the volume strain. There is
general strain where k has a value other than 0, 1 or no dilatational component of extension along the prin-
innity. cipal shortening axis (Z).
For a volumetric strain (Dv ) eX eY eZ Dv, For a plane strain, since eY 0, eZ Dv eX , or
where Dv is positive for dilatation, and Dv eX Dv eZ , the centre of the Mohr circle is displaced
v1 v0 =v0 where v0 is the initial volume and v1 the from the vertical reference axis by Dv/2 (Bowden and
strained volume. Discussion is limited here to positive Jukes, 1972) parallel to the strain axis (Fig. 5b). The
volume strains which are small and which can be displacement is Dv/2 because when the diameter of the
either elastic or permanent or both. Dv is the product Mohr circle increases by Dv, by increasing the value of
of dilatational extensions along the extended axes (X eX with eZ remaining xed, its centre is shifted by Dv/
and Y for a general oblate strain and X for a plane 2. Fig. 5 illustrates two cases of plane strain defor-
strain or general prolate strain). eX, for example, com- mation of a cube with sides of length 10 units, one
prises a dilatational component and a non-dilatational without volume change (Fig. 5a) and one with an arbi-
component, the proportions of which may vary. trary amount of dilatation (Fig. 5b). In the isovolu-
However, for a general oblate strain the dilatational metric case the dimensions of the principal axes of the
extensions along the extended axes (X and Y) are in strained cube are X 10:4, Y 10 and Z 9:6, so
the same ratio as the non-dilatational components of eX 0:04, eY 0, eZ 0:04 and eX eY eZ 0
strain on those axes, in accord with St Venant's Dv (Fig. 5a). With volume strain the dimensions of the
Principle (Bowden and Jukes, 1972). For example, principal axes of the strained cube are X 10:8
J. Watterson / Journal of Structural Geology 21 (1999) 939948 945
mine the relative volumetric strains, rather than the (k 0), we should expect an increase in the conjugate
converse. angle containing the Z axis from ca 608 (fault dip 608)
at low conning pressure to 1108 (fault dip 358) at
3.3. Experimental datalow conning pressure high conning pressure. Angles between these limiting
cases will reect the progressive change from maxi-
Lockner et al. (1992) describe uniaxial shortening mum dilatation to isovolumetric failure and the conse-
experiments on sandstone cylinders at a low conning quent progressive changes in zero extension directions.
pressure of 50 MPa. Acoustic emission monitoring The quoted 688 for normal fault dips for plane strain
demonstrated that events, the products of dilatational bulk deformation at low conning pressure is purely il-
cracks, were initially well distributed spatially but lustrative because the amount of dilatation is material
became progressively more spatially restricted to dene dependent. Results reported by Lockner et al. (1992)
the eventual failure surfaces. The failure surfaces are indicate that failure in granite is associated with
clearly dened long before failure occurs with signi- greater relative dilatation than in sandstone at the
cant acoustic emission at 3040% peak stress. The same conning pressure, i.e. faults in granite will be
fracture surfaces, the orientations of which were not steeper than those in sandstone at the same depth.
restricted by specimen geometry, formed at ca 328 to Similarly, dips of normal faults will be expected to be
Z. Many other uniaxial compression experiments on shallower in shales than in sandstones because, for the
rocks at low conning pressures, together with the same conning pressure, dilatational strains will be less
shear fracture orientations, are reported in the litera- in shale than in sandstone. Refraction of faults across
ture with 308 being a typical value for the angle sandstoneshale boundaries is one manifestation of the
between the failure surfaces and the Z axis. Without dierence in dilatancies of these two rock types. The
volume change we would expect a failure surface at change from rock deformation with volume strain to
54.78 to the X axis (Fig. 5b); a failure surface at 308 is isovolumetric strain with increase in conning press-
consistent with Dv eZ 5:0 and shift of the Mohr ure, is illustrated in the two sets of experiments
circle with respect to the origin by Dv/3, with other described below.
parameters as shown in Fig. 6(a). Applying the same
relative dilatation, i.e. Dv eZ 5:0, to the plane 3.4. Experimental datahigh conning pressure
strain case (Fig. 6b) shows a zero extension direction
at 228 to the principal shortening axis, consistent with Loading to failure by axial compression of cylinders
a normal fault dip of 688. The mean dip of normal of Coconino sandstone at a range of conning press-
faults in British Coal Measures is reported to be 698 ures is described by Friedman and Logan (1973).
(Walsh and Watterson, 1988). The dependence of fail- Failure was primarily by the formation of cataclastic
ure directions on bulk strain congurations means that Luders' bands with negligible shear displacement.
the `angle of internal friction' of a material varies not Luders' bands are zones of pure shear deformation
only with conning pressure but also with the strain which may form instead of shear zones when the de-
conguration. It is assumed above that, at the same formation bands can extend to the boundaries of the
conning pressure and with the same material, all deformed volume, but they have the same orientations
strain congurations will be characterised by the same as simple shear bands. The average conjugate angle
value of relative dilatancy, Dv eZ , but this assump- between Luders' bands increased from 75 to 1108 with
tion has not been tested experimentally. increase in conning pressure from 35 to 240 MPa.
It follows from the above that, for plane strain, Shear fractures, or macroscopic faults, which also
angles bisected by the principal shortening axis (Z) formed in some cases make an angle of 24358 with
between conjugate sets of failure surfaces with normal the principal shortening axis. In one case, in which the
dipslip oset should increase with conning pressure, conjugate angle of the Luders' bands was 1108, the
or depth, from ca 448 (dip 688) at depths of 12 km faults are described as conical rather than planar and
corresponding to the 50 MPa conning pressure of the thus conform with the conical locus of zero extension
experiment, to 908 (dip 458) for plastic yield structures directions. Parallel experiments on limestones at con-
which are likely to predominate at conning pressures ning pressures ranging from 0 to 300 MPa provided
greater than ca 300 MPa (see below). Such changes of Luders' bands with conjugate angles increasing from
fault dip with depth are consistent with determinations 73 to 1038 with increase in conning pressure, and
of fault dips from outcrop and earthquake data, which shear fractures with conjugate angles ranging from 37
were also accounted for in terms of failure along zero to 708 although, as the range in a single experiment
extension directions by Walsh and Watterson (1988) can be up to 238, the variation does not correlate with
who also pointed out that normal faults are expected conning pressure.
to become vertical at or near the surface. For the com- On the basis of this experimental data fault dips in
mon experimental conguration of uniaxial shortening sandstones, under plane strain conditions, are expected
J. Watterson / Journal of Structural Geology 21 (1999) 939948 947
to decrease with increasing depth from ca 70 to 458 as soid. The belief that failure planes coincide with
the dilatation preceding failure decreases to zero. circular sections of the strain ellipsoid was widely held
Particularly revealing are the experiments of and applied during the early part of the 20th Century
Anderson (1974) who investigated kink-band for- and was still being taught when I was a student in the
mation by axial compression of cylindrical specimens 1950s. Although Becker's views are now regarded as
of slate, with the cleavage parallel to the cylinder axis. `discredited', justiably so in the case of his misconcep-
Kink-band formation is a typical mode of continuous, tions concerning cleavage, perhaps they deserve more
and presumably constant volume, shear failure in respect than they currently receive because, since his
cleaved rocks and minerals and is equivalent to the time, zero extension directions have been shown exper-
formation of plastic yield zones in less anisotropic imentally to coincide with failure planes in a variety of
rocks and materials. In a series of experiments at con- materials. In plane strain the zero extension directions
ning pressures from 0 to 700 MPa, both shear frac- do coincide with circular sections of the strain ellip-
tures and kink-bands formed at all conning pressures soid, although they do not do so with other strain con-
but with shear fractures predominant up to 300 MPa gurations (Treagus, 1986). While the contemporary
and kink-bands at higher conning pressures. The evidence was against Becker, in so far as normal faults
mean angle between shear fractures and the principal usually dip more steeply than the 458 predicted by his
shortening axis was 30.698 (s.d. 6.98, n 129) in con- theory, what neither Becker nor his critics took into
trast to the mean of 55.48 (s.d. 7.78, n 457) for kink- account is the eect of dilatation on the orientations
bands. For experiments with >5 shear fractures the of zero extension directions; had volume strains been
mean angle between fracture and Z axis increased taken into account, Becker's theory could have pro-
from 26.18 at 50 MPa (n 11) to 34.48 (n 11) at vided a rationale for the dips of many normal faults.
400 MPa, as expected from the earlier discussion on As the purpose of this short article is to stimulate
variations in proportional dilatation. The dilatations structural geologists and others to take a fresh look at
corresponding to these values, when applied to shear the potential of strain geometry for providing new
fracturing in plane strain deformation, predict normal insights into heterogeneous yield structures in rocks,
fault dips of 698 at 50 MPa conning pressure decreas- the arguments and evidence presented are possibly
ing to dips of 608 at a conning pressure of 400 MPa. shorter and more selective than would otherwise be
The mean angle between fractures and the Z axis in expected. In particular, the congruence between princi-
these uniaxial shortening experiments (30.698), equival- pal strain components in the local strain region, in the
ent to a normal fault dip of 698 in plane strain, com- matrix and in the bulk volume is referred to only
pares with the values for sandstones of 308 (Friedman briey. However, if the concept of failure along zero
and Logan, 1973) and 328 (Lockner et al., 1992). The extension directions is basically sound, as I believe it
kink-band conjugate angle of 110.88 is remarkably to be, it can be extended to encompass general strain
close to that of 1108 reported by Friedman and Logan congurations and, eventually, a quantitative under-
(1973) for sandstone at their highest conning pressure standing of the energy costs of shear structures of
(240 MPa) and to the theoretical value of 109.88 not- dierent type and orientation. It is surely axiomatic
withstanding the possible anisotropy of extensional that the structures we observe are those which most
elastic strains induced by the slaty cleavage in eciently accommodate the displacements, or forces,
Anderson's experiments. Anderson (1974) also imposed on volumes of rock. However, the particular
describes structures, referred to as shear zones, inter- theoretical argument used here for the crucial role of
mediate in both deformation mechanism and orien- zero extension directions in shear failure is not the
tation between faults and kink-bands. The results of only one which could be made. Other lines of argu-
Anderson's meticulous experiment, perhaps more than ment which might be used include zero extension direc-
any other data, demonstrate the potential of the zero tions as velocity characteristics (Bransby and Blair-
extension model for the interpretation and understand- Fish, 1975; Jackson et al., 1992), and an argument
ing of geological shear structures. based on the accommodation of displacement gradi-
ents along shear structures.
Although future progress in developing a failure cri-
4. Discussion terion based on strain might be made by traditional
observational methods, it is dicult to see how to
Those with an interest in the history of structural ge- overcome the problem that geological bulk strain, or
ology will recognise some similarity between what is loading, congurations can only be inferred. The same
proposed here and the theory of Becker (1893), who problem applies to stress congurations. As a dedi-
asserted that shear failure occurred parallel to planes cated non-experimentalist, I see an important role for
of no longitudinal strain which were believed to co- innovative experiments. Roscoe's insistence (Roscoe,
incide with circular sections of the (nite) strain ellip- 1970) that attention should be paid to the strains and
948 J. Watterson / Journal of Structural Geology 21 (1999) 939948
structures which precede failure was prescient, so Bauwens, J.C., 1967. Yield conditions and propagation of Luders'
lines in tensiontorsion experiments on Polyvinyl Chloride.
future progress will perhaps emerge from further devel-
Journal of Polymer Science 8 (A-2), 893901.
opment of his radiographic technique. Perhaps then we Becker, G.F., 1893. Finite homogeneous strain, ow and rupture of
can look forward to a time when strain geometry and rocks. Geological Society of America Bulletin 4, 1319.
kinematics are more generally accepted as the standard Bowden, P.B., Jukes, J.A., 1972. The plastic ow of isotropic poly-
tools for interpretation of a variety of geological struc- mers. Journal of Materials Science 7, 5263.
tures and the philosophical concept of stress is Bransby, P.L., Blair-Fish, P.M., 1975. Deformations near rupture
surfaces in owing sand. Geotechnique 25, 384389.
reserved for use only on special occasions. Burland, J.B., 1965. Deformation of soft clay. PhD thesis, University
of Cambridge, UK.
Edelman, H.S., 1989. Limitations of the concept of stress in struc-
5. Conclusions tural analysis. Journal of Geological Education 37, 102106.
Escher, A., Escher, J.C., Watterson, J., 1975. The reorientation of
the Kangamiut dike swarm, West Greenland. Canadian Journal
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(ii) The crucial dierence between plastic and
deformed sandstone and limestone. Bulletin of the Geological
`brittle' failure modes is that the former generally is Society of America 84, 14651476.
isovolumetric and the latter is preceded by dilata- Hagan, J.T., 1980. Shear deformation under pyramidal indentations
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in the deforming Aegean Sea region determined from the moment
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(iv) The dierence in conjugate angles between Lockner, D.A., Byerlee, J.D., Kuksenko, V., Ponomarev, A.,
faults (<908) and plastic shear zones (r908) is a Sidorin, A., 1992. Observations of quasistatic fault growth from
consequence of the dilatation associated with fault- acoustic emissions. In: Evans, B., Wong, T.F. (Eds.), Fault
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Acknowledgements Structural Geology. In: Folds and Fractures, Volume 2.
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Thanks are due to my colleagues in the Liverpool Geotechnique 20, 129170.
Fault Analysis Group for support and for constructive Rutter, E.H., 1986. On the nomenclature of mode of failure tran-
comments on the manuscript. I am grateful to Chris sitions in rocks. Tectonophysics 122, 381387.
Talbot for providing the data and sketch for Fig. 3, to Sano, M., 1981. Inuence of strain rate on dilatancy and strength of
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Sue Treagus for advice on the Mohr construction and Geophysical Research 86 (B10), 92999311.
to Richard Lisle and John Cosgrove for helpful Taylor, G.I., 1938. Plastic strain in metals. Journal of the Institute of
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