The analysis of en-echelon veins

PAUL L. H A N C O C K

(Plates 1-4)

Summary. Measurements of en-echelon veins cutting small chevron folds in Carboniferous

greywackes, near Hartland in Devon, allow the following new conclusions about
naturally occurring second-order fractures to be stated. 1. Veins may be initiated between
10° and 46° to the shear zone in which they occur. Previous studies of en-echelon frac-
tures have generally classified them as either tension gashes formed at 45° to an array, or
Riedel shears at 15° to an array. 2. Veins at about 20° to 40° to an array probably occupy
surfaces which are transitional between shear and extension fractures. 3. Proof of a
component of shear, in addition to dilation, on many of the veins at less than 40° to an
array is provided by crystal fibres at acute angles to vein margins, and third-order
en-ichelon veins in arrays which are parallel to and part of a set of second-order veins.

1. Introduction
Arrays of en-echelon and pinnate quartz veins cut the limbs of four adjacent
small chevron folds on Blegberry Beach (National Grid Reference SS 225260)
about 2 km south of Hartland Point in Devon. This note describes those aspects
of the geometry and kinematics of the veins which enable a new interpretation
of the mechanics of en-echelon vein development to be made. Most previous
studies of en-echelon veins have interpreted them as occupying either extension
gashes formed at about 45° to a shear zone, or, less commonly, Riedel shears
formed at about 15° to a shear zone. The observations from Hartland indicate
that this view requires modification to allow for veins which are initiated at
angles between 15° and 45° to a shear zone, and which may occupy surfaces
transitional between shear and extension fractures.
The 'Culm' succession at Blegberry is part of the Welcombe Formation of
Westphalian age which was deformed during the Variscan orogeny (Edmonds,
McKeown & Williams, 1969). In the sampled folds the sequence comprises about
50 m of greywackes alternating with, and grading into, indurated mudstones. The
axial planes of the chevron folds are about 10 to 20 m apart and dip at 70° to
85° south. The nearly horizontal fold axes trend 080°-260°. The north dipping
limbs are shorter and more steeply inclined than the south dipping limbs.
During the survey three-dimensional orientations were measured wherever
possible, but because many arrays and veins are exposed only as traces on the
bedding, their angular relations were recorded as pitches within the plane of the
bedding. The geometry and dimensions of 920 veins in 40 arrays, or sections of a
single array of differing character along its length, were sampled. Figure 1
illustrates the dimensions and angles measured during the survey and the geo-
metrical notation used in this account.
As is well-known, en-echelon and pinnate fractures are features of many
shear zones along which high effective shearing stresses are concentrated. If the
fracture array is considered as a first-order shear zone, the en-echelon fractures
Geol. Mag. 109 (3), 1972, pp. 269-276. Printed in Great Britain.

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270 PAUL L. HANCOCK

y/*2e'\i
en-echelon arrangement

aw. pinnate
g..^ arrangement

--r,-A strike of bedding

5
' « \

i buckled en-echelon
veins and deflections

|C7" of other veins

\ \ fen -echelon
j , ! third-order
crystal fibres ^ veins
at acute angle 'A
to vein walls pinnate third-
order veins

first-order vein passes*

into array of second-
I minor faulting order veins

Figure la. Schematic diagram of the geometrical aspects of en-6chelon and pinnate
veins. The structures are shown as traces on a bedding plane.
a.l.—array length, a.w.—array width, a.s.—array separation, v.l.—vein length, v.t.—
vein thickness, v.s.—vein separation.
Figure 16. Minor structures indicative of shear on veins.

are the result of secondary stresses set up by a shear couple acting along the zone
(Fig. 2a). As has been indicated already, they are conventionally classified as
either tension gashes initiated at 45° to an array, and perpendicular to the direc-
tion of the secondary minimum principal stress axis (a'^), or Riedel shears at
about 15° and 75° to an array, and at 30° to the direction of the secondary*
maximum principal stress axis (a[') (Wilson, 1970). As Price (1970) has suggested,
many en-echelon gash veins are probably hydraulic fractures. Significant strain

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The analysis of en-echelon veins 271

Figure 2a. Conventional interpretation of en-echelon and pinnate fractures with respect
to primary and secondary stresses. T—tension fracture at 45° to an array, Ri and R2—
Riedel shears at 15° and 75° to an array, Sc'—primary shear couple, Sc"—secondary
shear couple which may give rise to third-order fractures. <Ti and <r3' —primary maximum
and minimum principal stresses, a\ and a'i—secondary maximum and minimum princi-
pal stresses, 0—angle between shear fracture and <Ti.
Figure 2b. Pinnate, antithetic conjugate shear fractures at 60° to a fault.

following the initiation of an en-echelon fracture set gives sigmoidally folded

tension gashes and faulting on Riedel shears.
Pinnate veins are en-echelon structures which branch diagonally from one
side of a master fracture. Some pinnate veins are tension gashes or Riedel shears
but others are conjugate, antithetic shears at about 60° to the master fracture
(Fig. 2b). En-echelon and pinnate fractures are useful kinematic indicators which
face against the sense of slip along a shear zone.

2. General features of the Hartland veins and arrays

In 26 of the arrays the veins are arranged en-ichelon (Plate 1), while in 14 arrays
they are pinnate to a master vein which is parallel to the array (Plate 2). The
quartz in the pinnate veins either merges with that of the master vein or is cut
by it. The position of the master vein is probably controlled by a locus of points
which is formed by the tips of the second-order veins, where the greatest concen-

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272 PAUL L. HANCOCK

trations of residual stress will have occurred. The traces on bedding planes of
second-order veins are generally 5 to 50 cm long, 1 to 40 mm thick and separated
by 1 to 10 cm. Arrays are about 1 to 10 m long, about 4 to 15 cm wide and spaced
about 10 cm to 10 m apart. The average number of veins per array is 26, the
range being from 4 to 85.
Only the greywackes are cut by the veins which die out in the indurated
mudstones. Their restriction to greywackes may be controlled by porosity and
intrinsic permeability during hydraulic fracturing.
Most arrays and veins are approximately perpendicular to the bedding, 31
arrays pitching at 50° or more, and 7 pitching at 30° or less. A few nearly vertical
arrays which strike NE-SW are oblique to the bedding. As viewed on upward
facing bedding planes, the sense of shear along 27 arrays is dextral trace-slip,
along the remaining 13 arrays it is sinistral trace-slip. Some nearly parallel arrays
display opposite senses of trace-slip (Plate lb). The sense of shear which can be
inferred from the arrangement of veins in an array, is confirmed for some of
them by minor trace-slip faulting, the sigmoidal distortion of veins, and the
deflection of other veins as they cross an array (Plate 3).

3. Angular relations between veins and arrays

The angle between the traces on the bedding of a planar second-order vein and
the array in which it is contained is called here <5i. At Hartland the range of <5i
angles is from 10° to 46°, and as Figure 3 shows there are weak maxima at 15°
to 20° and 25° to 30°. Veins in any array are subparallel and generally lie less than
10° away from the mean. Although a few 8t angles may be less than the solid
angle between veins and arrays, most are probably about the same. As the angles
relate to planar unstrained veins which are not parallel to pre-existing fractures,
it is concluded that many veins were initiated at angles of less than 45° to an
array. The absence of pinnate veins at about 60° to master veins indicates that
antithetic conjugate shears are not developed.
Lajtai (1969) has shown that second-order tension fractures, associated with

O
t 5-
o

0* 5° 10* 15' 20° 25° 30° 35* 40° 45* 50°

Angle (S,) between veins and arrays

Figure 3. Histogram of the angle (Si) between veins and 40 arrays at Blegberry.

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The analysis of en-echelon veins 273

-2T -T T 2T 3T 4T
Normal stress
Figure 4. A typical composite failure envelope showing variation in the value of the
conjugate-shear angle (20). T—tensile strength of rock. Failure envelope after Secor
(1965, fig. 3).

faults in plaster of Paris subjected to direct shear tests, form at 0° to 90° to the
shear according to the value of the normal stress (c«) across the shear. When a.
is negative and equal to the tensile strength of the material the angle is 0°, when
tra is zero the angle is 45°, and when a. is high it approaches 90°. If Lajtai's
explanation applies to the Hartland veins it is necessary to prove that they occupy
fractures which are wholly extensional.
An alternative explanation for the range of observed <$i angles can be
appreciated by considering a typical composite failure envelope (Fig. 4). When
the value of <r3 is equal to the tensile strength of a rock a single set of extension
fractures normal to the direction ofCT3and parallel to the direction of ax will be
formed. The conjugate-shear angle (20) between these fractures can be thought
of as being 0°. When a3 is greater than about four times the tensile strength of
the rock, there will be failure on one or both of two sets of shears enclosing a 20
angle of approximately 60° symmetrically about the direction of oi. When the
value of a3 lies between the tensile strength of a rock and about four times its
tensile strength, there may be failure on one or both of two sets of surfaces
enclosing a small 20 angle about the direction of <xi. These surfaces belong to the
transition between shear and extension fractures.
Relative to the rearranged or secondary stress field in a shear zone, it is'
possible to interpret the Hartland veins at about 10° to 20° to an array as occupy-
ing one of the Riedel shear sets at about 30° to o{'. Veins at about 40° to 45° to
an array are probably single extension fractures formed parallel to a". Veins at
20° to 40° to an array may occupy one of the sets of small dihedral angle fractures
at about 5° to 25° to a". This explanation for the range of observed <51 angles is
favoured here because there is evidence for a component of shear, in addition to
dilation, along some of the second-order veins.

4. The evidence for shear on veins

The sense of slip along en-ichelon and pinnate veins at less than about 40° to
an array is the same as that along the shear zone in which they are contained
(Fig. \b). The angle A between the fibres of quartz crystals and the margins of a

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274 PAUL L. HANCOCK

vein, which indicates the direction of stretching or vein opening, is generally

about 50°; thus demonstrating that when some veins were formed there was both
dilation and shear on the fracture. Along some veins, especially those at a small
angle to an array, there is minor trace-slip faulting (Plate 4). Further evidence
of shear is provided by en-echelon and pinnate veins in arrays which are parallel
to and part of a set of second-order veins (Fig. 1 and Plate 1). The average value
of the angle S2 between these possibly third-order veins and the second-order
arrays containing them is 13°. Thus they are probably third-order Riedel shears.
The quartz in an array of third-order veins probably joins that in an underlying
second-order vein a few mm or cm below the bedding surface on which they are
exposed. An analogous situation where a zone of en-echelon gashes on one side
of a small hand-specimen of 'Culm' is continued by a single veinlet on the other
is illustrated by Wilson (1970, pi. 19B). At Blegberry, third-order veins are
developed along only 3 out of 920 second-order directions. This probably
reflects how rarely sufficient energy for crack initiation is generated by tertiary
stress field.

5. Conclusions
The geometry of en-echelon and pinnate quartz veins at Blegberry, near Hartland,
allows some new conclusions about the formation of second-order veins in shear
zones to be stated. The field evidence indicates that the range of initial angles
between veins and the shear zones containing them may be as wide as 10° to
46°. Previous studies of en-echelon fractures have suggested that they develop as
either Riedel shears, at about 15° to an array and 30° to the direction of the
secondary maximum principal stress, or tension gashes, at about 45° to an array
and perpendicular to the direction of the secondary minimum principal stress.
It is proposed here that veins at about 10° to 20° to an array occupy Riedel shears,
those at 20° to 40° belong to the transition between shear and extension fractures,
and those at 40° to 45° are extension fractures. Proof of a component of shear,
in addition to dilation, on many veins at less than 40° to an array, is provided by
crystal fibres at an acute angle to vein margins, faulting on veins, and third-order
•veins in arrays which are parallel to and part of a set of second-order veins.

Acknowledgements. I thank Drs N. J. Price and B. E. Leake for useful discussions during
the course of this work; Mrs Alma Gregory for drawing the figures; and Mr R. Godwin
for taking the photographs. The University of Bristol financed the field work.

References
Edmonds, E. A., McKeown, M. C. & Williams, M. 1969. South-West England. Brit.
Reg. Geol. 3rd ed. H.M.S.O., London.
Lajtai, E. Z. 1969. Mechanics of Second Order Faults and Tension Gashes. Bull. geol.
Soc. Amer. 80, 2253-72.

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The analysis of en-echelon veins 275

Price, N. J. 1970. Laws of Rock Behaviour in the Earth's Crust. In (Ed.): W. H. Somer-
ton, Rock Mechanics Theory and Practice 11th Symposium, on Rock Mechanics.
Soc. Min. Eng., 3-23.
Secor, D. T. 1965. Role of Fluid Pressure in Jointing. Am. J. Sci. 263, 633^*6.
Wilson, G. 1970. Wrench Movements in the Aristarchus Region of the Moon. Proc. Geol.
Assoc. 81, 595-608.
Department of Geology
Queen's Building
University Walk
Bristol BS8 1TR

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276 The analysis of en-echelon veins

EXPLANATION OF PLATES
Plate 1. An array of second-order en-ichelon quartz veins exposed on the top of an
inclined bed of greywacke. One second-order direction (A) is defined by a set of three
en-echelon third-order veins. The scale rule is marked in mm and is orientated parallel
to the direction of the dip of the beds. Blegberry Beach, Hartland.
Plate 2. Three arrays of en-echelon second-order quartz veins exposed on the top of an
inclined bed of greywacke. The sense of shear along the adjacent nearly parallel arrays
(A) and (B) is opposite. There is an array of small pinnate veins at (C). Scale rule as in
Plate 1. Blegberry Beach, Hartland.
Plate 3. An array of distorted en-ichelon veins exposed on the top of a moderately in-
clined bed of greywacke. A vein at a high angle to the array is deflected as it crosses the
shear zone. Surprisingly it cuts one of the en-dchelon veins. Scale rule as in Plate 1.
Blegberry Beach, Hartland.
Plate 4. Dextral trace-slip faulting on two second-order en-echelon veins at small angles
to the array. The structures are exposed on the top of a moderately inclined bed of
greywacke. The pen is 15 cm long and is parallel to the direction of dip of the bed.
Blegberry Beach, Hartland.

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Geol. Mag. Vol. 109, 1972, Hancock, Plates 1-4, between pp. 276 and 277.

Plate 1. An array of second-order en-echelon quartz veins

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Geol. Mag. Vol. 109, 1972, Hancock, Plate 2.

I ^

• / : • ' ,

' - A ' " * .

•Wi

Plate 2. Three arrays of en-echelon second-order quartz veins

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 s.
a

7?
O

Plate 3. An array of distorted en-echelon veins

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Geol. Mag. Vol. 109, 1972, Hancock, Plate 4.

Plate 4. Dextral trace-slip faulting on veins

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