Search

Mechanical stratigraphy encompasses the mechanical properties, thicknesses, and interface properties of rock units. Although mechanical stratigraphy often relates directly to lithostratigraphy, lithologic description alone does not adequately describe mechanical behavior. Analyses of normal faults with displacements of millimeters to 10's of kilometers in mechanically layered rocks reveal that mechanical stratigraphy influences nucleation, failure mode, fault geometry, displacement gradient, displacement distribution, fault core and damage zone characteristics, and fault zone deformation processes. The relationship between normal faulting and mechanical stratigraphy can be used either to predict structural style using knowledge of mechanical stratigraphy, or conversely to interpret mechanical stratigraphy based on characterization of the structural style. This review paper explores a range of mechanical stratigraphic controls on normal faulting illustrated by natural and modeled examples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We suggest that faults in high slip tendency orientations tend to develop larger displacements than other faults. Consequently, faults that accumulate larger displacements are more likely to be reliable indicators of the longer term stress field and should be weighted accordingly in paleostress estimation. Application of a stress inversion technique that uses slip tendency analyses and fault displacements to interpret populations of coherent normal faults within the Balcones Fault System of south-central Texas provides stress estimates that are consistent with established regional stress analyses. Although the method does not require measurement of slip directions, these data, where available, and sensitivity analyses of the angular mismatch between measured slip directions and those predicted by inverted stress states provide high confidence in the stress estimates generated using slip tendency analyses. Close inspection of the fault orientation and displacement data further indicates that subpopulations of faults with orientations different from the regional pattern have formed in response to stress perturbations generated by displacement gradients on an adjacent seismic scale fault. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The in situ stress state is an important controlling factor for the slip behavior of faults and fractures in the earth''s crust and hence for the productivity of faulted and fractured hydrocarbon reservoirs. Current methods for stress tensor estimation rely on slip vector field data; however, this information is not generally available from data sets that are commonly used in the oil and gas industry. This work presents a new stress inversion approach where slip tendency is used as a proxy for fault displacement, which can easily be extracted from data sets routinely used by the oil and gas industry. The inversion approach is demonstrated using a data set obtained from the Canyon Lake Gorge in Comal County, Texas. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: In normal faulting regimes, the magnitudes and orientations of the maximum and minimum principal compressive stresses may be known with some confidence. However, the magnitude of the intermediate principal compressive stress is generally much more difficult to constrain and is often not considered to be an important factor. In this paper, we show that the slip characteristics of faults and fractures with complex or nonoptimal geometry are highly sensitive to variation or uncertainty in the ambient effective intermediate principal stress (σ′2). Optimally oriented faults and fractures may be less sensitive to such variations or uncertainties. Slip tendency (T s) analysis provides a basis for quantifying the effects of uncertainty in the magnitudes and orientations of all principal stresses and in any stress regime, thereby focusing efforts on the most important components of the system. We also show, for a normal faulting stress regime, that the proportion of potential surfaces experiencing high slip tendency (e.g., T s ≥0.6) decreases from a maximum of about 38% where σ′2 = σ′3, to a minimum of approximately 14% where σ′2 is halfway between σ′3 and σ′1, and increases to another high of approximately 29% where σ′2 = σ′1. This analysis illustrates the influence of the magnitude of σ′2 on rock mass strength, an observation previously documented by experimental rock deformation studies. Because of the link between fault and fracture slip characteristics and transmissivity in critically stressed rock, this analysis can provide new insights into stress-controlled fault transmissivity. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]