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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]

Abstract: “Fault drag” (deflection of beds or other markers into folds that are convex in the direction of relative slip) is often interpreted as the product of frictional sliding along a fault and progressive tilting of beds with increased amount of displacement along a fault. We analyze two sets of normal faults, with throws ranging from 0.5m to 5m, and associated fault-related folds in mechanically layered upper Cretaceous carbonate, anhydrite, and shale in central Texas. For each fault set, we interpret the fault displacement and fault-related folds exposed in outcrop to represent different stages in the developmental sequence. In both fault sets, faults in dolostone or limestone lose displacement and tip into less competent anhydrite or shale where deformation is accommodated by folding and smaller scale deformation. Fold wavelength is established early and at small displacement (<1m throw). With increasing displacement the monoclinal fold limb steepens and is extended parallel to bedding, locally producing boudinage in the most competent bed between incompetent beds. Clay smear is well developed where a 0.35m thick clay shale is locally thinned to 0.1m associated with fault throws of 0.5 to 5m. Bed tilting and the development of apparent drag is not the product of frictional sliding but instead folding at the tip of an arrested, in this case upwardly, propagating normal fault. We conclude that synthetic dip associated with steep normal faults (i.e., fault drag) should not be assumed to be the product of frictional drag, but must be considered in the context of the mechanical stratigraphy. Instead, fault-tip folding in mechanically layered rocks produces synthetic dip (drag) early in the fault development history prior to propagation of the fault tip through the folded layer. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Fine-grained low permeability sedimentary rocks, such as shale and mudrock, have drawn attention as unconventional hydrocarbon reservoirs. Fracturing – both natural and induced – is extremely important for increasing permeability in otherwise low-permeability rock. We analyze natural extension fracture networks within a complete measured outcrop section of the Ernst Member of the Boquillas Formation in Big Bend National Park, west Texas. Results of bed-center, dip-parallel scanline surveys demonstrate nearly identical fracture strikes and slight variation in dip between mudrock, chalk, and limestone beds. Fracture spacing tends to increase proportional to bed thickness in limestone and chalk beds; however, dramatic differences in fracture spacing are observed in mudrock. A direct relationship is observed between fracture spacing/thickness ratio and rock competence. Vertical fracture penetrations measured from the middle of chalk and limestone beds generally extend to and often beyond bed boundaries into the vertically adjacent mudrock beds. In contrast, fractures in the mudrock beds rarely penetrate beyond the bed boundaries into the adjacent carbonate beds. Consequently, natural bed-perpendicular fracture connectivity through the mechanically layered sequence generally is poor. Fracture connectivity strongly influences permeability architecture, and fracture prediction should consider thin bed-scale control on fracture heights and the strong lithologic control on fracture spacing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A 1.5 km long natural cliff outcrop of nearly horizontal Eagle Ford Formation in south Texas exposes northwest and southeast dipping normal faults with displacements of 0.01–7 m cutting mudrock, chalk, limestone, and volcanic ash. These faults provide analogs for both natural and hydraulically-induced deformation in the productive Eagle Ford Formation – a major unconventional oil and gas reservoir in south Texas, U.S.A. – and other mechanically layered hydrocarbon reservoirs. Fault dips are steep to vertical through chalk and limestone beds, and moderate through mudrock and clay-rich ash, resulting in refracted fault profiles. Steeply dipping fault segments contain rhombohedral calcite veins that cross the fault zone obliquely, parallel to shear segments in mudrock. The vertical dimensions of the calcite veins correspond to the thickness of offset competent beds with which they are contiguous, and the slip parallel dimension is proportional to fault displacement. Failure surface characteristics, including mixed tensile and shear segments, indicate hybrid failure in chalk and limestone, whereas shear failure predominates in mudrock and ash beds – these changes in failure mode contribute to variation in fault dip. Slip on the shear segments caused dilation of the steeper hybrid segments. Tabular sheets of calcite grew by repeated fault slip, dilation, and cementation. Fluid inclusion and stable isotope geochemistry analyses of fault zone cements indicate episodic reactivation at 1.4–4.2 km depths. The results of these analyses document a dramatic bed-scale lithologic control on fault zone architecture that is directly relevant to the development of porosity and permeability anisotropy along faults. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Field observations and structural analysis of a 50-m-wavelength gentle anticline document bed-parallel fibrous gypsum veins ("beef") and calcite veins associated with contractional folding in the Boquillas Formation, east of Langtry, west Texas. Gypsum beef veins with bed-perpendicular fibers accommodated vertical extension of 13% in the anticline, diminishing to 0% in adjacent synclines. Bed-parallel calcite veins accommodated 0–4% vertical extension across the structure, with no clear correspondence of vein distribution to structural position. Homogenization temperatures from two-phase fluid inclusions in calcite veins indicate trapping depths of 2.0–2.7 km. Source rock analysis from unoxidized organic-rich mudrock at the site shows that the rocks never reached hydrocarbon maturation conditions, therefore vein formation cannot be explained by in situ hydrocarbon expulsion. Bed-parallel veins with vertical or bed-perpendicular fibers document a thrust faulting stress regime during contractional folding near the frontal limit of Laramide deformation. Gypsum vein formation may be related to meteoric water interacting with pyrite or H 2 S to form sulfuric acid, dissolution of carbonate, and deposition of gypsum as an auxiliary mineral. Switching between calcite and gypsum mineralization suggests opening and closing of fault and fracture controlled fluid pathways during deformation. • Gentle anticline in mudrock contains calcite veins and fibrous gypsum beef. • Gypsum beef accommodated 13% vertical extension in anticline, 0% in synclines. • Beef formed during amplification of Laramide detachment fold. • Beef not associated with in situ hydrocarbon expulsion. • Switching between calcite and gypsum mineralization records changing fluid sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]