Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cb9f654ff-w5vf4 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-08-04T08:04:34.118Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

14 - Evolution of faults

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2012

Agust Gudmundsson
Agust Gudmundsson
Affiliation:
Royal Holloway, University of London
Get access

Summary

Aims

How faults transport crustal fluids is important in many fields of earth sciences, such as petroleum geology, geothermal research, volcanology, seismology, and hydrogeology. In order to understand the permeability evolution and maintenance of a fault zone, its internal hydromechanical structure and associated local stresses and mechanical properties must be known. The internal structure and, therefore, the local stresses in turn depend to a large degree on how the fault zone develops through time. The principal aims of this chapter are to present the current understanding of:

  • How faults initiate and grow.

  • The formation and development of the fault core.

  • The formation and development of the fault damage zone.

  • Local stresses within fault zones and their effects on permeability.

  • The evolution of fault slip.

Initiation of faults

General

Faults, like any other tectonic fractures, initiate from existing weaknesses in the rock. Most weaknesses are joints and contacts/interfaces of various types. The basic theory of fracture initiation, including that of faults, is due to Griffith (1924). Earlier, the Griffith theory was discussed in connection with rock failure (Chapter 7), fracture mechanics (Chapter 10), and the maximum depth of tension fractures (Chapter 8). Here we use Griffith theory to explain the initiation of shear fractures from existing joints and other weaknesses in the host rock.

Information

Type
Chapter
Information
Rock Fractures in Geological Processes , pp. 416 - 465
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2011

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Book purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Acocella, V., 2008. Transform faults or overlapping spreading centers? Oceanic ridge interaction revealed by analogue models. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 265, 379–385.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Acocella, V., Morvillo, P., and Funiciello, R., 2005. What controls relay ramps and transfer faults within rift zones? Insights from analogue models. Journal of Structural Geology, 27, 397–408.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Amadei, B. and Stephansson, O., 1997. Rock Stress and its Measurement. London: Chapman & Hall.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Asaro, R. J. and Lubarda, V. A., 2006. Mechanics of Solids and Materials. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bell, F. G., 2000. Engineering Properties of Soils and Rocks, 4th edn. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Brace, W. F., 1960. An extension of the Griffith theory of fracture to rock. Journal of Geophysical Research, 65, 3477–3480.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Broberg, K. B., 1999. Cracks and Fracture. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Bruhn, R. L., Parry, W. T., Yonkee, W. A. and Thompson, T., 1994. Fracturing and hydrothermal alteration in normal fault zones. Pure and Applied Geophysics, 142, 609–644.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carmichael, R. S., 1989. Practical Handbook of Physical Properties of Rocks and Minerals. London: CRC Press.Google Scholar
Cartwright, J. A., Trudgill, B. D., and Mansfield, C. S., 1995. Fault growth by segment linkage – an explanation for scatter in maximum displacement and trace length data from the Canyonlands Grabens of SE Utah. Journal of Structural Geolology, 17, 1319–1326.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cox, S.J. D. and Scholz, C. H., 1988. On the formation and growth of faults: an experimental study. Journal of Structural Geology, 10, 413–430.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dally, J. W. and Riley, W. F., 1977. Experimental Stress Analysis, 2nd edn. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Du, Y. and Aydin, A., 1991. Interaction of multiple cracks and formation of echelon crack arrays. International Journal for Numerical and Analytical Methods in Geomechanics, 15, 205–218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dundurs, J., 1969. Edge-bonded dissimilar orthogonal wedges. Journal of Applied Mechanics, 36, 650–652.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Eshelby, J. D., 1957. The determination of the elastic field of an ellipsoidal inclusion, and related problems. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London, A241, 376–396.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Evans, J. P., Forster, C. B., and Goddard, J.V., 1997. Permeability of fault-related rocks, and implications for hydraulic structure of fault zones. Journal of Structural Geolology, 19, 1393–1404.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Farmer, I., 1983. Engineering Behaviour of Rocks, 2nd edn. London: Chapman & Hall.Google Scholar
Faulkner, D. R., Mitchell, T. M., Healy, D., and Heap, M. J., 2006. Slip on ‘weak’ faults by the rotation of regional stress in the fracture damage zone. Nature, 444, 922–925.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Forslund, T. and Gudmundsson, A., 1992. Structure of Tertiary and Pleistocene normal faults in Iceland. Tectonics, 11, 57–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Freund, L. B. and Suresh, S., 2003. Thin Film Materials: Stress, Defect Formation and Surface Evolution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Gray, T. G. F., 1992. Handbook of Crack Opening Data. Cambridge: Abingdon.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Griffith, A. A., 1920. The phenomena of rupture and flow in solids. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London, A221, 163–198.Google Scholar
Griffith, A. A., 1924. Theory of rupture: In: Biezeno, C. B. and Burgers, J. M. (eds.), Proceedings of the First International Congress on Applied Mechanics. Delft: Waltman, pp. 55–63.Google Scholar
Gudmundsson, A., 1987. Geometry, formation and development of tectonic fractures on the Reykjanes Peninsula, southwest Iceland. Tectonophysics, 139, 295–308.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gudmundsson, A., 1988. Effect of tensile stress concentration around magma chambers on intrusion and extrusion frequencies. Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, 35, 179–194.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gudmundsson, A., 1992. Formation and growth of normal faults at the divergent plate boundary in Iceland. Terra Nova, 4, 464–471.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gudmundsson, A., 2000. Dynamics of volcanic systems in Iceland. Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 28, 107–140.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gudmundsson, A., 2007. Infrastructure and evolution of ocean-ridge discontinuities in Iceland. Journal of Geodynamics, 43, 6–29.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gudmundsson, A. and Homberg, C., 1999. Evolution of stress fields and faulting in seismic zones. Pure and Applied Geophysics, 154, 257–280.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gudmundsson, A., Brynjolfsson, S., and Jonsson, M. T., 1993. Structural analysis of a transform fault-rift zone junction in North Iceland. Tectonophysics, 220, 205–221.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gudmundsson, A., Gjesdal, O., Brenner, S.L. and Fjeldskaar, I., 2003. Effects of growth of fractures through linking up of discontinuities on groundwater transport. Hydrogeology Journal, 11, 84–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gudmundsson, A., Simmenes, T. H., Larsen, B., and Philipp, S. L., 2010. Effects of internal structure and local stresses onfracture propagation, deflection, and arrest in fault zones. Journal of Structural Geology, document doi:10.1016/j.jsg.2009.08.013.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haimson, B. and Rummel, F., 1982. Hydrofracturing stress measurements in the Iceland research drilling project drill hole at Reydarfjordur, Iceland. Journal of Geophysical Research, 87, 6631–6649.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
He, M. Y. and Hutchison, J. W., 1989. Crack deflection at an interface between dissimilar elastic materials. International Journal of Solids and Structures, 25, 1053–1067.Google Scholar
He, M. Y., Evans, A. G., and Hutchinson, J. W., 1994. Crack deflection at an interface between dissimilar elastic materials: role of residual stresses. International Journal of Solids and Structures, 31, 3443–3455.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hoek, E., 2000. Practical Rock Engineering, available at http://www.rockscience.com.
Hudson, J. A. and Harrison, J. P., 1997. Engineering Rock Mechanics. An Introduction to the Principles. Oxford: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Hutchison, J. W., 1996. Stresses and failure modes in thin films and multilayers. Notes for a DCAMM Course. Lyngby: Technical University of Denmark, pp. 1–45.Google Scholar
Jaeger, J. C., Cook, N. G. W., and Zimmerman, R. W., 2007. Fundamentals of Rock Mechanics, 4th edn. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Jumikis, A. R., 1979. Rock Mechanics. Clausthal, Germany: Trans Tech Publications.Google Scholar
Kanamori, H. and Anderson, D. L., 1975. Theoretical basis of some empirical relations in seismology. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 65, 1073–1095.Google Scholar
Kasahara, K., 1981. Earthquake Mechanics. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Lange, F. F., 1968. Interaction between overlapping parallel cracks: a photoelastic study. International Journal of Fracture Mechanics, 4, 287–294.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Larsen, B., Grunnaleite, I., and Gudmundsson, A., 2009. How fracture systems affect permeability development in shallow-water carbonate rocks: an example from the Gargano Peninsula, Italy. Journal of Structural Geology, doi:10.1016/jsg.2009.05.009Google Scholar
Larsen, B., Gudmundsson, A., Grunnaleite, I., Sælen, G., Talbot, M. R., and Buckley, S., 2010. Effects of sedimentary interfaces on fracture pattern, linkage, and cluster formation in peritidal carbonate rocks. Marine and Petroleum Geology, doi: 10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2010.03.011.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lin, J. and Parmentier, E. M., 1988. Quasi-static propagation of a normal fault: a fracture mechanics model. Journal of Structural Geology, 10, 249–262.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McClay, K. R. and White, M. J., 1995. Analog modelling of orthogonal and oblique rifting. Marine and Petroleum Geology, 12, 137–151.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McClintock, F.A. and Walsh, J. B., 1962. Friction on Griffith cracks in rocks under pressure. In: Proceedings of the Fourth US National Congress on Applied Mechanics, Vol. 2. New York: American Society of Mechanical Engineers, pp. 1015–1021.Google Scholar
Melin, S., 1983. Why do cracks avoid each other?International Journal of Fracture, 23, 37–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Myrvang, A., 2001. Rock Mechanics. Trondheim: Norway University of Technology (NTNU), (in Norwegian).Google Scholar
Nemat-Nasser, S. and Hori, M., 1999. Micromechanics. Overall Properties of Heterogeneous Materials, 2nd edn. Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Nilsen, B. and Palmström, A., 2000. Engineering Geology and Rock Engineering. Oslo: Norwegian Soil and Rock Engineering Association (NJFF).Google Scholar
Paterson, M. S. and Wong, T. W., 2005. Experimental Rock Deformation–the Brittle Field, 2nd edn. Berlin: Springer-Verlag.Google Scholar
Peng, A. and Johnson, A.M., 1972. Crack growth and faulting in cylindrical specimens of the Chelmsford Granite. International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences, 9, 37–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pollard, D. D. and Aydin, A., 1984. Propagation and linkage of oceanic ridge segments. Journal of Geophysical Research, 89, 10017–10028.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Priest, S. D., 1993. Discontinuity Analysis for Rock Engineering. London: Chapman & Hall.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Qu, J. and Cherkaoui, M., 2006. Fundamentals of Micromechanics of Solids. New Jersey: Wiley.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sadd, M. H., 2005. Elasticity: Theory, Applications, and Numerics. Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Savin, G. N., 1961. Stress Concentration Around Holes. New York: Pergamon.Google Scholar
Scholz, C. H., 1990. The Mechanics of Earthquakes and Faulting. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Schön, J. H., 2004. Physical Properties of Rocks: Fundamentals and Principles of Petrophysics. Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Seront, B., Wong, T. F., Caine, J. S., Forster, C. B., and Bruhn, R. L., 1998. Laboratory characterisation of hydromechanical properties of a seismogenic normal fault system. Journal of Structural Geology, 20, 865–881.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shimada, M., 2000. Mechanical Behaviour of Rocks Under High Pressure Conditions. Rotterdam: Balkema.Google Scholar
Sheorey, P. R., 1997. Empirical Rock Failure Criteria. Rotterdam: Balkema.Google Scholar
Sneddon, I. N. and Lowengrub, M., 1969. Crack Problems in the Classical Theory of Elasticity. New York: Wiley.Google Scholar
Tada, H., Paris, P. C., and Irwin, G. R., 2000. The Stress Analysis of Cracks Handbook, 3rd edn. New York: American Society of Mechanical Engineers.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Walsh, J. J., Nicol, A., and Childs, C., 2002. An alternative model for the growth of fault. Journal of Structural Geology, 24, 1669–1675.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wang, P. and Xu, L. R., 2006. Dynamic interfacial debonding initiation induced by an incident crack. International Journal of Solids and Structures, 43, 6535–6550.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Xu, L. R., Huang, Y.Y., and Rosakis, A. J., 2003. Dynamics crack deflection and penetration at interfaces in homogeneous materials: experimental studies and model predictions. Journal of the Mechanics and Physics of Solids, 51, 461–486.Google Scholar

Accessibility standard: Unknown

Accessibility compliance for the PDF of this book is currently unknown and may be updated in the future.

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

  • Evolution of faults
  • Agust Gudmundsson, Royal Holloway, University of London
  • Book: Rock Fractures in Geological Processes
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511975684.015
Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

  • Evolution of faults
  • Agust Gudmundsson, Royal Holloway, University of London
  • Book: Rock Fractures in Geological Processes
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511975684.015
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • Evolution of faults
  • Agust Gudmundsson, Royal Holloway, University of London
  • Book: Rock Fractures in Geological Processes
  • Online publication: 05 June 2012
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511975684.015
Available formats
×