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Faults are primary focuses of both fluid migration and deformation in the upper crust. The recognition that faults are typically heterogeneous zones of deformed material, not simple discrete fractures, has fundamental implications for the way geoscientists predict fluid migration in fault zones, as well as leading to new concepts in understanding seismic/aseismic strain accommodation. This book captures current research into understanding the complexities of fault-zone internal structure, and their control on mechanical and fluid-flow properties of the upper crust. A wide variety of approaches are presented, from geological field studies and laboratory analyses of fault-zone and fault-rock properties to numerical fluid-flow modelling, and from seismological data analyses to coupled hydraulic and rheological modelling. The publication aims to illustrate the importance of understanding fault-zone complexity by integrating such diverse approaches, and its impact on the rheological and fluid-flow behaviour of fault zones in different contexts.
Fault zones are mechanical and hydrological heterogeneities in Earth's upper crust, however, the internal properties that cause heterogeneity, their three-dimensional variations, and the fundamental processes that lead to these variations are poorly understood. The hydraulic behaviour of faults at depth plays an important role in the exploration and production of hydrocarbons, as in several other subsurface engineering applications. Faults can act as conduits, barriers and combined conduit-barrier systems to fluid flow, depending on their petrophysical properties, on their internal structure and stress state. The degree to which a fault will impede fluid flow is only as great as its most permeable point. Producing reliable predictions of cross-fault and up-fault fluid flow requires an understanding of the processes that determine areas of the fault surface containing transmissible fault rocks. A field site in Miri, Jalan Mukag outcrop, was selected because it offers excellent 3D outcrops of normal faults in soft siliciclastic sediments, and gives the opportunity to investigate fault architecture both along-strike and down-dip. Weak-seal areas for cross-fault fluid flow along the fault zone exposures are identified combining detailed mapping of the fault zone architecture, analyses of the fault rock facies and geostatistical characterization (variograms) of variation in along-strike fault-core thickness. Processes that express the accumulation of of strain in the fault core (slip surfaces, boudinage and grain-scale mixing) are analysed because of their implications in terms of cross-fault fluid flow. The interaction between these processes in the fault core may or may not lead to complete mesoscale and grain-scale mixing, thus potentially induce changes in the capillary entry pressure of the fault rocks. Deformation mechanisms and geochemical processes that affect the fault zone are identified through petrographic, microstructural and mineralogical analysis,and they are used to infer along-fault fluid flow history and implications for cross-fault fluid flow.
Considerable progress has been made recently in quantifying geometrical and physical properties of fault surfaces and adjacent fractured and granulated damage zones in active faulting environments. There has also been significant progress in developing rheologies and computational frameworks that can model the dynamics of fault zone processes. This volume provides state-of-the-art theoretical and observational results on the mechanics, structure and evolution of fault zones. Subjects discussed include damage rheologies, development of instabilities, fracture and friction, dynamic rupture experiments, and analyses of earthquake and fault zone data.
Scientific understanding of fluid flow in rock fracturesâ€"a process underlying contemporary earth science problems from the search for petroleum to the controversy over nuclear waste storageâ€"has grown significantly in the past 20 years. This volume presents a comprehensive report on the state of the field, with an interdisciplinary viewpoint, case studies of fracture sites, illustrations, conclusions, and research recommendations. The book addresses these questions: How can fractures that are significant hydraulic conductors be identified, located, and characterized? How do flow and transport occur in fracture systems? How can changes in fracture systems be predicted and controlled? Among other topics, the committee provides a geomechanical understanding of fracture formation, reviews methods for detecting subsurface fractures, and looks at the use of hydraulic and tracer tests to investigate fluid flow. The volume examines the state of conceptual and mathematical modeling, and it provides a useful framework for understanding the complexity of fracture changes that occur during fluid pumping and other engineering practices. With a practical and multidisciplinary outlook, this volume will be welcomed by geologists, petroleum geologists, geoengineers, geophysicists, hydrologists, researchers, educators and students in these fields, and public officials involved in geological projects.
Fault zones can strongly affect fluid flow in the subsurface. Faults can act as (partial) barriers to flow, as conduits and as combined conduit-barrier systems. Understanding the relationship between faulting and fluid flow has many practical applications, including hydrocarbon exploration and production, mineral exploration, groundwater management, radioactive waste disposal, geothermal energy and carbon sequestration. This study is primarily focussed at the applications in the hydrocarbon industry. For hydrocarbon exploration, faults are important because they can act as long term barriers (fault sealing), in which case they can be part of structural traps. Faults acting as conduits also need to be considered, hydrocarbons moving vertically along a fault can either migrate into a reservoir, or the hydrocarbons can leak out of the reservoir along the fault. For hydrocarbon production also the short term effect of faults needs to be considered, as faults can block or baffle flow towards a well. For all these scenarios it is currently diffcult to reliably predict the behaviour of the fault deep underground. The research presented in this thesis aims to improve this prediction. Several studies have shown that fluid flow along and across fault zones is strongly affected by the heterogeneity of the fault zone and the presence of connected high permeability pathways. Both heterogeneity and high permeability pathways cannot be detected or predicted using currently available hydrocarbon industry tools. Therefore this study uses extensive field studies of faults exposed at the earth's surface, to characterize these features in detail. For this study 12 fault exposures have been studied in SE Utah and the western Sinai in Egypt. The faults are mapped with mm to cm-scale detail and samples are taken for petrophysical analysis. These data are further analyzed by numerical modelling of fluid flow through the fault zones. By combining fieldwork and flow modelling, the features that most strongly affect fluid flow (key flow controls) can be identified. Key flow controls provide a tool for efficient collection of data that allow the statistical characterization of fault zones. Statistical characterization of fault zone fluid flow properties can be used to improve hydrocarbon industry workflows.This study has revealed a wide variety in fault architectures for faults in sand-shale sequences. None of the faults studied here is dominated by a single homogenous gouge of mixed sand and shale, as is assumed by many current workflows for predicting (upscaled) fault permeability. With such a wide variety of fault architectures, it is impossible to define a simple rule for the fluid-flow characteristics of faults. For successful prediction of fault sealing and fault permeability it will be necessary to successfully predict fault architecture. Predicting fault architecture will require the detailed evaluation of host rock stratigraphy, fault structureand the deformation, fluid flow and thermal history.
Normal faults are the primary structures that accommodate extension of the brittle crust. This volume provides an up-to-date overview of current research into the geometry and growth of normal faults. The 23 research papers present the findings of outcrop and subsurface studies of the geometrical evolution of faults from a number of basins worldwide, complemented by analogue and numerical modelling studies of fundamental aspects of fault kinematics. The topics addressed include how fault length changes with displacement, how faults interact with one another, the controls of previous structure on fault evolution and the nature and origin of fault-related folding. This volume will be of interest to those wishing to develop a better understanding of the structural geological aspects of faulting, from postgraduate students to those working in industry.
Published by the American Geophysical Union as part of the Geophysical Monograph Series, Volume 113. This volume offers a sample of the diversity of research on faults and fluid flow in the late 1990s. It describes detailed surface and subsurface characterization of fault-zone structure and diagenesis with implications for hydrology and petroleum geology; the role of faults in geothermal systems; laboratory studies of rock mechanics, permeability, and geochemistry of faults and fault rocks; and mathematical modeling of fluid flow through faulted and fractured rocks. The most striking and appealing feature of the volume, as well as the general research topic of faults and subsurface fluid flow, is its interdiscplinary nature. The authors are drawn from the fields of structural geology, engineering geology, geohydrology and hydrogeology, sedimentology, petroleum geology, geothermal geology, rock mechanics, and geochemistry. Likewise, the emphasis on faults rather than simple open fractures raises issues not addressed in much of the literature on flow through fractured rocks. Although faults are a type of fracture and semantics can confuse the issue, faults are generally more complicated than the simple fractures that are the focus of most work in fractured rock hydrology. Most notably, faults can have very large displacements (up to many kilometers) and develop complicated tectonic fabrics, gouge zones, and juxtaposition of rocks or sediments of different types.
This book furnishes state-of-the-art knowledge about how earthquake faulting is coupled with fluid flow. The authors describe the theoretical background of modeling of faulting coupled with fluid flow in detail. Field and laboratory evidence to suggest the fluid involvement in earthquake faulting is also carefully explained. All of the provided information constitutes together a basic framework of the fault modeling for a comprehensive understanding of the involvement of fluids in earthquake ruptures. Earthquake generation is now widely believed to be significantly affected by high-pressure fluid existing at depths. Consequently, modeling study of earthquake faulting coupled with fluid flow is becoming increasingly active as a field of research. This work is aimed at a wide range of readers, and is especially relevant for graduate students and solid-earth researchers who wish to become more familiar with the field.