Geomechanical paleostress inversion using fracture data

We describe a fast geomechanically-based paleostress inversion technique that uses observed fracture data to constrain stress through multiple simulations. The method assumes that the local stress field around individual fractures is heterogeneous and derives the far field tectonic stress, that we also call the far field boundary conditions. We show how such far field tectonic stress can be recovered through a mechanical stress inversion technique using local observations of natural fractures (i.e. mechanical type, orientation and location). We test the paleostress inversion against outcrop analogues of fractured carbonates from both Nash Point, U.K., where there are well exposed faults and joints and the Matelles, France, where there are well exposed faults, veins and stylolites. We demonstrate through these case studies how the method can be efficiently applied to natural examples and we highlight its advantages and limitations. We discuss how such method could be applied to subsurface problems and how it can provide complementary constraints to drive discrete fracture models for better fractured reservoir characterization and modelling.     

Inversion of calcite twin data,paleostress reconstruction and multiphase weak deformation in cratonic interior – Evidence from the Proterozoic Cuddapah basin,India

Paleostress orientations from mechanically twinned calcite in carbonate rocks and veins in the neighborhood of large faults were investigated to comment on the nature of weak upper crustal stresses affecting sedimentary successions within the Proterozoic Cuddapah basin, India. Application of Turner's P–B–T method and Spang's Numerical dynamic analysis on Cuddapah samples provided paleostress orientations comparable to those derived from fault-slip inversion. Results from the neighborhood of E–W faults cutting through the Paleoproterozoic Papaghni and Chitravati groups and the Neoproterozoic Kurnool Group in the western Cuddapah basin, reveal existence of multiple deformation events − (1) NE–SW σ₃ in strike-slip to extensional regime along with an additional event having NW–SE σ_3, for lower Cuddapah samples; (2) compressional/transpressional event with ESE–WNW or NNE–SSW σ₁ mainly from younger Kurnool samples.Integrating results from calcite twin data inversion, fault-slip analysis and regional geology we propose that late Mesoproterozoic crustal extension led to initial opening of the Kurnool sub-basin, subsequently influenced by weak compressional deformation. The dynamic analysis of calcite twins thus constrains the stress regimes influencing basin initiation in the southern Indian cratonic interior and subsequent basin inversion in relation to craton margin mobile belts and plausible global tectonic events in the Proterozoic.     

库车坳陷克拉苏-依奇克里克构造带的构造演化

野外露头上的小尺度构造记录着整个褶皱逆冲带运动学演化进程。通过对库车褶皱逆冲带坎亚肯褶皱发育的小尺度构造的特征和相互叠加、切割关系的分析,认为克拉苏-依奇克里克构造带在新生代的构造挤压变形中经历了三个阶段,即平行层面的挤压缩短作用阶段、弯滑与弯流褶皱作用阶段和逆冲断层改造作用阶段。同时,对不同阶段出现的断层滑动数据进行反演和古应力恢复的结果表明,整个变形过程,最大主应力方向σ1(即构造缩短方向)集中分布在NNW—SSE,没有发生大的变化,说明三个阶段的构造变形是在同一稳定应力场下发生的,从而进一步证明所有的变形是同一次构造挤压下的渐进式序列变形,而不是多期构造挤压变形的结果。此次构造挤压变形主要发生在康村沉积期(12～5Ma),对于克依构造带的构造圈闭最终定型起着决定性作用。     

Neotectonic evolution of the Central Betic Cordilleras (Southern Spain)

Paleostress orientations were calculated from fault-slip data of 36 sites located along a traverse through the Central Betic Cordilleras (southern Spain). Heterogeneous fault sets, which are frequent in the area, have been divided into homogeneous subsets by cross-cutting relationships observed in the field and by a paleostress stratigraphy approach applied on each individual fault population. The state of stress was sorted according to main tectonic events and a new chronology is presented of the Miocene to Recent deformation in the central part of the Betic Cordilleras. The deviatoric stress tensors fall into four distinct groups that are regionally consistent and correlate with three Late Oligocene–Aquitanian to Recent major tectonic events in the Betic Cordilleras. The new chronology of the neotectonic evolution includes, from oldest to youngest, the following main tectonic phases:

(1) Late Oligocene–Aquitanian to Early Tortonian: σ₁ subhorizontal N–S, partly E–W directed, σ₃ subvertical; compressional structures (thrusting of nappes, large-scale folding) and strike-slip faulting in the Alborán Domain and the External Zone of the Betic Cordilleras;

(2) Early Tortonian to Pliocene–Pleistocene: σ₁ subvertical, σ₃ subhorizontal NW–SE, partly N–S directed or E–W-directed (radial extension); large-scale normal faulting in the Central Betic Cordilleras and in the oldest Neogene formations of the Granada Basin related to the gravitational collapse of the Betic Cordilleras and the exhumation of the intensely metamorphosed rock series of the Internal Zones, at the same time formation of the Alborán Basin and intramontane basins such as the Granada Basin;

(3) Pleistocene to Recent: (3a) σ₁ subvertical, σ₃ subhorizontal NE–SW with prominent normal faulting, but coevally; (3b) σ₁ subhorizontal NW directed, σ₃ NE–SW subhorizontal with strike-slip faulting. Extensional structures and strike-slip faulting are related to the ongoing convergence of the Eurasian and African Plates and coeval uplift of the Betic Cordilleras. Reactivation of pre-existing fractures and faults was frequently observed. Phase 3 is interpreted as periodic strike-slip and normal faulting events due to a permutation of the principal stress axes, mainly σ₁ and σ₂.