断层影响下的页岩气储层水力压裂模拟研究

断层对页岩气储层压裂改造有重要影响,甚至诱发深部地震事件和近地表环境问题.本文采用多物理场耦合方法,基于渗流和应力耦合理论,研究储层水力压裂过程中断层以及封闭顶板中水力破坏区域的产生与演化机理,并分析讨论流体沿高渗通道运移扩散机理,研究结果表明:(1)断层改变储层水力破坏区域形态并且扩展了水力压裂破坏空间.较高注水压力...     

Fluid behaviors from the seismogenic region of Longmenshan fault zone,eastern Tibetan PlateauSCIEI北大核心CSCD

震间期、同震期和震后期流体对断裂带物质的强度和运动性质起到重要作用。前人已识别出断裂带浅部区域流体对断层的弱化以及矿物沉淀导致的断层愈合,然而对于断裂带深部流体的研究鲜有报道。为深入了解孕震区流体行为以及地震成核过程中流体对断层的影响,本文以龙门山断裂带的映秀-北川断裂南段虹口乡八角庙村附近碎裂岩滑动带中石英和方解石脉为研究对象,通过对断裂带脉体的显微构造、碳氧同位素和主量元素含量等分析,开展地震相关脉体的特征结构、流体来源和矿物沉淀环境的研究。结果表明,碎裂岩主滑移带由颜色结构不同的三层断层泥和细小的方解石条带组成,在主滑动带边部和上盘碎裂岩中则分别发育了指示震间期、同震期和震后期三个阶段断层活动的脉体:(1)沿阶步生长的纤维状方解石脉和拉伸型柱状颗粒方解石脉;(2)断层泥楔入脉;(3)近等粒状方解石脉以及具有横向竞争生长结构的非等粒状方解石脉和石英脉。它们分别代表了震间期封闭的还原环境下的微滑动、同震外源高压流体注入以及震后开放的氧化环境至还原环境下的矿物沉淀。碳氧同位素结果表明主滑动带和碎裂岩方解石脉δ^(18)O V-PDB值为-20.5‰~-20.3‰,低于围岩碳酸钙胶结物,表明方解石脉具有大气水来源特征。方解石沉淀温度结合地温梯度表明方解石脉的形成深度大于4km,与碎裂岩形成深度及龙门山断裂带震源深度一致。该地区方解石脉和石英脉的研究深化了关于龙门山断裂带孕震区流体行为的理解,并且对进一步认识震间期、同震期和震后期断层的强度变化机制具有重要意义。     

断层内部结构及其对封闭性的影响

先前的研究多考虑断层封堵和开启的2种极端状态,近来的研究认为,在多数情况下断层处于2种之间的状态,只有在静止期具有封闭能力的断层,才有可能对油气起封堵作用。分析断层对流体运移的影响,需要分析断层在演化过程中的内部结构特征。断层可以划分出破碎带、诱导裂缝带和围岩3部分,断层岩和伴生裂缝构成破碎带的主体部分。常见的断层岩包括断层角砾岩、断层泥和部分碎裂岩,它们充填在断层裂缝空间中,断层内部结构受断层形成时的构造应力性质、断层活动强度和围岩岩性因素的控制。从动态角度看,随着断距增加,断层活动伴随着裂缝的发育和岩石的破碎混杂,可用泥质源岩层厚度和断距的比值来划分不同的发育阶段。断层活动期为油气运移通道,在静止时表现出差异性的封闭,通常用断层渗透率和排替压力2个参数来定量评价断层的封闭程度。断层岩渗透率主要受断距、泥质含量、埋深等因素的控制;断层排替压力的预测方法有2种:一种是从断层岩成岩角度分析的"等效埋深法",另一种是分析实测排替压力与主控地质因素的"拟合法"。通过简化的断层模型,建立了渗透率、排替压力与主控因素的预测关系。和储层类似,流体在断层中的运移遵循多孔介质的渗流特征。利用断层两侧的流体压力和油气柱高度并不能直接评价封闭性能,还必须考虑油气充注史和流体压力变化历史。     

Structural and petrophysical characterization of mixed conduit/seal fault zones in carbonates: Example from the Castellas fault (SE France)

The Castellas fault in SE France affects carbonate rocks with a plurimeter scale offset along 1.5 km of outcrop. In order to decipher the structural control on fault petrophysical and hydraulic character, we performed high resolution field structural mapping, laboratory porosity-Vp measurements, and thin sections analysis of deformations and diagenesis. Field mapping shows that the fault zone architecture displays strong lateral variations at the hectometer scale characterized by core thicknesses of 0–5 m, one or several slip planes, and varying fracture patterns within the damage zone. The fault zone heterogeneity may be related to the magnitude of the throw, the position along the fault and the affected rock facies. Laboratory measurements revealed a strong porosity reduction correlated to a Vp increase, related to the cementation of pore volumes within a decameter area around the fault plane. This fault-sealing occurred mainly through a chemical diagenesis related to fluid circulation within fault-zone heterogeneities. A 3D conceptual model of a mixed conduit/seal fault zone is proposed, characterized by sealed impermeable fault tips and more or less permeable units within which flow can occur either perpendicular or parallel to the fault strike.     

Geometry and architecture of faults in a syn-rift normal fault array: The Nukhul half-graben, Suez rift, Egypt

The geometry and architecture of a well exposed syn-rift normal fault array in the Suez rift is examined. At pre-rift level, the Nukhul fault consists of a single zone of intense deformation up to 10 m wide, with a significant monocline in the hanging wall and much more limited folding in the footwall. At syn-rift level, the fault zone is characterised by a single discrete fault zone less than 2 m wide, with damage zone faults up to approximately 200 m into the hanging wall, and with no significant monocline developed. The evolution of the fault from a buried structure with associated fault-propagation folding, to a surface-breaking structure with associated surface faulting, has led to enhanced bedding-parallel slip at lower levels that is absent at higher levels. Strain is enhanced at breached relay ramps and bends inherited from pre-existing structures that were reactivated during rifting. Damage zone faults observed within the pre-rift show ramp-flat geometries associated with contrast in competency of the layers cut and commonly contain zones of scaly shale or clay smear. Damage zone faults within the syn-rift are commonly very straight, and may be discrete fault planes with no visible fault rock at the scale of observation, or contain relatively thin and simple zones of scaly shale or gouge. The geometric and architectural evolution of the fault array is interpreted to be the result of (i) the evolution from distributed trishear deformation during upward propagation of buried fault tips to surface faulting after faults breach the surface; (ii) differences in deformation response between lithified pre-rift units that display high competence contrasts during deformation, and unlithified syn-rift units that display low competence contrasts during deformation, and; (iii) the history of segmentation, growth and linkage of the faults that make up the fault array. This has important implications for fluid flow in fault zones.     

Deformation and ultrafine dynamic recrystallization of quartz in pseudotachylyte-bearing brittle faults: A matter of a few seconds

Tectonic pseudotachylytes, i.e. quenched friction-induced silicate melts, record coseismic slip along faults and are mainly reported from the brittle crust in association with cataclasites. In this study, we document the occurrence of recrystallization of quartz to ultrafine-grained (grain size 1–2 μm) aggregates along microshear zones (50–150 μm thick) in the host rock adjacent to pseudotachylytes from two different faults within quartzite (Schneeberg Normal Fault Zone, Eastern Alps), and tonalite (Adamello fault, Southern Alps) in the brittle crust. The transition from the host quartz to microshear zone interior includes: (i) formation of high dislocation densities; (ii) fine (0.3–0.5 μm) polygonization to subgrains defined by disordered to well-ordered dislocation walls; (iii) development of a mosaic aggregate of dislocation-free new grains. The crystallographic preferred orientation (CPO) of quartz towards the microshear zone shows a progressive misorientation from the host grain, by subgrain rotation recrystallization, to a nearly random CPO possibly related to grain boundary sliding. These ultrafine aggregates appear to be typically associated with pseudotachylytes in nature. We refer the crystal plastic deformation of quartz accompanied by dramatic grain size refinement to the coseismic stages of fault slip due to high differential stress and temperature transients induced by frictional heating. Microshear zones localized on precursory fractures developed during the stages of earthquake rupture propagation and the very initial stages of fault slip. Thermal models indicate that the process of recrystallization, including recovery processes, occurred in a time lapse of a few tens of seconds.     

Microtectonic and geochemical characterization of thrusting in a foreland basin: Example of the South-Pyrenean orogenic wedge (Spain)

In orogenic systems, thrust faults play a major role in stacking different tectonic units and may act as conduits for the expulsion of large amounts of fluid of different origins (metamorphic, diagenetic, meteoric). This study focuses on the Monte Perdido thrust unit emplaced in the Paleogene Jaca thrust-sheet-top basin, in the SW-central Pyrenees. We aim to decipher the mechanisms and P-T conditions of deformation in fault zones and characterize the related fluid involvement, through combined microstructural, geochemical and microthermometry analyses. Two thrust faults cutting platform limestones, marls and siliciclastic turbidites of the lower part of the basin-fill (Paleocene–lower Eocene) have been studied. The fault zones are characterized by metre-thick shear zones with highly deformed, foliated clay-rich sediments. Foliation is underlined by preferentially oriented phyllosilicates. Several generations of shear and extension calcite, quartz and chlorite-bearing veins attest to fluid-rock interactions during a multi-stage deformation. Microstructural observations and stable isotope analyses on calcite from veins and host sediments suggest that deformation was aseismic and dominated by diffusive mass transfer from pressure solution sites along cleavage and stylolites to the precipitation sites in veins, with mineralizing fluids in equilibrium with the host sediments. Our results suggest an essentially closed hydrologic system, and imply the absence of significant fluid flow along the studied fault zones. Microthermometric study on fluid inclusions present in calcite and quartz veins, and calcite-quartz oxygen isotopic fractionation determined for the first generation shear veins, allow a geothermal gradient of 34 °C/km to be estimated. Analytical results demonstrate an evolution of the fault zones in three stages. The first stage was related to the emplacement of the Monte Perdido thrust unit during the middle Eocene at a temperature of ～208 °C and a burial depth of ～5.7 km. The second stage corresponds to a fault reactivation at a temperature of ～240 °C and a burial depth of ～6.5 km. The latter deformation may have been related to folding of the Monte Perdido thrust unit during the emplacement of the underlying Gavarnie thrust unit during the late Eocene–early Oligocene, with deeper burial resulting from aggradation of the thrust-sheet-top basin-fill. The last event corresponds to the formation of a dilatant vein system likely related to the exhumation of the massif.     

Growth, linkage, and termination processes of a 10-km-long strike-slip fault in jointed granite: the Gemini fault zone, Sierra Nevada, California

Field-based structural analysis of an exhumed, 10-km-long strike-slip fault zone elucidates processes of growth, linkage, and termination along moderately sized strike-slip fault zones in granitic rocks. The Gemini fault zone is a 9.3-km-long, left-lateral fault system that was active at depths of 8–11 km within the transpressive Late-Cretaceous Sierran magmatic arc. The fault zone cuts four granitic plutons and is composed of three steeply dipping northeast- and southwest-striking noncoplanar segments that nucleated and grew along preexisting cooling joints. The fault core is bounded by subparallel fault planes that separate highly fractured epidote-, chlorite-, and quartz-breccias from undeformed protolith. The slip profile along the Gemini fault zone shows that the fault zone consists of three 2–3-km-long segments separated by two ‘zones’ of local slip minima. Slip is highest (131 m) on the western third of the fault zone and tapers to zero at the eastern termination. Slip vectors plunge shallowly west-southwest and show significant variability along strike and across segment boundaries. Four types of microstructures reflect compositional changes in protolith along strike and show that deformation was concentrated on narrow slip surfaces at, or below, greenschist facies conditions. Taken together, we interpret the fault zone to be a segmented, linked fault zone in which geometrical complexities of the faults and compositional variations of protolith and fault rock resulted in nonuniform slip orientations, complex fault-segment interactions, and asymmetric slip-distance profiles.     

Formation of chlorite during thrust fault reactivation. Record of fluid origin and P–T conditions in the Monte Perdido thrust fault (southern Pyrenees)

The chemical and isotopic compositions of clay minerals such as illite and chlorite are commonly used to quantify diagenetic and low-grade metamorphic conditions, an approach that is also used in the present study of the Monte Perdido thrust fault from the South Pyrenean fold-and-thrust belt. The Monte Perdido thrust fault is a shallow thrust juxtaposing upper Cretaceous–Paleocene platform carbonates and Lower Eocene marls and turbidites from the Jaca basin. The core zone of the fault, about 6 m thick, consists of intensely deformed clay-bearing rocks bounded by major shear surfaces. Illite and chlorite are the main hydrous minerals in the fault zone. Illite is oriented along cleavage planes while chlorite formed along shear veins (<50 μm in thickness). Authigenic chlorite provides essential information about the origin of fluids and their temperature. δ¹⁸O and δD values of newly formed chlorite support equilibration with sedimentary interstitial water, directly derived from the local hanging wall and footwall during deformation. Given the absence of large-scale fluid flow, the mineralization observed in the thrust faults records the P–T conditions of thrust activity. Temperatures of chlorite formation of about 240°C are obtained via two independent methods: chlorite compositional thermometers and oxygen isotope fractionation between cogenetic chlorite and quartz. Burial depth conditions of 7 km are determined for the Monte Perdido thrust reactivation, coupling calculated temperature and fluid inclusion isochores. The present study demonstrates that both isotopic and thermodynamic methods applied to clay minerals formed in thrust fault are useful to help constrain diagenetic and low-grade metamorphic conditions.     

Phyllosilicate injection along extensional carbonate-hosted faults and implications for co-seismic slip propagation: Case studies from the central Apennines,Italy

We document phyllosilicates occurrence along five shallow (exhumed from depths < 3 km) carbonate-hosted extensional faults from the seismically-active domain of the central Apennines, Italy. The shallow portion of this domain is characterized by a sedimentary succession consisting of ∼5–6 km thick massive carbonate deposits overlain by ∼2 km thick phyllosilicate-rich deposits (marls and siliciclastic sandstones). We show that the phyllosilicates observed within the studied carbonate-hosted faults derived from the overlying phyllosilicate-rich sedimentary deposits and were involved in the faulting processes. We infer that, during fault zone evolution, the phyllosilicates downward injected into pull-aparts (i.e., dilational jogs) that were generated along staircase extensional faults. With further displacement accumulation, the clayey material was smeared and concentrated into localized layers along the carbonate-hosted fault surfaces. These layers are usually thin (a few centimeters to decimeters thick), but can reach also a few meters in thickness. We suggest that, even in tectonic settings dominated by high frictional strength rocks (e.g., carbonates), localized layers enriched in weak phyllosilicates can occur along shallow fault surfaces thus reducing the expected fault strength during earthquakes, possibly promoting co-seismic slip propagation up to the Earth's surface.     

Complete 40Ar resetting in an ultracataclasite by reactivation of a fossil seismogenic fault along the subducting plate interface in the Mugi Mélange of the Shimanto accretionary complex,southwest Japan

We used the K–Ar ages of clay-sized mineral grains to investigate the timing of activity on the Minami-Awa Fault, which is a fossil seismogenic fault along a subducting plate interface separating the coherent strata of the Shimanto accretionary complex to the north from the tectonic mélange to the south. The K–Ar ages from the matrix shale of the mélange range from 85 to 48 Ma and decrease with decreasing amount of detrital mica, indicating that they record a mixture of authigenic illite related to burial diagenesis and detrital mica. In contrast, the K–Ar ages of an ultracataclasite within the fault core are significantly younger, ranging from 29 to 23 Ma, and are unrelated to grain size and amount of detrital mica. This indicates that s Ar diffused completely from the ultracataclasite between 29 and 23 Ma, which postdates the formation of authigenic illite by at least several million years. The diffusion of ⁴⁰Ar in the ultracataclasite was probably caused by frictional heating or high-temperature fluid migration that occurred when the fault was reactivated. The results indicate that seismogenic faults that separate tectonic mélange from coherent strata in accretionary complexes may slip, not only during accretion, but also long after accretion.     

3D modeling of earthquake cycles of the Xianshuihe fault,southwestern China

We perform 3D modeling of earthquake generation of the Xianshuihe fault, southwestern China, which is a highly active strike-slip fault with a length of about 350 km, in order to understand earthquake cycles and segmentations for a long-term forecasting and earthquake nucleation process for a short-term forecasting. Historical earthquake data over the last 300 years indicates repeated periods of seismic activity, and migration of large earthquake along the fault during active seismic periods. To develop the 3D model of earthquake cycles along the Xianshuihe fault, we use a rate- and state-dependent friction law. After analyzing the result, we find that the earthquakes occur in the reoccurrence intervals of 400–500 years. Simulation result of slip velocity distribution along the fault at the depth of 10 km during 2694 years along the Xianshuihe fault indicates that since the third earthquake cycle, the fault has been divided into 3 parts. Some earthquake ruptures terminate at the bending part of the fault line, which may means the shape of the fault line controls how earthquake ruptures. The change of slip velocity and displacement at 10 km depth is more tremendous than the change of the shallow and deep part of the fault and the largest slip velocity occurs at the depth of 10 km which is the exact depth of the seismic zone where fast rupture occurs.     

Deformation style in the damage zone of the Mondy fault: GPR evidence (Tunka basin,southern East Siberia)

The Mondy strike-slip fault connects the W-E Tunka and N-S Hovsgol basins on the southern flank of the Baikal rift system. Ground penetrating radar (GPR) surveys in its damage zone provide constraints on thicknesses, dips, and plunges of fault planes, as well as on the amount and sense of vertical slip. Strike-slip faulting in the southern segment of the Mondy fault within the territory of Russia bears a normal slip component of motion along the W-E and NW planes. These motions have produced negative flower structures in shallow crust appearing as grabens upon Pleistocene fluvioglacial terraces. The amount of normal slip estimated from the displacement of reflection events varies over the area and reaches its maximum of 3.4 m near Mondy Village. In the Kharadaban basin link, left-lateral strike slip displaces valleys of ephemeral streams to 22 m, while normal slip detected by GPR reaches 2.2 m; this normal-to-strike slip ratio corresponds to a direction of ~ 6° to the horizon. The angles of dips of faults are in the range 75°-79°; the thicknesses of fault planes marked by low- or high-frequency anomalies in GPR records vary from 2.5 to 17.0 m along strike and decrease with depth within a few meters below the surface, which is common to near-surface coseismic motions. Many ruptures fail to reach the surface but appear rather as sinkholes localized mainly in fault hanging walls. The deformation style in the damage zone of the Mondy fault bears impact of the NW Yaminshin fault lying between its two segments. According to photoelasticity, the stress field changes locally at the intersection of the two faults, under NE compression at 38°, till the inverse orientations of principal compression and extension stresses. This stress pattern leads to a combination of normal and left-lateral strike slip components.     

A strike‐slip core complex from the Najd fault system,Arabian shield

Metamorphic core complexes are usually thought to be associated with regional crustal extension and crustal thinning, where deep crustal material is exhumed along gently dipping normal shear zones oblique to the regional extension direction. We present a new mechanism whereby metamorphic core complexes can be exhumed along crustal‐scale strike‐slip fault systems that accommodated crustal shortening. The Qazaz metamorphic dome in Saudi Arabia was exhumed along a gently dipping jog in a crustal‐scale vertical strike‐slip fault zone that caused more than 25 km of exhumation of lower crustal rocks by 30 km of lateral motion. Subsequently, the complex was transected by a branch of the strike‐slip fault zone, and the segments were separated by another 30 km of lateral motion. Strike‐slip core complexes like the Qazaz Dome may be common and may have an important local effect on crustal strength.     

The effect of fluid composition on the behavior of well cemented, quartz-rich sandstone during faulting

Previous studies [O'Kane, A., Onasch, C.M., Farver, J., 2007. The role of fluids in low-temperature, fault-related deformation of quartz arenite. Journal of Structural Geology 29, 819--836; Cook, J., Dunne, W.M., Onasch, C.M., 2006. Development of a dilatant damage zone along a thrust relay in a low-porosity quartz arenite, Journal of Structural Geology 28, 776–792] found that quartz arenite within two fault zones in the Appalachian foreland thrust belt displays very different structural styles and histories despite deforming at similar pressures and temperatures during the Alleghanian orogeny. A comparison of the grain-scale deformation and fluid histories using transmitted and cathodoluminescence microscopy and fluid inclusion microthermometry, shows that fluid composition was a controlling factor for causing these differences. The Cove fault zone deformed in the presence of aqueous fluids, first a CaCl₂ brine and then an iron-rich fluid. The precipitation of quartz cement from the brine kept pace with brittle deformation, maintaining overall rock cohesion in the fault zone. The introduction of iron-rich fluids caused a switch from precipitation to dissolution of quartz, along with precipitation of goethite. In a damage zone along a backthrust in the Cave Mountain anticline, early deformation occurred in the presence of an aqueous fluid from which quartz was precipitated. The latest deformation, however, occurred in the presence of a methane-rich fluid, which inhibited the precipitation of quartz cement producing porous breccias and open fractures despite deformation at 6 km depth. Fluid composition not only affected cementation in the fault zones, but also the selection of grain-scale deformation mechanisms. Therefore, it is a controlling factor in determining the behavior and strength of these fault zones.     

四川汶川5.12大地震同震滑动断层泥的发现及意义

2008年汶川8.0级地震沿龙门山断裂带内的映秀—北川断裂和灌县—安县断裂产生了近300 km的同震地表破裂带。震后地质科学考察发现地表变形以逆冲为主,并伴有右旋走滑。地震地表破裂带大多沿古生代碳质泥岩、页岩和三叠系煤系地层内的滑动面出露地表,这些软弱地层为地震破裂带冲到地表提供了超低摩擦滑动带。我们发现在同震垂直和水平位错达6m左右的地表破裂带,地震的同震滑动发生在厚度约0.5~2cm 的狭窄滑动带内,以发育新鲜的灰色断层泥为特征,这些断层泥是地震断层快速滑动过程中岩石—流体相互作用的结果。     

Effects of fault activities on hydrocarbon migration and accumulation in the Zhu I Depression,Pearl River Mouth Basin,South China Sea

Faults can act as either conduits or barriers for hydrocarbon migration, because they have complicated anisotropic flow properties owing to their complicated three-dimensional structures. This study focuses on the Zhu I Depression, Pearl River Mouth Basin (PRMB), China. In this area, hydrocarbon migration and accumulation occurred over a relatively short period of time and were contemporaneous with fault activation, so the characteristics of hydrocarbon accumulations can be used to deduce the effect of active faults on hydrocarbon migration and accumulation. This study addresses the effect of fault activity on flow properties during hydrocarbon migration through a quantitative and comparative analysis of fault activity vs hydrocarbon accumulation. The fault slip rate and shale smear factor parameters were used to characterise faulting and elucidate its effect on hydrocarbon migration and accumulation. Active faults are generally excellent vertical conduits with strong fault activation resulting in vertical migration of most hydrocarbons and little preservation; traps near faults with fault slip rates greater than 20 m/Ma rarely contain commercial oil and gas accumulations. Faulting can form shale smear, which, if continuous, can act as a barrier to hydrocarbon migration. An active fault can allow hydrocarbon transport from deeper formations and to be trapped by continuous shale smear in shallower strata. Most of the oil and gas in the Zhu I Depression have accumulated near faults with a moderate fault slip rate (<20 m/Ma) and development of continuous shale smear (SSF<4–6).     

Dissimilar properties within a carbonate-reservoir's small fault zone,and their impact on the pressurization and leakage associated with CO2 injection

This paper focuses on a small fault zone (too small to be detected by geophysical imaging) affecting a carbonate reservoir composed of porous and low-porosity layers. In a gallery located at 250 m depth, the hydraulic properties of a 20 m thick section of the reservoir affected by the studied fault are characterized by structural measurements and hydraulic injection into boreholes. We conducted electrical tomographies before and after an 18 hour-long injection, to image the fluid flow through the fault zone. Our main finding is that the damage zone displays contrasting permeability values (up to two orders of magnitude) inherited from the differential alteration of the intact rock layers. To characterize the impact of these hydraulic-property variations on the fluid flow, we carried out numerical simulations of water and supercritical CO₂ injections, using the TOUGH2 code. Two damage-zone models were compared, with heterogeneous (Model 1) and homogeneous (Model 2) hydraulic properties. In Model 1, injected fluids cannot escape through the fault zone; they generate a high fluid overpressure, located in the damage-zone layers having the highest permeability and storativity. In Model 2, fluids can easily migrate; the overpressure is lower and located in the host rock along the fault zone.     

Unravelling the evolution of an Alpine to post-glacially active fault in the Swiss Alps

The Gemmi fault is a prominent NW–SE striking lineament that crosses the Gemmi Pass in the central Swiss Alps. A multidisciplinary investigation of this structure that included geological mapping, joint profiling, cathodoluminescence and scanning electron microscopy, stable isotope measurements, luminescence- and U-TH-dating, 3D ground penetrating radar (GPR) surveying and trenching reveals a history of fault movements from the Miocene to the Holocene. The main fault zone comprises a 0.5–3 m thick calcite cataclasite formed during several cycles of veining and brittle deformation. Displaced Cretaceous rock layers show an apparent dextral slip of 10 m along the fault.A detailed study of a small sediment-filled depression that crosses the fault provides evidence for a post-glacial reactivation of the fault. A trench excavated across the fault exposed a Late-Glacial-age loess layer and late Holocene colluvial-like slope-wash deposits that showed evidence for fault displacement of a few centimeters, indicating a recent strike-slip reactivation of the fault. Focal mechanisms of recent instrumentally recorded earthquakes are consistent with our findings that show that the fault at the Gemmi Pass, together with other parallel faults in this area, may be reactivated in today's stress field. Taking together all the observations of its ancient and recent activity, the Gemmi fault can be viewed as a window through geological space and time.     

准噶尔盆地北三台凸起断裂结构特征及成岩封闭作用

断层具有复杂的内部结构,可划分为滑动破碎带和诱导裂缝带两个结构单元。断裂带内部成岩作用普遍发育,其中,胶结作用是断裂两侧诱导裂缝带中较常见的成岩作用,影响着断裂的垂向封闭性。利用地震、测井、岩心等资料定量化的对准噶尔盆地北三台凸起主要断裂进行结构划分,利用岩心、镜下薄片观察的方法研究断裂带成岩胶结作用。研究发现:断裂带成岩胶结作用显著,胶结物以方解石为主,还发现有粘土矿物、沸石、石英等胶结裂缝。大型主控断裂裂缝充填程度相比派生断裂高,胶结程度致密,对油气的封堵性能更强。通过镜下鉴定及流体包裹体均一温度测定发现:北三台凸起断裂带至少经历了3期大规模流体活动,多期的流体作用导致该区断裂的成岩封闭。