Fault-valve behaviour in optimally oriented shear zones: an example at the Revenge gold mine, Kambalda, Western Australia

Quartz vein systems developed in and adjacent to shear zones host major gold deposits in the Kambalda region of the Norseman–Wiluna greenstone belt. At the Revenge Mine, two groups of mineralised reverse shear zones formed as conjugate, near-optimally oriented sets during ESE subhorizontal shortening adjacent to a major transpressional shear system. The shear zones developed at temperatures of about 400°C in a transitional brittle–ductile regime. Deformation was associated with high fluid fluxes and involved fault-valve behaviour at transiently near-lithostatic fluid pressures. During progressive evolution of the shear system, early brittle and ductile deformation was overprinted by predominantly brittle deformation. Brittle shear failure was associated with fault dilation and the formation of fault-fill veins, particularly at fault bends and jogs. A transition from predominantly brittle shear failure to combined shear along faults and extension failure adjacent to faults occurred late during shear zone evolution and is interpreted as a response to a progressive decrease in maximum shear stress and a decrease in effective stresses. The formation of subhorizontal stylolites, locally subvertical extension veins and minor normal faults in association with thrust faulting, indicates episodic or transient reorientation of the near-field maximum principal stress from a subhorizontal to a near-vertical attitude during some fault-valve cycles. Local stress re-orientation is interpreted as resulting from near-total shear stress release and overshoot during some rupture events. Previously described fault-valve systems have formed predominantly in severely misoriented faults. The shear systems at Revenge Mine indicate that fault-valve action, and associated fluctuations in shear stress and fluid pressure, can influence the mechanical behaviour of optimally-oriented faults.     

龙山门断裂带活动特征与工程区域地壳稳定性评价理论

2008年5月12日发生的里氏8.0级汶川地震处于龙门山造山带与四川盆地的构造边界上。350km长的地表破裂带呈右行左阶雁行排列在具有逆冲和右行走滑性质的汶川茂县青川、映秀北川和江油都江堰3条断层带上。下地壳的韧性流动伴随中地壳韧-脆性剪切带应力和应变的积累,产生上地壳脆性发震断层,并控制地表破裂带和滑坡的分布。震源出现在上地壳脆性断层与中地壳脆-韧性剪切带的交汇部位。〖KG2〗以汶川地震为例,结合板内地震基本特征,提出引入大陆动力学理论完善工程区域稳定性理论基础,构建基于板块学说、地质力学和大陆动力学理论的相互补充的工程区域稳定性评价体系;对活断层与地震活动性预测提出见解,强调仅仅从活断层的存在及其活动强度来预测地震活动性与强度是远远不够甚至是错误的,必须将下地壳、中地壳和上地壳结构作为一个整体加以研究和判别;提出工程区域地壳稳定性评价指标体系,指出了大陆内部安全岛划分应采用的核心指标。     

断层导波研究加利福尼亚兰德斯和海克特曼恩地震断层带的四维特征(英文)

美国加利福尼亚州兰德斯和海克特曼恩地区于1992年和1999年先后发生7.4级和7.1级地震,分别在地面产生80km和40km长的断裂带。震后在断裂带布置的密集地震站台记录到明显的断层导波(fault-zone guided waves)。这些导波由断层带内的余震和人工震源激发产生,走时在S波之后,但具有比体波更强的振幅和更长的波列,并具有频散特征。通过对2～7 Hz断层导波的定量分析和三维有限差分数字模拟,获得了震深区断裂带的高分辨内部构造图像以及岩石的物理特性。数字模拟结果表明这些断裂带上存在被严重破碎了的核心层,形成低速、低Q值地震波导。核心破碎带宽约100～200 m,其内地震波波速降为周围岩石的40％～50％,Q值约为10～50。根据岩石断裂力学观点,这一低速、低Q值带可被解释为地震过程中处于断层动态断裂前端的非弹性区(或称之为破碎区,相干过程区)。在兰德斯和海克特曼恩断裂带测得的破碎区宽度与断裂带长度之比约为0.005,基本上符合岩石断裂力学预期的结果。观察到的断层导波还显示兰德斯和海克特曼恩地震中多条断层发生滑移和破碎。兰德斯地震时多条阶梯形断层相继断裂;而在海克特曼恩地震中,断裂带南北两端均出现分枝断裂,深处的分枝断裂较地表出现的破裂状况更为复杂。由三维有限元模拟的动态断裂过程表明,?     

Effects of cohesive zones on small faults and implications for secondary fracturing and fault trace geometry

Fracture mechanics theory and field observations together indicate that the shear stress on many faults is non-uniform when they slip. If the shear stress were uniform, then: (a) a physically implausible singular stress concentration theoretically would develop at a fault end; and (b) a single curved ‘tail fracture’ should open up at the end of every fault trace, intersecting the fault at approximately 70 °. Tail fractures along many small faults instead range in number, commonly form behind fault trace ends, have nearly straight traces and intersect a fault at angles less than 50 °. A ‘cohesive zone’, in which the shear stress is elevated near the fault end, can eliminate the stress singularity and can account for the observed orientation, shape, and distribution of tail fractures. Cohesive zones also should cause a fault to bend. If the cohesive zone shear stress were uniform, then the distance from the fault end to the bend gives the cohesive zone length. The nearly straight traces of the tail fractures and the small bends observed near some fault ends implies that the faults slipped with low stress drops, less than 10% of the ambient fault-parallel shear stress.     

The system of Cenozoic depressions in the Amur and Primorye regions: The structure, tectonic position, and geodynamic interpretation

The analysis and synthesis of the seismic data, the local gravity field, and the geological evidence reveal that the faults representing a framework for a system of the Cenozoic depressions in the Amur and Primorye regions define various structural parageneses: en echelon sets, extension duplexes, and conjugate knots. Being regularly arranged, they form a single branched-reticulate regional disjunctive zone named the Ussuri-Okhotsk rifting zone (UORZ). Owing to the relation with the faults of the Tan-Lu system and the graben-shaped basins of the marginal seas, this zone is an element of the pericontinental zigzag lineament zone, which controls the East Asian graben belt. The Ussuri-Okhotsk rifting zone represents a wide incipient right-lateral transtensional zone, which was formed under conditions of a pure shear deformation accompanied with additional extension. The compression and extension axes were oriented in the northeastern and northwestern directions, respectively. This deformation was responsible for passive dispersed epiorogenic and epiplatform rifting. After the episode of Late Miocene tectonic inversion, the rifting acquired taphrogenesis features. The tectonic movements were largely confined to extended deep-seated faults and led to the formation of spacious two-stage depressions. Simultaneously, the role of active rifting substantially increased, which is evident from the development of numerous Neogene-Quaternary basaltic plateaus. The rifting became more intense to form larger depressions reflecting deeper endogenic processes. This could probably be related to the mantle magmatism, the regional consolidation of the crust, changes in its structural anisotropy, and the insignificant reorganization of the tectonic stress field.     

What is responsible for development of the Asian–Pacific transition zone: The geodynamics of oceanic plates or the Asian continent?

The main unusual feature of tectogenesis of the Asian–Pacific transition zone in the Mesozoic–Cenozoic consists in the formation of left-lateral strike-slip faults, which form the East Asian global shear zone with paragenesis of its constituent variously oriented fault systems. Paragenetic analysis has revealed that continental blocks of the Asian–Pacific transition zone were displaced along systems of transit left-lateral strike-slip faults of the East Asian global shear zone by hundreds of kilometers in the southerly to southwesterly direction due to tectonic activity of the Asian continent, which drifted southwestward. This process was accompanied by the formation of compression and extension structures. Otherwise, it is difficult to explain the structuring of the overhanging margin of the continent by subduction of oceanic lithospheric plates in the northerly to northwesterly direction opposite relative to the displacement of the continental crust as is usually thought.     

The structure of the Tuapse shear zone according to the field tectonophysical data

The results of field structural studies of the Tuapse shear zone in the Northwest Caucasus are presented. This zone is characterized by shear displacements of various scales with a dominant horizontal shear, viz., a geodynamic type of the stress state, which leads to the formation of faults with mostly lateral displacement of wings, i.e., along the strike of the fault surface. The quantitative characteristics of the local stress conditions in the shear zone (the positions of principal axes and the Lode–Nadai coefficient) are determined on the basis of cataclastic analysis and geological indicators of the paleostresses. The differences between these characteristics are considered for the large tectonic zones. Significant spatial (areal) variations in orientations of the axes of major normal stresses in the shear zone and their local weak gentle variations are evidence of a consistent general stress direction during the formation of faults during the Late Eocene–Miocene deformation epoch.     

MODES-2D—Method of detecting strike-shift shear zones

One of the goals of using the Global Positioning System (GPS) and other geodetic survey techniques in tectonics has been to detect boundaries such as faults or shear zones between rigid or mildly deforming crustal masses. The calculation of infinitesimal strains and rotations with GPS data has been widely used to detect shear zones but it has been largely unsuccessful because infinitesimal strain and rotation, although useful in many other ways, is non-diagnostic of shear zones or faults. Our approach is to work with components of deformation, not strain, and to design specifically a diagnostic method of detecting shear zones. This paper introduces the first part of our method, the detection of two-dimensional, strike-shift shear zones (MODES-2D). The MODES-2D method has three elements: (1) determination of the orientation of a suspected strike-shift shear zone by analyzing components of a deformation tensor derived from a data set of displacements in an arbitrary coordinate system; (2) resolution of the deformation tensor into the coordinate system parallel and normal to the detected shear zone; and (3) exploration of the resolved data set for evidence for a belt of inhomogeneous deformation, which is an essential characteristic of a shear zone. The operation of MODES-2D is illustrated herein with a theoretical survey network across an ideal shear zone developed with a buried dislocation-fault and with a survey network afforded by the crossing of the Kaynaşlı viaduct by the 1999 Düzce–Bolu earthquake rupture in Turkey.     

吉林省夹皮沟金矿区控矿构造研究

夹皮沟金矿受夹皮沟断裂的一系列次级脆性构造控制，按构造性质可划分为NW向、NE—NEE向、近SN向3种控矿构造类型。其中NW向构造显示左行剪切特征，NE—NEE向构造显示右行剪切特征，近SN向构造显示压性特征。经研究提出区内控矿断裂的形成与中生代敦化一密山断裂大规模左行平移有关；NE向敦化一密山断裂与次级平行分布的两江断裂左行平移，使早期形成的夹皮沟压性断裂显示左行压扭特征，诱导应力场派生出一系列NW向、NE—NEE向的剪切断裂，以及近SN向的压性断裂。这3组断裂成为本区员主要的容矿构造。     

玉树地震地表破裂特征及其破裂方式

北京时间2010年4月14日玉树Ms7.1级地震产生了长约50km的地表破裂带,地表破裂系统非常典型。本文通过对果庆益荣松多村附近河滩与结古镇西南河道两岸2个地表破裂点的野外观测和地表破裂的力学分析,探讨玉树地震地表破裂特征和方式。在果庆益荣松多村附近河滩地表破裂与地震陡坎呈间隔式左行右阶排列,具转换压缩性质;在结古镇西南河道北岸主地表破裂带中地表破裂非常发育,出露一处古断层面。地表破裂的野外调查与应力分析结果表明,玉树地震同震地表破裂带总体走向为125°,属于典型的左行走滑破裂带,最大左行走滑位移量1.75m,主压应力为近东西向,这一结果与美国地质调查局和中国地震局地震地球物理研究所公布的结果基本一致。     

准噶尔盆地腹部两类走滑断裂带及其构造变形样式

走滑断裂带对中国西部压扭性叠合盆地大中型油气田形成与分布具有重要的控制作用,也是研究难点之一.基于高密度三维地震资料,本文采用多种地震构造解析技术,瞄准噶尔盆地腹部侏罗系开展了精细走滑断裂带解释和变形样式分析.在燕山Ⅱ幕构造活动期,侏罗系发育了NWW向左行压扭性和NE向左行张扭性两类走滑断裂带.它们都是由4组剪切断层复合而成,共同遵从左行简单剪切模式,但几何学特征和构造属性差异很大.NWW和NE向走滑断裂带不存在共轭剪切关系,而是在钝夹角区（135°左右）普遍具有弧形联合与归并趋势.在构造变形中,两类同期左行走滑断裂带弧形联合控制了变形区域旋扭形变和剪切破裂,构成了一个大尺度“面”状旋扭构造体系.旋扭构造变形样式对中亚陆内造山带研究具有一定借鉴意义,也为压扭盆地的油气勘探实践提供了新思路.     

强震作用下穿越断层隧道围岩力学响应研究

通常情况下,地下工程震害比地面建筑物震害较轻,但是在强震条件下,地下工程震害依然突出。2008年 512 汶川大地震(MS8.0)对地下工程造成了巨大破坏,尤其是穿越构造断裂带的铁路、公路隧道。本文采用三维离散元(3DEC)动力分析方法和实测汶川地震动记录,模拟研究了穿越断层的成兰铁路邓家坪隧道围岩在强震和断层共同作用下的动力响应过程。经过与实地调查的北川映秀断裂带地表破裂情况对比验证,模拟结果具有较高的可信度。结果表明:地震动荷载、断层等因素的共同作用改变了隧道围岩中的初始应力分布,进而引起断层附近隧道围岩应力累积、应力集中,最终导致了具有高度复杂性的渐进性断层破裂过程和隧道围岩破坏过程,这个过程可以定性地划分为5个主要阶段:弹性应力集中阶段、破裂起始阶段、破裂加速阶段、稳定破裂阶段和破裂逐渐停止阶段。本研究将有助于深刻认识在强震和断层共同作用下的隧道围岩动力响应过程,并对隧道安全性评价具有重大意义。     

地堑成因的实验研究

二十世纪初,对地堑的研究才由描述性阶段而发展到对其成因的探讨。1930年,德国地质学家克鲁斯(H.Cloos)最先用实验方法使湿粘土受侧向拉伸,而再现了地堑构造,从此对地堑的力学成因,展开了讨论。H.克鲁斯认为,这种构造是与地堑相垂直的地壳球面张力所造成的,它可能是区域性的,也可能是由于地堑所横过的部分地块的拱起而成。     

Holocene displacement along branch and secondary faults in the San Andreas fault zone, southern California

Detailed geologic mapping of the San Andreas fault zone in Los Angeles County since 1972 has revealed evidence for diverse histories of displacement on branch and secondary faults near Palmdale. The main trace of the San Andreas fault is well defined by a variety of physiographic features. The geologic record supports the concept of many kilometers of lateral displacement on the main trace and on some secondary faults, especially when dealing with pre-Quaternary rocks. However, the distribution of upper Pleistocene rocks along branch and secondary faults suggests a strong vertical component of displacement and, in many locations, Holocene displacement appears to be primarily vertical. The most recent movement on many secondary and some branch faults has been either high-angle (reverse and normal) or thrust. This is in contrast to the abundant evidence for lateral movement seen along the main San Andreas fault. We suggest that this change in the sense of displacement is more common than has been previously recognized.The branch and secondary faults described here have geomorphic features along them that are as fresh as similar features visible along the most recent trace of the San Andreas fault. From this we infer that surface rupture occurred on these faults in 1857, as it did on the main San Andreas fault. Branch faults commonly form “Riedel” and “thrust” shear configurations adjacent to the main San Andreas fault and affect a zone less than a few hundred meters wide. Holocene and upper Pleistocene deposits have been repeatedly offset along faults that also separate contrasting older rocks. Secondary faults are located up to 1500 m on either side of the San Andreas fault and trend subparallel to it. Moreover, our mapping indicates that some portions of these secondary faults appear to have been “inactive” throughout much of Quaternary time, even though Holocene and upper Pleistocene deposits have been repeatedly offset along other parts of these same faults. For example, near 37th Street E. and Barrel Springs Road, a limited stretch of the Nadeau fault has a very fresh normal scarp, in one place as much as 3 m high, which breaks upper Pleistocene or Holocene deposits. This scarp has two bevelled surfaces, the upper surface sloping significantly less than the lower, suggesting at least two periods of recent movement. Other exposures along this fault show undisturbed Quaternary deposits overlying the fault. The Cemetery and Little Rock faults also exhibit selected reactivation of isolated segments separated by “inactive” stretches.Activity on branch and secondary faults, as outlined above, is presumed to be the result of sympathetic movement on limited segments of older faults in response to major movement on the San Andreas fault. The recognition that Holocene activity is possible on faults where much of the evidence suggests prolonged inactivity emphasizes the need for regional, as well as detailed site studies to evaluate adequately the hazard of any fault trace in a major fault zone. Similar problems may be encountered when geodetic or other studies, Which depend on stable sites, are conducted in the vicinity of major faults.     

青藏铁路邻侧昆仑山2001年Ms8．1级地震地表破裂特征分析

青藏铁路邻侧的地震地表破裂调查显示昆仑山2001年8．1级地震地表破裂明显呈水平左旋走滑性质，地震破裂带主要由NE向的张裂和NW向地震鼓包呈之字型沿昆仑山口断裂线性分布构成。青藏公路邻侧的地震破裂的实际左旋位移量为4．3～4．81m。地震的强烈破坏主要集中在地震破裂带上，在青藏公路附近见其影响范围可延至破裂带南北两侧10～50km范围内。     

西秦岭北缘北西向断层特征和形成的构造机制及地质意义

西秦岭北缘构造带不仅发育一系列继承性多期活动或新生的近东西向断层,而且新生代地层中还发育与近东西向断层走向不一致且具有独特构造特征的北西向左旋走滑断层。这种北西向左旋走滑断层带不发育断层角砾岩、磨砾岩、碎粉岩、断层泥、摩擦镜面、擦痕线理、断层阶步等脆性断层中常见的构造现象,仅表现为地层旋转和剪切拉断形成的一定宽度的透镜化带,两条断层之间地层产状发生旋转形成了约1 km宽,平面上类似膝折构造几何形态地层扭折带。该北西向断层横切了渐新统—中新统地层,并被上新统砾岩覆盖和第四纪以来的近东西向左旋走滑断层斜切,指示了其形成于渐新世—中新世沉积地层形成之后,上新世砾岩沉积之前,即上新世早期。北西向断层带不发育脆性断层典型构造现象和断层左旋走滑作用在渐新统—中新统沉积地层中形成了类似膝折构造几何形态地层扭折带,说明其变形具有韧脆性过渡和缓慢剪切变形的特征,是西秦岭北缘一种新的断层类型。其形成机制为基底或中下地壳中大型左旋走滑韧性或韧脆性剪切带向上扩展延伸到上部沉积盖层中之结果,也就是说,新生代沉积盖层中这种北西向断层和地层扭折带是下部韧性剪切带的左旋走滑剪切在盖层中被动构造响应。这种基底或中下地壳北西向左旋韧性剪切带可能指示了上新世初期西秦岭北缘构造带深部韧性地壳物质向南东流变蠕动的构造标志,代表深部地壳缩短增厚向地壳韧性物质侧向扩展流动的转换过程。这种特殊的断层类型对理解青藏高原东北缘新生代构造变形体制转换和地壳隆升具有重要的科学意义。     

雪峰山中段金矿区主要断裂带构造特征及其动力学

雪峰山中段金矿区内NE向和NW向主要控矿断裂带的宏观地质、显微构造和构造地球化学特征表明NW向断裂为NE向断裂的伴生或派生构造的构造带，NE向断裂的声发射法、动态重结晶石英粒度法、石英亚颗粒法等变形岩石差应力估算值在42.39-68.40MPa之间；而NW向断裂带则介于27.44-53.14MPa之间，声发射法、包裹体测压法推测控矿构造韧性变形时的形成深度为3704-5086m，脆性变形时为375-2944m，岩组分析说明，NE向断裂具有早期逆冲推覆，主压应力属NW-SE向应力系统，晚期正断滑覆，应力方位偏转到SSE-NNW向。     

Wrench structural deformation in Ras Al Hilal-Al Athrun area, NE Libya: a new contribution in Northern Al Jabal Al Akhdar Belt

Al Jabal Al Akhdar is a NE/SW- to ENE/WSW-trending mobile part in Northern Cyrenaica province and is considered a large sedimentary belt in northeast Libya. Ras Al Hilal-Al Athrun area is situated in the northern part of this belt and is covered by Upper Cretaceous–Tertiary sedimentary successions with small outcrops of Quaternary deposits. Unmappable and very restricted thin layers of Palaeocene rocks are also encountered, but still under debate whether they are formed in situ or represent allochthonous remnants of Palaeocene age. The Upper Cretaceous rocks form low-lying to unmappable exposures and occupy the core of a major WSW-plunging anticline. To the west, south, and southeast, they are flanked by high-relief Eocene, Oligocene, and Lower Miocene rocks. Detailed structural analyses indicated structural inversion during Late Cretaceous–Miocene times in response to a right lateral compressional shear. The structural pattern is themed by the development of an E–W major shear zone that confines inside a system of wrench tectonics proceeded elsewhere by transpression. The deformation within this system revealed three phases of consistent ductile and brittle structures (D₁, D₂, and D₃) conformable with three main tectonic stages during Late Cretaceous, Eocene, and Oligocene–Early Miocene times. Quaternary deposits, however, showed at a local scale some of brittle structures accommodated with such deformation and thus reflect the continuity of wrenching post-the Miocene. D₁ deformation is manifested, in Late Cretaceous, via pure wrenching to convergent wrenching and formation of common E- to ENE-plunging folds. These folds are minor, tight, overturned, upright, and recumbent. They are accompanied with WNW–ESE to E–W dextral and N–S sinistral strike-slip faults, reverse to thrust faults and pop-up or flower structures. D₂ deformation initiated at the end of Lutetian (Middle Eocene) by wrenching and elsewhere transpression then enhanced by the development of minor ENE–WSW to E–W asymmetric, close, and, rarely, recumbent folds as well as rejuvenation of the Late Cretaceous strike-slip faults and formation of minor NNW–SSE normal faults. At the end of Eocene, D₂ led to localization of the movement within E–W major shear zone, formation of the early stage of the WSW-plunging Ras Al Hilal major anticline, preservation of the contemporaneity (at a major scale) between the synthetic WNW–ESE to E–W and ENE–WSW strike-slip faults and antithetic N–S strike-slip faults, and continuity of the NW–SE normal faults. D₃ deformation is continued, during the Oligocene-Early Miocene, with the appearance of a spectacular feature of the major anticline and reactivation along the E–W shear zone and the preexisting faults. Estimating stress directions assumed an acted principal horizontal stress from the NNW (N33°W) direction.     

Shear fracture pattern and microstructural evolution in transpressional fault zones from field and laboratory studies

Zones of transpressional shear deformation accommodate strike-slip and oblique-slip displacements. Field work in a transpressive shear zone, and transpressional analogue clay-box modelling, show that a P-oriented foliation and associated P-shears are preferentially developed over the more common R₁ Riedel-shears. The Carboneras fault system (CFS) in SE Spain is a left-lateral transpressional shear zone with an internal geometry characterized by first-order Y-oriented faults and widespread P-oriented second-order faults. The mesoscopic to microscopic gouge fabric reflects the regional architecture of the shear zone being dominated by a pervasive Poriented foliation and discrete Y- and P-shears. Friction experiments carried out to investigate the textural evolution of gouge fabrics showed four textural stages of fabric development, from foliation formation to extreme shear localization resulting in cross-gouge failure. Transpression clay-box models favoured the formation of secondary P-oriented shear fractures and P-oriented shear lenses. Further deformation caused differential shear lens rotation and shear lens orientations closer to the mean displacement direction. Our field studies and laboratory analogue experiments indicate that shear zones dominated by P-shears are diagnostic of a transpressional deformation regime.     

二连盆地哈南油田伸展构造体系裂缝及其油气地质意义

哈南油田构造断裂十分复杂,受伸展构造体系裂缝及断层的控制,形成有与断层共生的裂缝组系和断层活动派生的裂缝组系。裂缝与NE向断层平行或与其斜交或横交。裂缝力学性质表现为张裂缝、剪裂缝和张剪裂缝,以张裂缝为主。无论是何种力学性质的裂缝,如果裂缝没有被充填,则会对油气聚集和开发产生影响。有效裂缝可以为储层提供油气运移通道和油气储集空间,在油田开发中,裂缝与断层组成裂缝网络形成的断裂导水,会致使注水层系混乱,形成非同层注水局面,影响着层系开发的效果。