Faulting, fracturing and in situ stress prediction in the Ahnet Basin, Algeria — a finite element approach

Many low-efficiency hydrocarbon reservoirs are productive largely because effective reservoir permeability is controlled by faults and natural fractures. Accurate and low-cost information on basic fault and fracture properties, orientation in particular, is critical in reducing well costs and increasing well recoveries. This paper describes how we used an advanced numerical modelling technique, the finite element method (FEM), to compute site-specific in situ stresses and rock deformation and to predict fracture attributes as a function of material properties, structural position and tectonic stress. Presented are the numerical results of two-dimensional, plane-strain end-member FEM models of a hydrocarbon-bearing fault-propagation-fold structure. Interpretation of the modelling results remains qualitative because of the intrinsic limitations of numerical modelling; however, it still allows comparisons with (the little available) geological and geophysical data.

In all models, the weak mechanical strength and flow properties of a thick shale layer (the main seal) leads to a decoupling of the structural deformation of the shallower sediments from the underlying sediments and basement, and results in flexural slip across the shale layer. All models predict rock fracturing to initiate at the surface and to expand with depth under increasing horizontal tectonic compression. The stress regime for the formation of new fractures changes from compressional to shear with depth. If pre-existing fractures exist, only (sub)horizontal fractures are predicted to open, thus defining the principal orientation of effective reservoir permeability. In models that do not include a blind thrust fault in the basement, flexural amplification of the initial fold structure generates additional fracturing in the crest of the anticline controlled by the material properties of the rocks. The folding-induced fracturing expands laterally along the stratigraphic boundaries under enhanced tectonic loading. Models incorporating a blind thrust fault correctly predict the formation of secondary syn- and anti-thetic mesoscale faults in the basement and sediments of the hanging wall. Some of these faults cut reservoir and/or seal layers, and thus may influence effective reservoir permeability and affect seal integrity. The predicted faults divide the sediments across the anticline in several compartments with different stress levels and different rock failure (and proximity to failure). These numerical model outcomes can assist classic interpretation of seismic and well bore data in search of fractured and overpressured hydrocarbon reservoirs.     

库车坳陷盐下构造对盐上盖层变形的影响因素分析

库车坳陷是在地壳或者岩石圈尺度整体挤压作用下,收缩构造变形形成的一个构造单元,膏盐岩层等软弱岩层可能导致滑脱断层发育,并引起盐上和盐下不协调收缩变形,区域挤压作用下一些先存基底断裂带的逆冲位移是控制盐上层冲断褶皱变形的主要因素。运用地震资料、地表露头、钻测井资料以及非地震资料等,对库车坳陷区域大剖面的盐上层、盐下层的构造变形样式进行分析,认为南天山在挤压收缩变形中隆升,诱导盆山过渡带发育基底卷入的高角度逆冲断层,先前基底断层的复活影响了盆地沉积盖层的构造变形,基底断裂与盖层断层组合样式在走向上基本一致,盖层强变形带与基底断裂带上下呼应。     

前陆冲断带非对称性变形与逆冲断层运动学指向

前陆冲断带冲断层的冲断方向一直没有得到理论解释.文中基于库伦断裂理论和造山带前陆冲断带变形的非对称性,分析了前冲断层和反冲断层的成因.变形初期将会出现两组共轭势断裂面,随后在变形非对称引起的准静力平衡条件下,两组势断裂面中所需作用力小的那组断裂面将更容易发育成冲断层,断层滑动所需作用力包括克服滑脱面摩擦力和断层面摩擦力...     

Basement-cover relations in the Appalachian fold and thrust belt

The external massifs along the Appalachian orogen include Precambrian basement rocks with attached cover. To the northwest (cratonward), in the Appalachian foreland fold and thrust belt, Palaeozoic sedimentary rocks, but no basement rocks, are exposed; that belt was the subject of the classic debate about thin-skinned (deformed cover rocks detached from undeformed basement) and thick-skinned (basement deformed with attached cover) structural styles. Presently available data indicate detached cover rocks and thin-skinned style in the fold and thrust belt: large-scale thrusting occurred late in the orogenic history. In the external basement massifs, late Precambrian graben-fill sedimentary and volcanic rocks indicate early basement faults; and within the craton, steep basement faults bound graben blocks of Cambrian age. Distribution of known basement faults suggests that basement rocks beneath the fold and thrust belt may also be faulted. Local episodic synsedimentary structural movement through much of the Palaeozoic is documented by stratigraphy in the fold and thrust belt. Axes of early synsedimentary structures are approximately coincident with axes of late folds and thrust fault ramps, but stratigraphic data show that magnitude of the early structures was much less than that of the late structures. These relations suggest the interpretation that early low-magnitude structures formed in cover rocks over basement faults and that the early structures, or the basement faults, significantly influenced the geometry of later detachment structures during large-scale horizontal translation.     

准噶尔盆地南缘前陆冲断带深层地质结构及对油气藏的控制作用:以霍尔果斯—玛纳斯—吐谷鲁褶皱冲断带为例

准噶尔盆地南缘前陆冲断带位于天山北麓,在晚新生代强烈的挤压作用下,地表发育数排背斜带。由于构造变形复杂、地震反射成像质量较差,对深层地质结构争议较大,另外前新生代盆地原型对晚新生代以来的褶皱冲断带构造格局的影响也尚未探讨。霍尔果斯—玛纳斯—吐谷鲁(简称霍-玛-吐)褶皱冲断带位于准噶尔盆地南缘前陆冲断带地表第二排背斜带,利用最新采集和处理的地震反射资料,并结合地表地质露头建立深层构造模型;利用平衡地质剖面复原和构造物理模拟实验的方法探索早侏罗世盆地原型结构对现今褶皱冲断带构造格局的影响;在此基础上分析霍-玛-吐褶皱冲断带深层天然气富集规律。霍-玛-吐褶皱冲断带垂向上发育古近系—第四系逆冲推覆构造、中上侏罗统—白垩系构造楔和下侏罗统半地堑断陷结构。控制早侏罗世半地堑系统的高角度正断层在晚期挤压构造变形体系中充当逆断坡,并控制上覆构造楔和浅层逆冲推覆构造的发育。早侏罗世半地堑系统具有分段性,并通过侧向断坡进行连接,侧向断坡上覆地层发育南北向走滑调节断层。油气勘探现状表明,霍-玛-吐褶皱冲断带内部南北向走滑调节断层具有高效沟通下侏罗统烃源岩的特点,是控制天然气的富集的重要因素。以上研究表明,中西部陆内前陆冲断带前新生代古构造对于晚新生代挤压冲断构造格局和深层天然气富集规律具有重要意义。     

Inversion of a transfer system into lateral ramps: An example from the South-Central Pyrenees (Spain)

Field work in the South-Central Pyrenees suggests that omission contacts (i.e. younger over older rocks) occur at the base of the Cadí unit (Cadí thrust), and pass laterally into thrusts. This change occurs across tear faults which are present in the hangingwall of the Cadí thrust sheet and which controlled the deposition of Upper Cretaceous sediments (Adraén formation). Detailed mapping in the contact area between the Nogueres and Cadí units has shown that the actual thrust geometry in the study area is controlled by preexisting normal and transfer faults which developed in an already compressional context. Lateral ramps or tear faults develop depending on the angle between the pre-existing extensional transfer fault and the thrust transport direction.     

Critical stress difference and orientation of faults in rocks with strength anisotropies: the two-dimensional case

Equations are derived for the critical stress difference on thrust, normal and strike-slip faults with finite cohesive strength, both in homogeneous, isotropic rock, and along pre-existing strength anisotropies with different cohesion and coefficient of friction, subject to the limitation that the plane of anisotropy contains the intermediate axis of stress. The range of orientations for which sliding occurs along pre-existing planes of weakness rather than along a new fault is given as a function of material parameters and critical stress difference for the intact rock. Given the principal stress directions, the equations allow the direct calculation of the stress and orientation conditions for the three faulting regimes.     

库车前陆冲断带克拉苏构造带变形影响因素分析——基于离散元数值模拟研究

在解释库车前陆冲断带克拉苏构造带三维地震剖面的基础上,采用离散元数值模拟手段、单因素变量控制方法,通过六组模拟对比实验,探讨挤压背景下应变速率大小和作用时间、盐岩展布形态、先存盐底辟、基底先存断裂以及基底古隆起等因素,对库车前陆冲断带克拉苏构造带变形的影响。离散元数值模拟结果表明:相比于应变速率大小,应力作用时间对冲断带变形的影响更为显著,变形缩短率相同时导致挤压隆升幅度更大,可达70.25%,向前传播距离均更远,横向上变形范围可达73.82%,盐下层叠瓦状逆冲断裂倾角更小。先存底辟主要影响挤压端垂向变形规模,使得隆升幅度更大。先存断裂主要影响挤压端水平方向变形范围,挤压变形水平传播更远。基底古隆起和盐岩展布形态对克拉苏构造带变形也具有重要影响,基底隆起前沿形成应力集中带,盐岩在此聚集形成构造三角带。由于盐岩的分隔作用,盐上层变形相对较弱,靠近挤压端发育背斜和冲断构造,向盆地方向逐渐变为宽缓的向斜构造。     

Denudation scarps as indicators of regional tectonic stresses

The present-day denudation scarps on the Russian Plain, many hundred kilometers in extent, resemble faults. The kinematics of low-amplitude displacements deduced from their configuration and mesotectonic measurements corresponds to the recent regional stress regime transmitted in the lateral direction to the platform basement via consolidated crust from the zone of Alpine collision. At the same time, no high-amplitude regional faults are known near the scarps. This paradox can be resolved assuming that the scarps are formed by tightening of low-amplitude stress-release joints rather than along extended faults. The zones of such joints mark the belts of stresses in the platform basement induced by collision. Since the erosion that forms a scarp relaxes residual tectonic stresses, a river’s bank is not destroyed chaotically, so that particular segments of scarp follow paths of the regional stress field. Thus, the configuration of banks, in combination with other structural features, makes its possible to forecast the character of recent collision-related stresses transmitted from a depth.     

徐家围子断陷白垩纪火山活动与断裂组合关系

本文从断裂组合、火山机构和岩浆通道等方面分析,提出徐家围子断陷基底断裂及与之匹配的次级断裂控制白垩纪火山活动,形成受基底断裂控制的三个 NNW 向展布的火山岩发育带。由于基底断裂特征不同,各火山岩带分别具有中心式、裂隙式和复合式三种不同的喷发特征。徐家围子断陷安达地区精细解剖表明,其基底断裂上部发育 NWW 向雁列式断裂,向下沟通基底断裂,为西部火山岩浆上侵通道,反映了历史时期内火山活动西强东弱的特征,西部火山规模大,以爆发相为主,东部为大面积溢流相。火山岩的分布受基底断裂及沟通其的次级断裂控制,同时对断裂痕迹起到一定的改造作用。     

Ancient synsedimentary structural control on thrust ramp development: an example from the Northern Apennines, Italy

The Umbria-Marche-Sabina foreland fold and thrust belt (Northern Apennines, Italy) provides excellent test-cases for the hypothesis of ancient syndepositional structural features controlling thrust ramp development. The sedimentary cover, Late Triassic to Miocene in age, is made of platform and pelagic carbonates, whose deposition was controlled by significant synsedimentary extension. Normal faulting, mainly during the Jurassic and the Late Cretaceous-Palaeogene, determined sensible lateral thickness variations within the relative sequences. By late Miocene the sedimentary cover was detached from its basement along a mainly evaporitic horizon, and was deformed by means of eastward-verging folds and thrusts.
In order to locate the points where thrust ramps branch-off the basal detachment, both line-length and equal-area techniques were used in the construction of a balanced cross-section through three major fault-related folds in southeastern Umbria. The nucleation of thrust ramps was controlled by the occurrence of Jurassic and Cretaceous-Palaeogene synsedimentary normal faults. These interrupted the lateral continuity of the evaporitic unit (the Late Triassic Anidriti di Burano Fm.) at the base of the sedimentary cover, and acted as obstacles to the eastward propagation of the thrust system, giving rise to major folds which originated from tip-line folding processes.
Therefore, the inferred relationships between ancient normal faults and late thrusts indicate that synsedimentary tectonic structures and the related lateral stratigraphic variations can be envisaged as mechanically important perturbations, which effectively control the nucleation and development of thrust ramps.     

福建厦门地区中、新生代构造应力场研究

本文通过野外构造形变资料的研究,确定了厦门地区中生代的两期（侏罗纪、白垩纪）构造应力场及其主应力方向;利用最新一期共轭剪节理和震源机制解资料,确定了第四纪以来的构造应力场及其主应力方向。最大主压应力轴的优选方位分别为:侏罗纪SE138°,∠8°,白垩纪SW205,∠12°,第四纪以来NW312°,∠21°。 采用石英错密度法,估算了中生代古构造应力值,侏罗纪为88.5MPa,白垩纪为81.5MPa。利用岩石力学声发射技术,测定了现代构造应力大小,在标高为3——-151m（埋深为18——151m）的范围内,最大主压应力值为2.55——16.2MPa,最小主压应力值为1.1——10.1MPa。     

南天山山前冲断带的构造样式及成因探讨

塔里木盆地南天山山前冲断带东西分段、南北分带.受走滑断裂控制,自西向东分为喀什北缘、西克尔区段、柯坪断隆主体、温宿凸起和库车坳陷.受南天山逆掩推覆作用影响,发育多排NE向构造带,喀什北缘主要发育乌恰、阿图什、喀什3排构造带,柯坪断隆主体发育3排古生界逆冲褶皱带,库车坳陷主要由北部单斜带、克拉苏—依奇克里克、秋里塔格构造带组成.由于山前带基底结构和构造运动的差异,造成了各区段地层分布的不均衡,普遍发育的逆冲断裂和走滑断裂,使得地质结构和构造样式更为复杂,多套塑性地层对区带展布和构造变形起到了重要作用.     

利用岩矿记忆信息恢复基岩潜山裂缝储层形成的机制

基岩储层具有当今油气储层研究的两大难题,即特殊且致密的基质岩性和储集空间。变质岩作为基岩岩性之一,其储集空间－裂缝的形成与动力作用密切相关。构造动力是致密基岩产生裂缝的主要因素,岩石矿物将记忆其在地质历史过程中所经历的动力特征。在准确采取定向岩心的基础上,利用声发射技术（ＡＥ）和岩组学方法可以恢复基岩储层在地质历史过程中所受应力期次和应力方向,从而了解储层的动力机制。应用上述原理恢复辽河大民屯凹陷     

基于构造应力场数值模拟的复杂断块油藏低级序断层预测——以南堡凹陷M区为例

针对低级序断层地震资料的多解性,通过构造解析,在确定低级序断层发育时期和构造背景的基础上,对南堡凹陷M区馆陶期构造应力场进行了数值模拟;并以岩石破裂准则为依据,用最小主应力解释了低级序断层的优势发育地区,用平面剪应力解释了低级序断层的优势走向,用剖面剪应力解释了低级序断层的优势视倾向,预测了低级序断层的发育规律。研究结果表明,南堡凹陷M区三级断层活动具有明显的分段性和分期性特点;在区域性南北向拉张和火山喷发造成的局部拱升的共同作用下,研究区中部为东一段低级序断层发育的优势区,发育近北西走向和近北东走向两组低级序断层,东部主要发育一组近北东走向的低级序断层,西部主要发育一组近北西走向低级序断层,断层视倾向以北倾为主。      

雪峰山西侧贵州地区中生代构造特征及其演化

贵州中生代变形主要发生在燕山期,发育三幕褶皱变形、两幕逆冲和三幕走滑。根据区域对比、卷入褶皱的地层和褶皱间的叠加关系,判断三期褶皱的形成顺序依次为近东西向、北东向和南北向,时限在J_3—K_2之间。逆冲推覆构造主要由向北西或西逆冲的近南北向逆冲断层组成,大体与南北向褶皱同时形成;自雪峰构造带西缘向西,依次划分出根部带、中部带和前锋带。但是,在根部带识别出两幕逆冲推覆,其它两带各识别出一幕。走滑断层也有3个方向:东西向、北东向和近南北向。东西向走滑断层呈现出右行压扭的运动学特征,而大多数北东向走滑断层是左行张扭性质的。依据各个方向断层间的切割和限制关系,推测东西向走滑断层最早形成,其次是南北向逆冲断层,北东向走滑断层最晚活动。这些断裂和褶皱特征,总体表现出贵州多重多种复合联合的构造特征,最后,探讨了本区的构造成因模式。     

Late Cenozoic deformation in the South Caspian region: effects of a rigid basement block within a collision zone

Active deformation in the South Caspian region demonstrates the enormous variation in kinematics and structural style generated where a rigid basement block lies within a collision zone. Rigid basement to the South Caspian Basin moves with a westward component relative both to stable Eurasia and Iran, and is beginning to subduct at its northern and western margins. This motion is oblique to the approximately north–south Arabia–Eurasia convergence, and causes oblique shortening to the south and northeast of the South Caspian Basin: thrusting in the Alborz and Kopet Dagh is accompanied by range-parallel strike–slip faults, which are respectively left- and right-lateral. There are also arcuate fold and thrust belts in the region, for two principal reasons. Firstly, weaker regions deform and wrap around the rigid block. This occurs at the curved transition zone between the Alborz and Talysh ranges, where thrust traces are concave towards the foreland. Secondly, a curved fold and thrust belt can link a deformation zone created by movement of the basement block to one created by the regional convergence: west-to-east thrusts in the eastern Talysh represent underthrusting of the South Caspian basement, but pass via an arcuate fan of fold trains into SSW-directed thrusts in the eastern Greater Caucasus, which accommodates part of the Arabia–Eurasia convergence. Each part of the South Caspian region contains one or more detachment levels, which vary dependent on the pre-Pliocene geology. Buckle folds in the South Caspian Basin are detached from older rocks on thick mid-Tertiary mudrocks, whereas thrust sheets in the eastern Greater Caucasus detach on Mesozoic horizons. In the future, the South Caspian basement may be largely eliminated by subduction, leading to a situation similar to Archaean greenstone belts of interthrust mafic and sedimentary slices surrounded by the roots of mountain ranges constructed from continental crust.     

Thrust tectonics,thin skinned or thick skinned,and the continuation of thrusts to deep in the crust

The paper analyses the geometry of thin-skinned thrust zones, where the thrusts shallow out at depth and of thicker-skinned fault zones where much of the crust is involved and where the thrusts are frequently observed to become steeper downwards. In the interiors of many orogenic belts the steep dip of faults is not original but due to the folding above lower decoupling zones. The energy involved in the internal deformation of hanging-wall rocks may prohibit many faults becoming more shallow upwards. Such shallowing-upwards faults may occur in more ductile rocks to maintain compatibility between zones which have experienced different deformation intensities, but displacements on the faults are unlikely to be large.Another mechanism for producing faults which steepen downwards is proposed for the major thrusts which form the southern margin to the Himalayas. These carry large thicknesses (30 to 100 km) of crustal and upper mantle rocks to the south, causing flexuring and isostatic depression of the Indian plate. The steeply dipping thrusts are not footwall ramps; these may be some distance behind the steepened zone. This thrust-induced isostatic bending of the crust has important implications when considering regional seismic interpretations as well as thrust mechanics and kinematics.     

Curved structures and interference fold patterns associated with lateral ramps in the Eastern Cordillera, Central Andes of Argentina

The conspicuous curved structures located at the eastern front of the Eastern Cordillera between 25° and 26° south latitude is coincident with the salient recognized as the El Crestón arc. Major oblique strike-slip faults associated with these strongly curved structures were interpreted as lateral ramps of an eastward displaced thrust sheet. The displacement along these oblique lateral ramps generated the local N–S stress components responsible for the complex hanging wall deformation. Accompanying each lateral ramp, there are two belts of strong oblique fault and folding: the upper Juramento River valley area and El Brete area.On both margins of the Juramento River upper valley, there is extensive map-scale evidence of complex deformation above an oblique ramp. The N–S striking folds originated during Pliocene Andean orogeny were subsequently or simultaneously folded by E–W oriented folds. The lateral ramps delimiting the thrust sheet coincident with the El Crestón arc salient are strike-slip faults emplaced in the abrupt transitions between thick strata forming the salient and thin strata outside of it. El Crestón arc is a salient related to the pre-deformational Cretaceous rift geometry, which developed over a portion of this basin (Metán depocenter) that was initially thicker. The displacement along the northern lateral ramp is sinistral, whereas it is dextral in the southern ramp. The southern end of the Eastern Cordillera of Argentina shows a particular structure reflecting a pronounced along strike variations related to the pre-deformational sedimentary thickness of the Cretaceous basin.     

The effects of pre-existing normal faults on thrust ramp development: An example from the northern Apennines,Italy

The Umbria-Marche foreland fold-and-thrust belt in the northern Apennines of Italy provides excellent evidence to test the hypothesis of synsedimentary-structural control on thrust ramp development. This orogenic belt consists of platform and pelagic carbonates, Late Triassic to Miocene in age, whose deposition was controlled by significant synsedimentary extension. Normal faulting, mainly active from Jurassic through Late Cretaceous-Paleogene time, resulted in significant lateral thickness variability within the related stratigraphic sequences. By Late Miocene time the sedimentary cover was detached from the underlying basement and was deformed by east-verging folds and west-dipping thrusts. Two restored balanced cross sections through the southernmost part of the belt show a coincidence between the early synsedimentary normal faults and the late thrust fault ramps. These evidences suggest that synsedimentary tectonic structures, such as faults and the related lithological lateral changes, can be regarded as mechanically important controlling factors in the process of thrust ramp development during positive tectonic inversion processes.