Deep heterogeneity of the stress state in the horizontal shear zones

The formation structures of brittle destruction in a rock layer above an active strike-slip fault in the crystalline basement is studied. The problem is analyzed from the standpoint of loading history, when after the stage of pure gravitational loading, an additional strain state of uniform horizontal shear of both the layer and underlying basement develops, which is further followed by a vertically nonuniform shear caused by the activation of the deep fault. For the studied object, irreversible fracture deformations on macro- and microlevels arise as early as the initial stage of loading under the action of gravitational stresses. These deformations continue evolving on the megascopic level in the course of horizontal shearing that is quasi-uniform both along the depth and laterally. The final formation of the structural ensemble occurs after a long stage of horizontal displacement of the blocks of the crystalline basement—the stage of localized shear. The theoretical analysis of the evolution of the stress state and morphology of the failure structures established the presence of numerous fractures with the normal dip-slip components in the intermediate-depth part of the rock mass, which are formed at the stages of uniform and localized horizontal shearing. The fractures with a strike-slip component mainly arise in the upper and near-axial deep parts of the section.