In situ stress determination from breakouts in the Tornquist Fan, Denmark

The Tornquist Fan, a fan-shaped region in Denmark and Western Baltic, is situated in the transition zone between the Western and Northern European Stress Provinces. Breakout data from 20 wells (0.3–3.6 km) were analysed. The fan can be divided into three stress provinces: (i) The area south of the Rømø Fracture Zone is part of the Western European Stress Province and has NNW-SSE orientation of the maximum horizontal stress, (ii) The sediment cover in the Nonvegian-Danish Basin is dominated by ENE-WSW orientated maximum horizontal stress, (iii) The maximum horizontal stress is sub-parallel to the strike of the Sorgenfrei-Tornquist Zone. Deviations from the regional stress field were observed in wells close to faults and salt diapirs. In wells south of the Sorgenfrei-Tornquist Zone, breakout occurrence decreases with increasing age of the stratigraphic units. The downhole breakout distribution seems to correlate with lithology and thickness of the sediment layer.