Abstract: A Process Based Approach to Evaluating Sealing and Transmitting Faults

AYDIN, ATILLA, DAVID D. POLLARD, ROD D. MYERS, and CHARLIE BRANKMAN

A methodology for evaluating the geometrical and petrophysical parameters critical for the hydraulic behaviors of faults in sedimentary rocks is presented. The premise is that these parameters are controlled primarily by the physical processes responsible for faulting. The mechanisms contributing to the process of faulting and considered here are:

- Deformation band based mechanism in sandstones;

- Damage zone based mechanism in siliceous and carbona-

ceous rocks; and

- Shale smear based mechanism in limestone/shale and sandstone/shale sequences.

Each of these mechanisms produces a distinct hierarchy of fault zone architectures and fault rock petrophysics. Based upon field and case studies, we propose that it is possible to assess the gross sealing and transmitting potential of faults by a structural/geomechanical analysis of the deformation mechanisms in a particular lithological and structural environment. To do this, a sound understanding of how faults in various structural and lithological environments start, grow, and mature is a prerequisite.

AAPG Search and Discovery Article #90942©1997 AAPG International Conference and Exhibition, Vienna, Austria