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A Geometric Model of Previous HitFaultNext Hit Zone and Previous HitFaultNext Hit Rock Thickness Variations: Reconciling the Previous HitFaultNext Hit Zone Structure of Small to Large Displacement Faults

Conrad Childs1, Tom Manzocchi1, John J. Walsh1, Chris G. Bonson2, Andrew Nicol3, and Martin P. Schöpfer1
1Previous HitFaultNext Hit Analysis Group, University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland
2SRK Consulting (Canada), Vancouver, BC, Canada
3GNS Science, Wellington, New Zealand

The thicknesses of Previous HitfaultNext Hit rock and Previous HitfaultNext Hit zones and the Previous HitfaultNext Hit normal separations for breached and intact relay zones each show a positive correlation with Previous HitfaultNext Hit displacement. The displacement to thickness ratio, or shear strain, ranges for the different structures increases from intact relay zones (median value = 0.28) to Previous HitfaultNext Hit rocks (median value = 0.02). The correlation for Previous HitfaultNext Hit rocks is widely interpreted as a growth trend controlled by Previous HitfaultNext Hit rock rheology, but recognition of similar correlations for the other Previous HitfaultNext Hit components suggests an alternative model. In this model a Previous HitfaultNext Hit initiates as a segmented array of irregular Previous HitfaultNext Hit surfaces. As displacement increases, relay zones separating Previous HitfaultNext Hit segments are breached and Previous HitfaultNext Hit surface irregularities are sheared off, to form Previous HitfaultNext Hit zones containing lenses of Previous HitfaultNext Hit bounded rock. With further displacement these lenses are progressively comminuted, and ultimately converted to zones of thickened Previous HitfaultNext Hit rock. The final Previous HitfaultNext Hit rock thickness is therefore influenced strongly by Previous HitfaultNext Hit structure inherited from the geometry of the initial Previous HitfaultNext Hit array. The large scale range on which Previous HitfaultTop segmentation and irregularities occur provides the basis for application of this model over a scale range of at least 8 orders of magnitude.

 

AAPG Search and Discover Article #90078©2008 AAPG Annual Convention, San Antonio, Texas