The Nature and Tectonic Significance of Fault Zone Weakening

Many faults appears to form persistent zones of weakness that fundamentally influence the distribution, arichitecture and movement patterns of crustal-scale deformation and associated processes in both continental and oceanic regions. They act as conduits for the focused migration of economically important fluids and, as most seismicity is associated with active faults, they also constitute one of the most important global geological hazards.
This book brings together papers by an international group of Earth Scientists to discuss a broad range of topics centred upon the controls of fault weakening and the role of such faults during lithosphere deformation.
The book will be of interests to both academic and industrial Earth Scientists with an interest in geodynamics, structure at all scales, tectonics and the migration of petroleum and water.
Microfracturing associated with reactivated fault zones and shear zones: what can it tell us about deformation history?
-
Published:January 01, 2001
-
CiteCitation
Gautam Mitra, Zeshan Ismat, 2001. "Microfracturing associated with reactivated fault zones and shear zones: what can it tell us about deformation history?", The Nature and Tectonic Significance of Fault Zone Weakening, R. E. Holdsworth, R. A. Strachan, J. F. Magloughlin, R. J. Knipe
Download citation file:
- Share
-
Tools
Abstract
Deformation in fault zones is commonly characterized by grain-scale microfracturing, with microcrack density typically increasing toward the middle of the zone. The cracks can form under a wide variety of conditions and need to be used with great caution in making tectonic interpretations, particularly in areas with a complex history of fault reactivation. Microcracks may be intragranular (contained within single grains) or intergranular (with a length of several grain diameters). Intragranular cracks formed under dominantly plastic deformation conditions are crystallographically controlled and may not be directly related to regional stresses. Intragranular cracks formed during initial fracturing under cataclastic conditions...