Fracture-aperture sizedfrequency, spatial distribution, and growth processes in strata-bounded and non-strata-bounded fractures, cambrian mesón group, NW argentina

Journal of Structural Geology

Volumn 54, Issue , 2013, Pages 54-71

  Hooker, J N ^a,c   Laubach, S E ^a   Marrett, R ^b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN   (United States)

^b UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN   (United States)

^c UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CEMENTS; CRACKS; QUARTZ; SIZE DISTRIBUTION; SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION;

APERTURE SIZES; CEMENTED FRACTURE; CHARACTERISTIC SIZE; FRACTURE APERTURES; FRACTURE GROWTH; OPENING DISPLACEMENT; OPENING MODE FRACTURE; THERMAL HISTORY;

FRACTURE;

CAMBRIAN; DEFORMATION; DISPLACEMENT; FAULT; FRACTURE APERTURE; QUARTZ; SANDSTONE; SIZE DISTRIBUTION; SPATIAL DISTRIBUTION;

ARGENTINA;

EID: 84882955671     PISSN: 01918141     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.jsg.2013.06.011     Document Type: Article

References (81)

1. Aceñolaza, F.G., 2007. Insights in the Neoproterozoic Early Cambrian transition of NWArgentina: facies, environments and fossils in the proto-margin of western Gondwana. In: Vickers-Rich, P., Komarower, P. (Eds.), The Rise and Fall of the Ediacaran Biota, Geological Society Special Publication 286, pp. 1e13.
2. Aceñolaza, F.G., Buatois, L.A., Mángano, M.G., Esteban, S.B., Tortello, M.F., Aceñolaza, G.F., 1999. Cámbrico y Ordovícico del noroeste Argentino. Geología Argentina: Instituto de Geología y Recursos Minerales Anales 29, 169e187.
3. Baecher, G.B., Lanney, N.A., 1978. Trace length biases in joint surveys. In: 19th U.S. Symposium on Rock Mechanics. University of Nevada, Reno, pp. 56e65.
4. Bai, T., Pollard, D.D., 2000. Fracture spacing in layered rocks: a new explanation based on the stress transition. Journal of Structural Geology 22, 43e57.
5. Baljon, A.R.C., Robbins, M.O., 1996. Energy dissipation during rupture of adhesive bonds. Science 26 (5248), 482e484. http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.271.5248.482
6. Becker, S.P., Eichhubl, P., Laubach, S.E., Reed, R.M., Lander, R.H., Bodnar, R.J., 2010. A 48 m.y. history of fracture opening, temperature, and fluid pressure: Cretaceous Travis Peak Formation, East Texas basin. Geological Society of America Bulletin 122, 1081e1093. http://dx.doi.org/10.1130/B30067.1.
7. Bonnet, E., Bour, O., Odling, N.E., Davy, P., Main, I., Cowie, P., Berkowitz, B., 2001. Scaling of fracture systems in geological media. Reviews of Geophysics 39 (3), 347e383.
8. Buatois, L.A., Mángano, M.G., 2003. Sedimentary facies, depositional evolution of the Upper Cambrian-Lower Ordovician Santa Rosita formation in northwest Argentina. Journal of South American Earth Sciences 16 (5), 343e363.
9. Cladouhos, T.T., Marrett, R., 1996. Are fault growth and linkage models consistent with power law distributions of fault lengths? Journal of Structural Geology 18, 281e293.
10. Clark, M.B., Brantley, S.L., Fisher, D.M., 1995. Power-law vein-thickness distributions and positive feedback in vein growth. Geology 23 (11), 975e978.
11. Cowie, P.A., Vanneste, C., Sornette, D., 1993. Statistical physics model for the spatiotemporal evolution of faults. Journal of Geophysical Research 98 (B12), 21809e21821.
12. Davy, P., Le Groc, R., Darcel, C., Bour, O., de Druzy, J.R., Munier, R., 2010. A likely universal model of fracture scaling and its consequence for crustal hydromechanics. Journal of Geophysical Research 115, B10411. http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2009JB007043.
13. Deeken, A., Sobel, E.R., Coutand, I., Haschke, M., Riller, U., Strecker, M.R., 2006. Development of the southern Eastern Cordillera, NWArgentina, constrained by apatite fission track thermochronology: from Early Cretaceous extension to middle Miocene shortening. Tectonics 25, TC6003. http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2005TC001894.
14. Dershowitz, W.S., Einstein, H.H., 1988. Characterizing rock fracture geometry with fracture system models. Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering 21, 21e51.
15. Ellis, M.A., Laubach, S.E., Eichhubl, P., Olson, J.E., Hargrove, P., 2012. Fracture development and diagenesis of Torridon Group Applecross Formation, near an Teallach, NW Scotland: millennia of brittle deformation resilience? Journal of the Geological Society, London 169 (3), 297e310 http://dx.doi.org/10.1144/0016-76492011-086.
16. Engelder, T., 1985. Loading paths to fracture propagation during a tectonic cycledan example from the Appalachian Plateau. Journal of Structural Geology 78, 459e476.
17. English, J.M., 2012. Thermomechanical origin of regional fracture systems. AAPG Bulletin 96 (9), 1597e1625. http://dx.doi.org/10.1306/01021211018.
18. Fagereng, A., 2011. Fractal vein distributions within a fault-fracture mesh in an exhumed accretionary mélange, Chrystalls Beach Complex, New Zealand. Journal of Structural Geology 33 (5), 918e927. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jsg.2011.02.009.
19. Fall, A., Eichhubl, P., Cumella, S.P., Bodnar, R.J., Laubach, S.E., Becker, S.P., 2012. Testing the basin-centered gas accumulation model using fluid inclusion observations: southern Piceance Basin, Colorado. AAPG Bulletin 96 (12), 2297e 2318. http://dx.doi.org/10.1306/05171211149.
20. Gale, J.F.W., Holder, J., 2010. Natural fractures in some US shales and their importance for gas production. Petroleum Geology Conference Series 7, 1131e1140.
21. Gillespie, P.A., Howard, C., Walsh, J.J., Watterson, J., 1993. Measurement and characterization of spatial distribution of fractures. Tectonophysics 226, 113e141.
22. Gillespie, P.A., Johnston, J.D., Loriga, M.A., McCaffrey, K.J.W.,Walsh, J.J., Watterson, J., 1999. Influence of layering on vein systematics in line samples. In: McCaffrey, K.J.W., Lonergan, L., Wilkinson, J.J. (Eds.), Fractures, Fluid Flow and Mineralization, Geological Society, London, Special Publications 155, pp. 35e56.
23. Gillespie, P.A., Walsh, J.J., Watterson, J., Bonson, C.G., Manzocchi, T., 2001. Scaling relationships of joint and vein arrays from the Burren, Co. Clare, Ireland. Journal of Structural Geology 23, 183e201.
24. Gomez, L.A., Laubach, S.E., 2006. Rapid digital quantification of microfracture populations. Journal of Structural Geology 28, 408e420.
25. Gonzalez, M.A., Gonzalez, O.E., Pereya, F., Ramallo, E., Tchilinguirian, P., 2004. Hoja geológica 2366-IV, Ciudad del Libertador General San Martín. Programa Nacional de Cartas Geológicas de la República Argentina 1:250.000. SEGEMAR, Buenos Aires. Boletín 274.
26. Gross, M.R., Engelder, T., 1995. Strain accommodated by brittle failure in adjacent units of the Monterey Formation, U.S.A.: scale effects and evidence for uniform displacement boundary conditions. Journal of Structural Geology 17 (9), 1303e1318.
27. Guerriero, V., Mazzoli, S., Iannace, A., Vitale, S., Carravetta, A., Strauss, C., 2013. A permeability model for naturally fractured carbonate reservoirs. Marine and Petroleum Geology 36. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2012.11.002.
28. Hancock, P.L., 1985. Brittle microtectonics: principles and practice. Journal of Structural Geology 7, 437e457.
29. Hilgers, C., Urai, J.L., 2002. Microstructural observations on natural syntectonic fibrous veins: implications for the growth process. Tectonophysics 32, 257e274.
30. Hobbs, D.W., 1967. The formation of tension joints in sedimentary rocks: an explanation. Geological Magazine 104, 550e556.
31. Hooker, J.N., Gale, J.F.W., Gomez, L.A., Laubach, S.E., Marrett, R., Reed, R.M., 2009. Aperture-size scaling variations in a low-strain opening-mode fracture set, Cozzette Sandstone, Colorado. Journal of Structural Geology 31, 707e718.
32. Hooker, J.N., Gomez, L.A., Laubach, S.E., Gale, J.F.W., Marrett, R., 2012. Effects of diagenesis (cement precipitation) during fracture opening on fracture aperturesize scaling in carbonate rocks. In: Garland, J., Neilson, J.E., Laubach, S.E., Whidden, K.J. (Eds.), Advances in Carbonate Exploration and Reservoir Analysis, Geological Society of London Special Publications 370, pp. 187e206. http://dx.doi.org/10.1144/SP370.9.
33. Hooker, J.N., Laubach, S.E., Gomez, L., Marrett, R., Eichhubl, P., Diaz-Tushman, K., Pinzon, E., 2011. Fracture size, frequency, and strain in the Cambrian Eriboll Formation sandstones, NW Scotland. Scottish Journal of Geology 47 (1), 45e56.
34. Johnson, J.D., McCaffrey, 1996. Fractal geometries of vein systems and the variation of scaling relationships with mechanism. Journal of Structural Geology 18, 349e358.
35. Kagan, Y.Y., Jackson, D.D., 1991. Long-term earthquake clustering. Geophysical Journal International 104, 117e133.
36. Kley, J., Müller, J., Tawacholi, S., Jacobshagen, V., Manutsoglu, E., 1997. Pre-Andean and Andean-age deformation in the Eastern Cordillera of southern Bolivia. Journal of South American Earth Sciences 10, 1e19.
37. Kley, J., Rossello, E.A., Monaldi, C.R., Habighorst, B., 2005. Seismic and field evidence for selective inversion of Cretaceous normal faults, Salta rift, northwest Argentina. Tectonophysics 399, 155e172.
38. Kuiper, N.H., 1960. Tests concerning random points on a circle. Proceedings of the Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademie van Wetenschappen (A) 63, 38e47.
39. Kumpa, M., Sanchez, M.C., 1988. Geology and sedimentology of the Cambrian Grupo Mesón (NW Argentina). In: Bahlburg, H., Breitkreuz, C., Giese, P. (Eds.), Lecture Notes in Earth Sciences 17: The South Central Andes: Contributions to Structure and Evolution of an Active Continental Margin. Springer-Verlag, Berlin, p. 261.
40. Lander, R.H., Walderhaug, O., 1999. Porosity prediction through simulation of sandstone compaction and quartz cementation. AAPG Bulletin 83, 433e449.
41. Laubach, S.E., 2003. Practical approaches to identifying sealed and open fractures. AAPG Bulletin 87 (4), 561e579. http://dx.doi.org/10.1306/11060201106.
42. Laubach, S.E., Diaz-Tushman, K.D., 2009. Laurentian palaeostress trajectories and ephemeral fracture permeability, Cambrian Eriboll Group sandstones west of the Moine Thrust Zone, northwest Scotland. Journal of the Geological Society, London 166 (2), 345e360.
43. Laubach, S.E., Marrett, R., Olson, J., Scott, A.R., 1998. Characteristics and origins of coal cleat: a review. International Journal of Coal Geology 35, 175e207.
44. Laubach, S.E., Reed, R.M., Olson, J.E., Lander, R.H., Bonnell, L.M., 2004. Coevolution of crack-seal texture and fracture porosity in sedimentary rocks: cathodoluminescence observations of regional fractures. Journal of Structural Geology 26 (5), 967e982. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jsg.2003.08.019.
45. Laubach, S.E., Olson, J.O., Gross, M.R., 2009. Mechanical and fracture stratigraphy. AAPG Bulletin 93 (11), 1413e1426. http://dx.doi.org/10.1306/07270909094.
46. Laubach, S.E., Eichhubl, P., Hilgers, C., Lander, R.H., 2010. Structural diagenesis. Journal of Structural Geology 32 (12), 1866e1872. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jsg.2010.10.001.
47. Lawn, B.R., Wilshaw, T.R., 1975. Fracture of Brittle Solids. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK, 204 pp.
48. Marrett, R., 1996. Aggregate properties of fracture populations. Journal of Structural Geology 18, 169e178.
49. Marrett, R., Strecker, M.R., 2000. Response of intracontinental deformation in the central Andes to late Cenozoic reorganization of South American Plate motions. Tectonics 19 (3), 452e467. http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/1999TC001102.
50. Marrett, R., Allmendinger, E.W., Alonso, R.N., Drake, R.E., 1994. Late Cenozoic tectonic evolution of the Puna Plateau and adjacent foreland, Northwestern Argentine Andes. Journal of South American Earth Sciences 7 (2), 179e207. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0895-9811(94)90007-8.
51. Marrett, R., Ortega, O.J., Kelsey, C.M., 1999. Extent of power-law scaling for natural fractures in rock. Geology 27 (9), 799e802.
52. Milliken, K.L., Laubach, S.E., 2000. Brittle Deformation in Sandstone Diagenesis as Revealed by Scanned Cathodoluminescence Imaging with Application to Characterization of Fractured Reservoirs Chapter 9. In: Cathodoluminescence in Geosciences. Springer Verlag, New York, pp. 225e243.
53. Mon, R., 1987. Structural geology of two geothermal areas in the Andes: Copahue and Tuzgle (Argentina). Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment 35 (1), 79e85. http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/BF02590480.
54. Mon, R., Hongn, F., 1991. The structure of the Precambrian and Lower Paleozoic basement of the Central Andes between 22_ and 32_S. Lat. Geologische Rundschau 80, 745e758.
55. Mon, R., Salfity, J.A., 1995. Tectonic evolution of the Andes of northern Argentina. In: Tankard, A.J., Suarez, S.R., Welsink, H.J. (Eds.), Petroleum Basins of South America, AAPG Memoir 62, pp. 269e283.
56. Narr, W., Suppe, J., 1991. Joint spacing in sedimentary rocks. Journal of Structural Geology 13, 1037e1048.
57. National Academy of Sciences, 1996. Rock Fracture and Fluid Flow. National Academy Press, Washington, DC.
58. Odling, N.E., Gillespie, P., Bourgine, B., Castaing, C., Chiles, J.-P., Christensen, N.P., Fillion, E., Genter, A., Olsen, C., Thrane, L., Trice, R., Aarseth, E., Walsh, J.J., Watterson, J., 1999. Variations in fracture system geometry and their implications for fluid flow in fractured hydrocarbon reservoirs. Petroleum Geoscience 5, 373e384.
59. Odonne, F., Lézin, C., Massonat, G., Escadeillas, G., 2007. The relationship between joint aperture, spacing distribution, vertical dimension and carbonate stratification: an example from the Kimmeridgian limestones of Pointe-du-Chay (France). Journal of Structural Geology 29, 746e758.
60. Olson, J.E., 2003. Sublinear scaling of fracture aperture versus length: an exception or the rule? Journal of Geophysical Research (American Geophysical Union) 108 (B9), 2413 http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2001JB000419.
61. Olson, J.E., Laubach, S.E., Lander, R.H., 2009. Natural fracture characterization in tight gas sandstones: integrating mechanics and diagenesis. AAPG Bulletin 93, 1535e1549.
62. Ortega, O., Marrett, R., Laubach, S.E., 2006. A scale-independent approach to fracture intensity and average spacing measurement. AAPG Bulletin 90 (2), 193e208.
63. Peacock, D.C.P., 2004. Differences between Veins and Joints using the Example of the Jurassic Limestones of Somerset. In: Geological Society, London, Special Publications 231, pp. 209e221.
64. Petit, J.-P., Massonnat, G., Pueo, F., Rawnsley, K., 1994. Rapport de forme des fractures de Mode 1 dans les roches stratifées: une étude de cas dans le bassin Permien de Lodève, vol. 18. Bulletin du Centres Recherches Exploration-Production. Elf Aquitaine, France, pp. 211e229.
65. Philip, Z.G., Jennings Jr., J.W., Olson, J.E., Laubach, S.E., Holder, J., 2005. Modeling coupled fracture-matrix fluid flow in geomechanically simulated fracture networks. SPE Reservoir Evaluation & Engineering 8 (4), 300e309.
66. Pickering, G., Bull, J.M., Sanderson, D.J., 1995. Sampling power-law distributions. Tectonophysics 248, 1e20.
67. Priest, S.D., Hudson, J.A., 1976. Discontinuity spacing in rock. International Journal of Rock Mechanics, Mining Science, and Geomechanics Abstracts 13, 135e148.
68. Putz-Perrier, M.W., Sanderson, D.J., 2008. Spatial distribution of brittle strain in layered sequences. Journal of Structural Geology 30, 50e64.
69. Ramsay, J.G., 1980. The crack-seal mechanism of rock deformation. Nature 284, 135e139.
70. Renshaw, C.E., Pollard, D.D., 1995. An experimentally verified criterion for propagation across unbounded frictional interfaces in brittle, linear elastic materials. International Journal of Rock Mechanics and Mining Sciences 32 (3), 237e249.
71. Schöpfer, M.P.J., Arslan, A., Walsh, J.J., Childs, C., 2011. Reconciliation of contrasting theories for fracture spacing in layered rocks. Journal of Structural Geology 33, 551e565.
72. Strijker, G., Bertotti, G., Luthi, S.M., 2012. Multi-scale fracture network analysis from an outcrop analogue: a case study from the Cambro-Ordovician clastic succession in Petra, Jordan. Marine and Petroleum Geology. ISSN: 0264-817238/1, 104e116. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.marpetgeo.2012.07.003.
73. Such, P., Buatois, L.A., Mángano, M.G., 2007. Stratigraphy, depositional environments and ichnology of the Lower Paleozoic in the Azul Pampa areadJujuy Province. Revista de la Asociación Geológica Argentina 62 (3), 331e344.
74. Supak, S., Bohnenstiehl, D.R., Buck, W.R., 2006. Flexing is not stretching: an analogue study of flexure-induced fault populations. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 246, 125e137.
75. Tang, C.A., Liang, Z.Z., Zhang, Y.B., Chang, X., Tao, X., Wang, D.G., Zhang, J.X., Liu, J.S., Zhu, W.C., Elsworth, D., 2008. Fracture spacing in layered materials: a new explanation based on two-dimensional failure process modeling. American Journal of Science 308, 49e72.
76. Turner, J.C.M., 1960. Estratigrafía de la Sierra se Santa Victoria y adyacencias. Academia Nacional de Ciencias, Boletín 41 (2), 163e196.
77. Turner, J.C.M., 1963. The Cambrian of northern Argentina. Tulsa Geological Society Digest 31, 193e211.
78. Turner, J.C.M., 1970. The Andes of Northwestern Argentina. Geologische Rundschau 59, 1028e1063.
79. Vermilye, J.M., Scholz, C.H., 1995. Relation between vein length and aperture. Journal of Structural Geology 17 (3), 423e434.
80. Weiss, M., Rubin, Y., Adar, E., Nativ, R., 2006. Fracture and bedding plane control on groundwater flow in a chalk aquitard. Hydrogeology Journal 14, 1081e1093.
81. Wong, T.-F., Friedrich, J.T., Gwanmesia, G.D., 1989. Crack aperture statistics and pore space fractal geometry of Westerly Granite and Rutland Quartzite: implications for an elastic contact model of rock compressibility. Journal of Geophysical Research 94, 10267e10278.