Damage structures and fault evolution around strike-slip faults

Abstract

Damage zones around strike-slip faults show a variety of fracture patterns related to stress concentration and accommodation of displacement. Damage zone structures can be classified into three main groups according to their location along a strike-slip fault - tip zone, wall zone and linking zone structures. Tip damage zones can be sub-divided according to fault tip modes such as along-strike tips (Mode II) and up- and down-dip tips (Mode III). Wall zone damage structures patterns that reflect the propagation of the fault and slip-induced deformation (kinematic damage). Linking zone damage structures are developed between adjacent tip zones of two parallel or sub-parallel faults and vary between dilational and contractual oversteps. Lens-shaped structures evolve from old fault segment tips.

Analysis of maximum displacement (d_max) - length (L) relationships for fault populations shows that strike-slip fault systems evolve from isolated faults through segmented faults to interacting faults. Most geologic faults have a much higher ratio of d_max/L than for single slip events (u/L).

Reactivation with the opposite sense of slip modifies the pattern of damage structures around strike-slip faults. Evidence for reverse reactivation includes two groups of tip cracks with different orientations and very low or negative displacements at fault tips.

Fractal analysis shows self-similarity over 6 orders of magnitude. Fractal dimensions for damage zones are higher than for the main fault traces. Strike-slip faults share many similar geometric features over a wide scale range.

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