Anatomy of growth fault zones in poorly lithified sandstones and shales; implications for reservoir studies and seismic interpretation; Part 2, Seismic reflection geometries

Abstract

Interpretation of seismic reflection data across growth faults reveals that many of the small-scale fault geometries recognized in outcrop can also be interpreted on seismic data. While some fault zones can be interpreted as a single fault plane other faults are made up of bundles of overlapping fault planes connected by various hard and soft linkage geometries. These fault zones can be up to 1 km wide. While the zones of deformation bands identified in outcrop cannot be detected on seismic data, the existence of similar fault zone geometries in outcrop and seismic data suggests that the deformation band zonation might also be similar.