En echelon crack-arrays in potash salt rock

Abstract

There are two types of fracture patterns in the yield pillars of the potash mines of Saskatchewan. The individual members of both patterns are tensile (extension) fractures that propagate parallel with the maximum principal stress trajectory (perpendicular to the minimum principal stress). The difference between the two patterns lies in the arrangement of the member fractures. In theen echelon tensile crack-array, the macroscopic fracture consists of individual tensile cracks that are slightly offset from each other. They have only a small overlap and the child crack seems to form randomly on either side of its parent. Consequently, the en echelon tensile crack-array inherits the axial orientation of its members. In contrast, the tensile cracks of anen echelon shear crack-array, have a larger overlap and their lateral displacement from each other is biased in one direction. Therefore, the crack-array is no longer axial but inclined 20–25 degrees from the maximum principal stress direction. With increasing stress, the shear crack-array often collapses, forming theenvelope orhourglass structures of the potash mines.