Abstract
The patterns of fractures in deformed rocks are rarely uniform or random. Fracture orientations, sizes, and spatial distributions often exhibit some kind of order. In detail, relationships may exist among the different fracture attributes, e.g. small fractures dominated by one orientation, larger fractures by another. These relationships are important because the mechanical (e.g. strength, anisotropy) and transport (e.g. fluids, heat) properties of rock depend on these fracture attributes and patterns. This paper describes FracPaQ, a new open source, cross-platform toolbox to quantify fracture patterns, including distributions in fracture attributes and their spatial variation.Software has been developed to quantify fracture patterns from 2-D digital images, such as thin section micrographs, geological maps, outcrop or aerial photographs or satellite images. The toolbox comprises a suite of MATLAB™ scripts based on previously published quantitative methods for the analysis of fracture attributes: orientations, lengths, intensity, density and connectivity. An estimate of permeability in 2-D is made using a parallel plate model. The software provides an objective and consistent methodology for quantifying fracture patterns and their variations in 2-D across a wide range of length scales, rock types and tectonic settings. The implemented methods presented are inherently scale independent, and a key task where applicable is analysing and integrating quantitative fracture pattern data from micro-to macro-scales. The toolbox was developed in MATLAB™ and the source code is publicly available on GitHub™ and the Mathworks™ FileExchange. The code runs on any computer with MATLAB installed, including PCs with Microsoft Windows, Apple Macs with Mac OS X, and machines running different flavours of Linux. The application, source code and sample input files are available in open repositories in the hope that other developers and researchers will optimise and extend the functionality for the benefit of the wider community.
Highlights
IntroductionFractures and their patterns exert a fundamental influence on the mechanical and transport properties of rocks
Understanding fracture patterns e the geometrical attributes of the constituent fractures and of their total ensemble e is important in many sub-disciplines of earth sciences: structural geology and tectonics, impact geology, rock physics and geophysics, hydrogeology, energy and storage of hazardous products
This paper describes a new software-based toolbox for quantifying fracture patterns in 2D, FracPaQ
Summary
Fractures and their patterns exert a fundamental influence on the mechanical and transport properties of rocks. Understanding fracture patterns e the geometrical attributes of the constituent fractures and of their total ensemble e is important in many sub-disciplines of earth sciences: structural geology and tectonics, impact geology, rock physics and geophysics, hydrogeology, energy and storage of hazardous products (da Silva et al, 2004; Gurov and Koeberl, 2004; Rao et al, 2000; Su et al, 2001; Watkins et al, 2015b). The quantification of an observed fracture pattern is a necessary precursor to understanding the physics underlying its formation, and to making robust predictions about its extent and scaling in the subsurface, which determine the transport properties of the network (i.e. permeability)
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