Micromechanical modeling of healed crack orientations as a paleostress indicator: Application to Precambrian granite from Illinois and Wisconsin

Abstract

We have used a micromechanical, four‐grain model to simulate intragranular cracks produced during primary cooling of a granitic pluton in a horizontally anisotropic stress field. The orientations of vertical, intragranular cracks were obtained using the criterion that they are perpendicular to the maximum principal tensile stress when it exceeds the local tensile strength. The preferred orientation was always parallel to the maximum regional compressive stress direction. The sharpness of the distribution peak increases with the ratio of the maximum to minimum horizontal stress. We applied the model results to new and previous data on Precambrian granites from Wisconsin and Illinois. Our new data are healed crack orientations and fluid inclusion properties in unoriented granite core from Illinois borehole UPH‐2. The fluid inclusion measurements and isotopic age dates indicate that most healed cracks were formed during the primary cooling of the pluton. The fluid inclusion characteristics and shape of the crack orientation distribution were almost identical to those previously determined for UPH‐3, 1 km away (Kowallis et al., 1987), suggesting that the preferred orientation of healed cracks in granite from UPH‐2 is the same as for UPH‐3 (N25°W ± 5°). The orientation distribution from the micromechanical model for a stress ratio of 4 is very similar to the healed crack orientation distribution measured in several Precambrian granites from the midcontinent region. We conclude that healed crack orientations are useful indicators of the paleostress field and that they may be used as a tool for orienting core in stable, structurally simple regions.