The geometry of en-echelon vein arrays

Abstract

Two distinct types of en-echelon vein arrays are recognised, those which form in active ductile shear zones and those which form by the primary nucleation of fractures not connected with active shear zones. The theoretical relation between vein width and orientation in a zone undergoing progressive simple shear is examined and compared with similar data from natural arrays. It is found that many veins have undergone dilation prior to rotation during simple shear, showing that shearing occurred after the en-echelon array was established. Generally, all strongly sigmoidal veins occur in arrays in which pressure solution was also active. In non-sigmoidal arrays there is a clear relation between the amount of overlap of adjacent veins and the orientation of the veins relative to the zone containing them. Two different patterns of dilation and distortion of arrays in which pressure solution was not active are described. It is concluded that primary en-echelon veins originated as tensile fractures, whilst en-echelon veins formed in active shear zones originated as shear fractures.