Three‐dimensional roughness of stylolites in limestones

Abstract

Stylolites are dynamic roughly planar surfaces formed by pressure solution of blocks of rocks into each other. The three‐dimensional geometry of 12 bedding‐parallel stylolites in several limestones was measured using laser and mechanical profilometers, and statistical characteristics of the surfaces were calculated. All the stylolites analyzed turn out to have self‐affine fractal roughness with a well‐characterized crossover length scale separating two self‐affine regimes. Strikingly, this characteristic length scale falls within a very narrow range for all the stylolites studied, regardless of the microstructure sizes. To explain the data, we propose a continuous phenomenological model that accounts for the development of the measured roughness from an initially flat surface. The model postulates that the complex interface morphology is the result of competition between the long‐range elastic redistribution of local stress fluctuations, which roughen the surface, and surface tension forces along the interface, which smooth it. The model accounts for the geometrical variability of stylolite surfaces and predicts the dependence of the crossover length scale on the mechanical properties of the rock.