Change In Dip Angle Research Articles

Study of wellbore instability in shale formation considering the effect of hydration on strength weakening

Shale formations often contain a high proportion of clay minerals, which, upon contact with drilling fluid, undergo hydration expansion. This leads to wellbore instability, a problem that poses significant challenges globally. This study aims to investigate the variation of mechanical properties of shale with respect to hydration time. We employ an empirical model that relates shale strength parameters to the time of drilling through geological formations. Additionally, we consider both shear failure along the wellbore boundary and shear sliding along bedding planes in the analysis. We establish a predictive model for wellbore instability in shale formations. The model quantitatively analyzes the variation of wellbore collapse pressure with drilling time. The research findings indicate that, when the influence of bedding is considered, both the wellbore collapse pressure and the optimal well trajectory undergo significant changes, in addition, for some wellbore trajectories, the collapse pressure can increase by more than 30%. Therefore, it is essential to account for the influence of bedding in wellbore stability analysis in shale formations. As the bedding dip angle changes, both the numerical values and distribution range of wellbore collapse pressure and the optimal well trajectory change noticeably. Changes in bedding dip direction, however, do not affect the numerical values of collapse pressure but do influence the distribution region of the optimal well trajectory. Thus, in wellbore trajectory design within shale formations, it is crucial to determine the orientation of bedding and adjust the well trajectory accordingly to enhance wellbore stability. Furthermore, shale hydration does not impact the optimal well trajectory for a block, but with prolonged hydration, the minimum drilling fluid density required to maintain wellbore stability gradually increases. This suggests that hydration intensifies the weakening effect on bedding plane strength. The research results are helpful to understand the effect of hydration on shale wellbore stability and ensure shale wellbore stability during drilling cycle.

Local coupled Markov chain model for simulating varied stratigraphy

The coupled Markov chain (CMC) model is widely employed to simulate geological uncertainty based on sparse borehole data, owing to its simplicity, parameter efficiency, and computational effectiveness. However, the existing CMC methods exhibit limitations in accurately predicting the orientation and significant dip angle changes of soil stratigraphy. These limitations stem from their reliance on a globally constant Walther constant, resulting in generated layer boundaries converging to a fixed angle. To address these issues, this study develops a local CMC model to enhance the accuracy of predicting layer sequences and describe the geological uncertainty of complex geological structures using limited borehole and surface data. In the proposed local CMC method, the global geological profile is decomposed into interconnected fragments, guided by reference boreholes. For each CMC fragment, the likelihood of observational scenarios is determined to identify the layer orientation and optimal Walther’s constant corresponding to the local geological profile. By combining the most likely realizations from all CMC fragments, the final geological profile and stratigraphic uncertainty are obtained. Illustrative case studies demonstrate that the proposed approach effectively addresses the limitations of conventional CMC models in accurately simulating significant changes in layer orientation and dip angle variations, given the same conditions of sparse borehole data. The employed localization strategy enables the prediction of geological profiles that encompass special layers such as soil interlayers, anticlines, and synclines, which cannot be well achieved by conventional CMC models. The local CMC model significantly improves the matching accuracy of geological model in situations with limited boreholes. Therefore, it plays a crucial role in the analysis of geological structures under data-scarce conditions.

Failure and Acoustic Emissions of Coal–Rock Combinations with Different Dip Angles in the Shaqu No. 1 Coal Mine

The force and deformation characteristics of the rock layer on the top and bottom of the coal seam change significantly when the dip angle changes. The mechanical properties and damage characteristics of differently inclined coal–rock assemblages were investigated, and the results were combined with acoustic emission information, including acoustic emission ringdown counts, to quantify the damage of inclined coal–rocks under compression. The experimental results showed that the stress‒strain curves of the inclined coal–rock assemblages had four main stages, with approximately similar curves in the early stage and deformation in the later stage. The damage gradually changed from shear damage to interfacial slip damage, and the damage area gradually transitioned to the structural surface from coal body components. The cumulative acoustic emission energy tended to decrease with increasing inclination angle, and the peak acoustic emission energy gradually decreased. When the inclination angle was less than 30°, the cumulative energy of acoustic emissions increased slowly, then decreased, and it finally decreased significantly between 30° and 45°; from 0° → 15° → 30° → 45°, the energy change rates were +3.0%, −25.1%, and −78.2%, respectively. For coal–rock assemblages with different interfacial angles, the sliding damage instability caused by the coal–rock interface increased with increasing interfacial angle within the assemblage. The results of this study provide a deeper understanding of the mechanical properties of coal–rock assemblages with different inclinations and the characteristics of fissure extension. The fractal dimension based on particle number decreased with increasing loading rate, and the larger the loading rate was, the smaller the fractal dimension. In addition, the current findings provide a reliable foundation for further understanding the mechanisms of disasters caused by coal–rock disturbances, such as excavation of inclined roadways and extraction of gas, as well as supporting the development of methods for monitoring, early warning, and prevention and control of these types of disasters.

Spatial coupling relationship between faults and gold deposits in the Jiaodong ore concentration area and the effect of thermal doming-extension on mineralisation

As the third largest gold ore-forming province in the world, the deep metallogenic potential of and exploration strategies for Jiaodong gold deposits have attracted substantial attention. By applying three-dimensional (3D) geological modelling to these super-giant and giant gold deposits, this study reveals the 3D morphological characteristics of the ore-bearing faults and the ore-related granites, analyses the relationships between ore body locations and slope dip angle changes in the faults, and discusses the coupling relationships among gold mineralisation, ore-controlling faults, and magmatic activities. In the 3D model, the dip angles of ore-controlling faults gradually decrease downwards and alternate between steep and gentle along the fault dip direction. The ore bodies mainly occur in areas with relatively high fault-dip-angle change rates. Hence, positions with fault dip angles of 20°–50° and change rates of ≥0.91 should be considered as target areas for prospecting deep gold ore bodies. In-depth analysis suggests that the ore-hosting faults, granites, and gold mineralisation resulted from regional thermal doming and extensional movements. Gold ore bodies in the Jiaodong Peninsula occur inside or on the periphery of Mesozoic granite. Strong magmatic activities during the transition from enriched to depleted mantle provided the necessary metallogenic and thermal dynamic environment for gold mineralisation. In particular, the magmatic evolution provided abundant ore-forming materials. The detachment faults with varied dip angles provided favourable space for gold mineralisation, as the fluctuations of ore-forming fluid pressure caused by sudden changes in these dip angles served as the primary mechanism underlying the step-like gold mineralisation pattern.

Dynamic simulations of coseismic slickenlines on non-planar and rough faults

SUMMARY Knowing the directions of rupture propagation of palaeo-earthquakes is a challenging, yet important task for our understanding of earthquake physics and seismic hazard, as the rupture direction significantly influences the distribution of strong ground motion. Recent studies proposed a relationship between the direction of rupture propagation and curvature of slickenlines formed during seismic slip. The relationship was established using a global catalogue of historic surface-rupturing earthquakes and dynamic models of idealized, planar faults. At the same time, some slickenlines previously documented on geometrically complex fault segments show their convexity opposite from the simple model prediction, which we refer to as ‘abnormal convexity’. To explain such observations, we perform simulations of spontaneous earthquake ruptures on non-planar and rough faults. We find that in the case of strike-slip faults, a non-planar fault model can lead to abnormal convexity of slickenlines in places where the fault dip angle changes abruptly from the average dip of the fault. Abnormal convexity of slickenlines is produced when the initial along-dip stresses are larger than, and are opposite in direction to, the dynamic stresses imparted by the mixed-mode rupture. Such results are also confirmed in our rupture simulations with a rough fault. Our results also show that the parameter space for which abnormal convexity of slickenlines occurs near Earth’s surface is narrow, especially when the fault strength and initial shear stresses increase with depth. Nevertheless, slickenlines on geometrically complex faults need to be carefully interpreted and investigation of rupture direction using curved slickenlines should focus on structurally simple parts of faults.

Numerical studies on micro-cracking behavior of transversely isotropic argillaceous siltstone in Longyou Grottoes under three-point bending

Longyou Grottoes, the underground projects with a rich history of thousands of years, are one of the key cultural relics to be protected in China and are actively preparing to apply for a world cultural heritage site. However, due to the shallow buried argillaceous siltstone with low-strength bedding planes, some cavern roofs experienced apparent breakages or large-scale collapses. Clarifying the roof deformation and failure mechanism is essential for the long-term protection of the historical relic and sustainable development of tourism. Productive previous work proved that three-point bending tests of rock samples could reproduce stress states of cavern roofs. Therefore, three-point bending numerical models with various bedding plane structures for Longyou argillaceous siltstone are created in this study to investigate the rock mechanical behaviors. The simulation results show that as bedding mechanical properties decrease, the bending strength (BS) has a slow to fast decrease, indicating that timely protection in Longyou Grottoes before the BS drops sharply is conducive to preventing roof failures. This declining trend is further accelerated when the bedding dip angle changes from horizontal to vertical. Dip angles, mechanical properties, and spacings of bedding planes control fracture modes of models. Moreover, the fitted Gutenberg–Richter-type relationships between acoustic emission (AE) moment magnitudes and logarithmic AE events present high average activity levels and high proportions of large AE events in both bedding planes and rock matrix for models with strong, dispersedly distributed, and near-horizontal bedding planes. In summary, the simulation results reveal the impacts of transverse isotropy in surrounding rocks on roof bending failures, which may provide a valuable reference for the reinforcement and protection of Longyou Grottoes.

Structural controls on coseismic rupture revealed by the 2020Mw 6.0 Jiashi earthquake (Kepingtag belt, SW Tian Shan, China)

SUMMARYThe Kepingtag (Kalpin) fold-and-thrust belt of the southern Chinese Tian Shan is characterized by active shortening and intense seismic activity. Geological cross-sections and seismic reflection profiles suggest thin-skinned, northward-dipping thrust sheets detached in an Upper Cambrian décollement. The 2020 January 19 Mw 6.0 Jiashi earthquake provides an opportunity to investigate how coseismic deformation is accommodated in this structural setting. Coseismic surface deformation resolved with Sentinel-1 Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) is centred on the back limb of the frontal Kepingtag anticline. Elastic dislocation modelling suggests that the causative fault is located at ∼7 km depth and dips ∼7° northward, consistent with the inferred position of the décollement. Our calibrated relocation of the main shock hypocentre is consistent with eastward, unilateral rupture of this fault. The narrow slip pattern (length ∼37 km but width only ∼9 km) implies that there is a strong structural or lithological control on the rupture extent, with updip slip propagation possibly halted by an abrupt change in dip angle where the Kepingtag thrust is inferred to branch off the décollement. A depth discrepancy between main shock slip constrained by InSAR and teleseismic waveform modelling (∼7 km) and well-relocated aftershocks (∼10–20 km) may suggest that faults within sediments above the décollement exhibit velocity-strengthening friction.

True triaxial experimental study on fluid flow in single fracture with different dip angles under three-dimensional stress at different depths

The shape of ore body in deep underground engineering is complex, and its fracture development degree is affected by water abundance, fracture zone, fault and other factors. With the deepening of depth, the vertical and horizontal stress changes significantly, which has a great impact on the fracture opening. Therefore, the fracture dip angle and its three-dimensional stress state are the main factors affecting the fluid flow of fractures in a large area of ore body and its hanging and footwall rock mass. In this study, firstly, the three-dimensional fractal dimension of a single-fracture specimen was obtained by using CT (Computer Tomography) scanning technology and the single-fracture specimen with a similar three-dimensional fractal dimension was selected for testing. Then, the self-developed single fracture stress seepage coupling true triaxial test system is applied to test the seepage of single fracture samples with six different fracture dip angles under different stress states of underground depth. The experimental results show that the fluid flow and strain of fractured rock mass are comprehensively affected by the fracture dip angle and the stress state of the underground depth, and the influence degree of the fracture dip angle changes with the deepening of the underground depth. The above conclusions can be mutually verified in the aspects of stress-strain, water pressure and permeability coefficient. Furthermore, the relationship between the minimum injectable water pressure (MIWP) of fractured rock mass with different dip angles and underground depth is obtained, the expression of seepage coefficient of single fracture specimen with different dip angles and underground depth under three-dimensional stress is summarized, and the relationship between eh and em of single fracture specimen with different fracture dip angles is determined. This study provides a basic reference for the design scheme of hydraulic conductivity of fractured zone or fractured rock mass with different underground depths.

Using high-resolution microresistivity image logs to reconstruct paleoenvironments and stratal architectures: An example from the McMurray Formation, Leismer area, northeastern Alberta, Canada

Point-bar deposits, although readily recognizable in most successions, are notoriously challenging to map and correlate accurately, particularly in the subsurface. Sedimentologic interpretations from microresistivity image logs, by contrast, offer an unparalleled method of accurately reconstructing point-bar architectural elements and mapping their distribution. Using an example from the Lower Cretaceous McMurray Formation, we demonstrate that the bedding dip profiles of stacked downstream migration, lateral accretion, and channel abandonment elements record the semicontinuous point-bar accretion of two erosionally juxtaposed large-scale channels. Microresistivity image-log analysis clearly demonstrates that bedding and architectural elements of these heterolithic point bars display discrete and predictable changes in dip angle and direction that are independent of autogenic variations in lithology. We advocate, therefore, that this approach be used to map the facies of point bars and predict their reservoir trends. The laterally accreted mud-sand couplets display a cyclic pattern that is consistent with a nonrandom recurring process. Based on the distribution of bioturbation in the mud beds and variations in sand-bed thicknesses, we argue that this recurring process was probably a monthly occurrence. By measuring the lateral-accretion bed thicknesses for what appears to be a 1-yr interval, a sedimentation rate of 86 cm/yr is estimated for these lateral-accretion beds. This deposition rate provides an upper limit required to deposit these point bars and improves the framing of the depositional model. We estimate that the two point bars in this study were each deposited over a period of a few hundred years.

Geodynamic models of short-lived, long-lived and periodic flat slab subduction

SUMMARY Flat slab subduction has been ascribed to a variety of causes, including subduction of buoyant ridges/plateaus and forced trench retreat. The former, however, has irregular spatial correlations with flat slabs, while the latter has required external forcing in geodynamic subduction models, which might be insufficient or absent in nature. In this paper, we present buoyancy-driven numerical geodynamic models and aim to investigate flat slab subduction in the absence of external forcing as well as test the influence of overriding plate strength, subducting plate thickness, inclusion/exclusion of an oceanic plateau and lower mantle viscosity on flat slab formation and its evolution. Flat slab subduction is reproduced during normal oceanic subduction in the absence of ridge/plateau subduction and without externally forced plate motion. Subduction of a plateau-like feature, in this buoyancy-driven setting, enhances slab steepening. In models that produce flat slab subduction, it only commences after a prolonged period of slab dip angle reduction during lower mantle slab penetration. The flat slab is supported by mantle wedge suction, vertical compressive stresses at the base of the slab and upper mantle slab buckling stresses. Our models demonstrate three modes of flat slab subduction, namely short-lived (transient) flat slab subduction, long-lived flat slab subduction and periodic flat slab subduction, which occur for different model parameter combinations. Most models demonstrate slab folding at the 660 km discontinuity, which produces periodic changes in the upper mantle slab dip angle. With relatively high overriding plate strength or large subducting plate thickness, such folding results in periodic changes in the dip angle of the flat slab segment, which can lead to periodic flat slab subduction, providing a potential explanation for periodic arc migration. Flat slab subduction ends due to the local overriding plate shortening and thickening it produces, which forces mantle wedge opening and a reduction in mantle wedge suction. As overriding plate strength controls the shortening rate, it has a strong control on the duration of flat slab subduction, which increases with increasing strength. For the weakest overriding plate, flat slab subduction is short-lived and lasts only 6 Myr, while for the strongest overriding plate flat slab subduction is long-lived and exceeds 75 Myr. Progressive overriding plate shortening during flat slab subduction might explain why flat slab subduction terminated in the Eocene in western North America and in the Jurassic in South China.

Failure Analysis Of Buried Gas Pipelines Crossing Seismic Faults

Research on buried gas pipelines (BGPs) has taken an important consideration due to their failures in recent earthquakes. In permanent ground deformation (PGD) hazards, seismic faults are considered as one of the major causes of BGPs failure due to accumulation of impermissible tensile strains. In current research, four steel pipes such as X-42, X-52, X-60, and X-70 grades crossing through strike-slip, normal and reverse seismic faults have been investigated. Firstly, failure of BGPs due to change in soil-pipe parameters have been analyzed. Later, effects of seismic fault parameters such as change in dip angle and angle between pipe and fault plane are evaluated. Additionally, effects due to changing pipe class levels are also examined. The results of current study reveal that BGPs can resist until earthquake moment magnitude of 7.0 but fails above this limit under the assumed geotechnical properties of current study. In addition, strike-slip fault can trigger early damage in BGPs than normal and reverse faults. In the last stage, an early warning system is proposed based on the current procedure. 

Large-earthquake rupturing and slipping behavior along the range-front Maidan fault in the southern Tian Shan, northwestern China

Slipping behavior of active thrust faults are not well explored because of their variable vertical displacements governed by dip-angle changes along the fault striking. The range-front Maidan fault (MDF) is a thrust fault in the southern Tian Shan, and exhibits clear paleoearthquake rupturing during the late Quaternary. In this study, based on field investigation, trench exposing, detailed terrace surveying with differential GPS, and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating, we revealed that the latest paleoearthquake on the MDF occurred at ~1.76 ka, and generated a vertical displacement of ~3.0 m. Then, we analyzed the vertical displacements on different terraces of the Yushanguxi River versus the corresponding terrace 10Be exposure ages. We suggest that the large-earthquake on the MDF is an irregular recurrence. The MDF still has a high seismic risk in spite of only ~1.76 ka elapsed time for the latest paleoearthquake. We propose that the growth and uplift of the western Tian Shan orogen is caused by fault thrusting and crustal shortening of a series of block-like patterns.

A combined Euler deconvolution and tilt angle method for interpretation of magnetic data in the South region

Introduction: The purpose of this paper is to determinate the position, depth, dip direction and dip angle the faults in the South region of Vietnam from the total magnetic intensity anomalies, that reduced to the magnetic pole (RTP).
 Methods: Based on the Oasis Montaj software, we proposed a new way to compute the positions and the depth to the top of the faults by combining the Tilt angle and the Euler deconvolution methods. In addition, the angle and direction of the dip of theses faults were also determined by considering maximum of the total horizontal derivative of the RTP upward continuation at the different height levels.
 Results: The results show that there are 12 faults along the longitudinal direction, latitudinal direction, Northwest — Southeast direction and Northeast — Southwest direction with the mazimum depth is about 3100 m and the dip angle changes in the range of 65-82◦.
 Results: These indicate that these methods are valuable tools for specifying the characteristics of geology, contribute to give and confirm the useful information on geological structure in the South region of Vietnam.

Three-dimensional prospectivity modeling of the Jiaojia-type gold deposit, Jiaodong Peninsula, Eastern China: A case study of the Dayingezhuang deposit

The Jiaojia-type gold deposits, hosting >80% of gold resource in the Jiaodong Peninsula, Eastern China, are characterized by veinlet- and disseminated-style mineralization associated with the Mesozoic detachment faults. In this study, we performed multi-constraint geological modeling and spatial analysis involving 3D buffer analysis, shape analysis, and field analysis for the Dayingezhuang gold deposit to quantitatively assess the gold distribution and its association with geological features. The obtained spatial data were further integrated into three dimensional (3D) prospectivity modeling by fuzzy weights-of-evidence (WofE) and continuous WofE methods to evaluate mineral potential. Our results determine a quantitative correlation between phyllic alteration thickness and tectono-geochemical anomaly to construct the geometric models of alteration zone. The hydrothermal intensity extracted from the models shows a bimodal distribution and it is significantly high in the center of No. 2 orebodies, indicating an overprinting gold mineralization. The spatial analysis on the Zhaoping fault reveals that the most probable locations for gold deposition were determined to be in segments of the Zhaoping fault with a slope of 20° to 40°, dip angle changes of −5°, and undulation of near 0 m. All of the features likely result from structural controls on fluid flow and infiltration, as well as variations in the stability of Au-bearing complexes related to fault morphology. 3D prospectivity models generated by continuous transformed spatial evidence values with lower bias and uncertainty yielded a higher predictive efficiency than classified evidential layers. Our study not only highlights that gold enrichment of the Jiaojia-type deposit is essentially controlled by shape features of detachment faults, but also emphasizes the applicability of 3D prospectivity modeling in identifying potential gold mineralization at depth in the Jiaodong Peninsula.

Failure mechanism of bedded salt formations surrounding salt caverns for underground gas storage

Understanding the failure mechanism of bedded salt formations surrounding salt caverns is of great importance for underground gas storage. However, laboratory mechanical experiments of cores alone are insufficient to determine the mechanical properties of bedded salt formations, because the stress state of the cores varies spatially, and man-made damage might have occurred during the coring process, especially at the interfaces. Therefore, both physical simulation experiments and numerical analyses are needed to better understand the failure mechanism of bedded salt formations surrounding salt caverns. According to the physical simulation tests, the uniaxial and triaxial compressive strength curves of bedded salt rocks appear to be U-shaped as the dip angle changes, implying that shear failure may occur more easily at the top and bottom haunches of the cavern than elsewhere. Numerical analyses show that plastic zones occur initially at the top and bottom haunches of the cavern, which is accordance with the physical test results and theoretical analyses. For the two simulated models, the plastic zones in the interlayers tend to expand towards the model boundary to induce the instability of the salt cavern, particularly at the middle of the cavern with soft and weak interlayers after years of creep. Conversely, the plastic zones in the rock salt begin to occur at the top and bottom haunches of the cavern and then expand gradually to other places, albeit with a limited scope. The results suggest that the creep of rock salt can lead to the failure of interlayers in bedded salt formations, thereby affecting the stability of salt caverns.

Model Test Research on the End Bearing Behavior of the Large-Diameter Cast-in-Place Concrete Pile for Jointed Rock Mass

For large-diameter, cast-in-place concrete piles, the end bearing capacity of a single pile is affected by discontinuous surfaces that exist in natural rock masses when the bearing layer of the pile end is located in the rock layer. In order to study the influence of the jointed dip angle on the bearing characteristics of the pile end, the discrete element models are adopted to simulate the mechanical characteristics of the jointed rock masses, and the model tests of the failure mode of the jointed rock masses were also designed. The results of the numerical calculations and modeling tests show that the joints, which have a filtering effect on the internal stress of the bedrock located at the pile end, change the load transferring paths. And the failure mode of the jointed rock foundation also changes as jointed dip angle changes. The rock located at the pile end generally presents a wedge failure mode. In addition, the Q-S curves obtained by model tests show that the ultimate end bearing capacity of a single pile is influenced by the jointed dip angle. The above results provide an important theoretical basis for how to correctly calculate end resistance for a cast-in-place concrete pile.

Wenchuan Ms8.0 earthquake coseismic slip distribution inversion

By using GPS and gravity data before and after the Wenchuan Ms8.0 earthquake and combining data from geological surveys and geophysical inversion studies, an initial coseismic fault model is constructed. The dip angle changes of the fault slip distribution on the fault plane are inversed, and the inversion results show that the shape of the fault resembles a double-shovel. The Yingxiu–Beichuan Fault is approximately 330 km long, the surface fault dip angle is 65.1°, which gradually reduces with increasing depth to 0° at the detachment layer at a depth of 19.62 km. The Guanxian–Jiangyou Fault is approximately 90 km long, and its dip angle at the surface is 55.3°, which gradually reduces with increasing depth; the fault joins the Yingxiu–Beichuan Fault at 13.75 km. Coseismic slip mainly occurs above a depth of 19 km. There are five concentrated rupture areas, Yingxiu, Wenchuan, Hanwang, Beichuan, and Pingwu, which are consistent with geological survey results and analyses of the aftershock distribution. The rupture mainly has a thrust component with a small dextral strike–slip component. The maximum slip was more than 10 m, which occurred near Beichuan and Hanwang. The seismic moment is 7.84 × 1020 Nm (Mw7.9), which is consistent with the seismological results.

Complex surface rupturing and related formation mechanisms in the Xiaoyudong area for the 2008 Mw 7.9 Wenchuan Earthquake, China

The large oblique reverse slip shock of the 2008 Mw=7.9 Wenchuan earthquake, China, produced one of the longest and most complicated surface ruptures ever known. The complexity is particularly evident in the Xiaoyudong area, where three special phenomena occurred: the 7km long Xiaoyudong rupture perpendicular to the Beichuan-Yingxiu fault; the occurrence of two parallel faults rupturing simultaneously, and apparent discontinuity of the Beichuan-Yingxiu rupture. This paper systematically documents these co-seismic rupture phenomena for the Xiaoyudong area. The discussion and results are based on field investigations and analyses of faulting mechanisms and prevalent stress conditions. The results show that the Beichuan-Yingxiu fault formed a 3.5km wide restraining stepover at the Xiaoyudong area. The Xiaoyudong fault is not a tear fault suggested by previous researches, but a frontal reverse fault induced by the oblique compression at this stepover; it well accommodates the ‘deformation gap’ of the Beichuan-Yingxiu fault in the Xiaoyudong area. Further, stress along the Peng-Guan fault plane doubles due to a change in dip angle of the Beichuan-Yingxiu fault across the Xiaoyudong restraining stepover. This resulted in two faults rupturing the ground’s surface simultaneously, to the north of the Xiaoyudong area. These results are helpful in deepening our understanding of the dynamic processes that produced surface ruptures during the Wenchuan earthquake. Furthermore, the results suggest more attention be focused on the influence of dextral slip component, the change of the control fault’s attitude, and property differences in rocks on either side of faults when discussing the formation mechanism of surface ruptures.

The Geometry and Internal Architecture of Stream Mouth Bars in the Panther Tongue and the Ferron Sandstone Members, Utah, U.S.A.

Abstract Clinothems are seaward-dipping beds which are deposited during the progradation of delta-front mouth bars. Measurements taken from clinothems in the field and from geospatially constrained, photo-realistic virtual outcrops were used to record clinothem dip, maximum bed thickness, and bed thickness every 10 m along a series of depositional-dip-oriented profiles from two ancient river-dominated delta successions which crop out in central Utah, USA. These data show systematic changes in bed dip and bed thinning which highlight discrete packaging of the beds into bedsets, interpreted to represent the progradation of stream mouth bars in the delta front. Individual bedsets are characterized by a progressive steepening of beds coupled with a more rapid thinning. Systematic collection of 2800 locations along 73 separate clinothems from the Panther Tongue Sandstone Member and parasequence 1f from the Ferron Sandstone were used to study the relationship between bed thickness, dip, and decay gradient parameter (τ), which describes the down-dip bed thinning. Clinothems in the Panther Tongue are much longer and more gently dipping than the clinothems in the Ferron Sandstone. In both systems, beds can be clustered into groups (bedsets) which show a systematic decrease in τ-values and an increase in dip angle. Boundaries between the groups are defined by a sudden increase in τ-values and a concurrent decrease in dip angle. These bedsets are interpreted to represent individual stream mouth bars which amalgamate to form mouth bar complexes within the delta-front sand bodies. The use of virtual outcrops was essential for the collection of the large volumes of thickness data and the recognition of very subtle (< 1°) changes in dip angle which have made these interpretations possible.

A Proposed Method for Drawing the Great Circle Representing Dip Angle and Strike Changes

Waviness or undulations of a discontinuity plane due to folding result in changes in the orientation of the discontinuities. This creates difficulties in determining the general trend of the discontinuity planes on both sides of wedges and the plunge angle of wedge-type slides. However, it is possible to draw great circles representing the discontinuity planes on both sides of the wedge with strike and dip angle changes on a stereographic net. Such a wedge may have failed in the past but may be stable presently. Frequently, back analyses of the specific failure surfaces are carried out to establish the shear strength parameters that were effective at the time of the slope failure. In this way, a better appreciation of the engineering behavior and the strength parameters of the rock mass may be obtained for the design of future slopes in similar conditions. Based on these fundamentals, this study is intended to solve this problem, which is often encountered during the back analyses. Furthermore, this new approach can also be used to determine the orientations of the wedge-forming discontinuity planes and their intersection lines using the projection techniques with high accuracy. The new technique is shown to provide better results in the back analyses conducted on wedge-type slides of sedimentary rocks such as shales.