New insights into the development of brittle shear fractures from a 3-D numerical model of microcrack interaction.
Existing models of brittle shear failure are unable to account for three-dimensional deformation involving the development of polymodal sets of fractures. Motivated by field observations of contemporaneous arrays of quadrimodal faults and deformation bands, we use an idealised micromechanical model to explain how brittle shear fractures can form oblique to all three remote principal stresses.…
Read MoreQuantification of spatial distribution and granularity of fold and fracture systems seen in outcrop
Our understanding of the importance of scale dependency in Earth process has been greatly enhanced by geophysical survey methods that collectively span micro- to global scales. However, at the outcrop scale, traditional field methods are generally poor at capturing precisely georeferenced 3D spatial datasets necessary for scaling relationships to be analysed quantitatively. New methods of…
Read MoreQuantifying fold and fracture attributes using Real-Time Kinematic (RTK) GPS
In areas of folding there is generally assumed to be a correlation between fold curvature (eg. gaussian curvature, principal curvature directions) and the orientation, distribution and density of related fault and fracture systems. The ability to analyse curvature magnitudes and directions over small-scale fold structures offers a powerful new method of investigating the relationships between…
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