Faults and Subsurface Fluid Flow in the Shallow Crust

About this book

Faults and Subsurface Fluid Flow in the Shallow Crust offers a sample of the diversity of research on faults and fluid flow in the late 1990s. It describes detailed surface and subsurface characterization of fault-zone structure and diagenesis with implications for hydrology and petroleum geology; the role of faults in geothermal systems; laboratory studies of rock mechanics, permeability, and geochemistry of faults and fault rocks; and mathematical modeling of fluid flow through faulted and fractured rocks.

The most striking and appealing feature of Faults and Subsurface Fluid Flow in the Shallow Crust, as well as the general research topic of faults and subsurface fluid flow, is its interdiscplinary nature. The authors are drawn from the fields of structural geology, engineering geology, geohydrology and hydrogeology, sedimentology, petroleum geology, geothermal geology, rock mechanics, and geochemistry. Likewise, the emphasis on faults rather than simple open fractures raises issues not addressed in much of the literature on flow through fractured rocks. Although faults are a type of fracture and semantics can confuse the issue, faults are generally more complicated than the simple fractures that are the focus of most work in fractured rock hydrology. Most notably, faults can have very large displacements (up to many kilometers) and develop complicated tectonic fabrics, gouge zones, and juxtaposition of rocks or sediments of different types.

Contents

Preface
      William C. Haneberg, Peter S. Mozley, J. Casey Moore, and Laurel B. Goodwin  ix
Introduction
      Laurel B. Goodwin, Peter S. Mozley, J. Casey Moore, and William C. Haneberg  1

Field Based Characterization of Faults
Outcrop-Aided Characterization of a Faulted Hydrocarbon Reservoir: Arroyo Grande Oil Field, California, USA
      Marco Antonellini, Atilla Aydin, and Lynn Orr  7
Controls on Fault-Zone Architecture in Poorly Lithified Sediments, Rio Grande Rift, New Mexico: Implications for Fault-Zone Permeability and Fluid Flow
      Michiel R. Heynekamp, Laurel B. Goodwin, Peter S. Mozley, and William C. Haneberg  27
Permeability Alteration in Small-Displacement Faults in Poorly Lithified Sediments: Rio Grande Rift, Central New Mexico
      John M. Sigda, Laurel B. Goodwin, Peter S.M ozley, and John L. Wilson 5 1
Fault-Fracture Networks and Related Fluid Flow and Sealing, Brushy Canyon Formation, West Texas
      Eric P. Nelson, Aaron j. Kullman, Michael H. Gardner, and Michael Batzle  69

Laboratory and Modeling Studies
Brittle Faulting and Permeability Evolution: Hydromechanical Measurement, Microstructural Observation, and Network Modeling
      Teng-fong Wong and Wenlu Zhu  83
Fault Zone Architecture and Fluid Flow: Insights From Field Data and Numerical Modeling
      Jonathan Saul Caine and Craig B. Forster  101
Geochemistry and Hydromechanicallnteraction of Fluids Associated With the San Andreas Fault System, California
      Yousif K. Kharaka, James J. Thordsen, William C. Evans, and B. Mack Kennedy  129
Solute-Sieving-Induced Calcite Precipitation on Pulverized Quartz Sand: Experimental Results and Implications for the Membrane Behavior of Fault Gouge
      T. M. Whitworth, W. C. Haneberg, P. S. Mozley, and L. B. Goodwin  149
Flow-Path Textures and Mineralogy in Tuffs of the Unsaturated Zone
      Schon Levy, Steve Chipera, Giday WoldeGabriel, June Fabryka-Martin, Jeffrey Roach, and Donald Sweetkind  159

Geothermal Studies
How do Fracture-Vein Systems Form in a Geothermal Reservoir? Examples From Northern Honshu, Japan
      Shiro Tamanyu   1 85
Hydrogeothermal Studies on the Southern Part of Sandia National Laboratories/Kirtland Air Force Base-Data Regarding Ground-Water Flow Across the Boundary of an Intermontane Basin
      Marshall Reiter 207

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