Vein spacing in extending, layered rock: The effect of synkinematic cementation

Clicks: 1
ID: 295067
2015
Free PDF
Article Quality & Performance Metrics
Overall Quality
Not rated
Combines reader engagement with the AI quality analysis. This article has not been analysed, so there is no overall score — reader engagement is measured and shown alongside.
AI Quality Assessment
Not analyzed
Readership in this journal

Ranked #3,694 of 8,486 articles by views in american journal of science

Most read Least read

Bar heights use a square-root scale. Only the 120 most-read articles are drawn; the journal has 8,486 in total.

Mint this article as an NFT
Not yet minted

Create a permanent, verifiable on-chain record of this article on the Scimatic Network. The NFT is held in your Journament account, and you can withdraw it to your own wallet at any time.

5 SUSD one-off · no wallet required
Sign in to mint
Abstract
Cemented fractures (veins) commonly show mm-scale spacing, even in layerbound arrangements in beds of cm- to dm-scale thickness. The relief of tension around such layerbound fractures should preclude nearby fracture propagation and result in cm- to dm-scale fracture spacing. We hypothesize that cement precipitated during vein opening could re-establish tension across veins and lessen the effects of relieved tension, thus decreasing fracture spacing. We test this hypothesis using a computer-based numerical model. The model consists of a 2D triangular lattice of nodes connected by elastic springs. The lattice is stretched by holding the left-boundary stationary and moving the right-boundary to the right at constant velocity. The lattice consists of three layers; springs within the middle fracturing layer fail upon stretching past a given critical length. Springs within the upper and lower matrix layers are indestructible. We tune the model parameters to produce the familiar regular spacing of barren fractures (joints). Then we perturb this system by adding cement within fractures as the fractures propagate and widen. Cementation is simulated by extending failed springs across the space between the nodes on which they are rooted and re-attaching springs once they reach across. Re-attached springs are assigned a new neutral length equal to their current length on re-attachment. The primary effect of cementation is to make fractures narrower and more closely spaced. Thus the model highlights the resistance to fracture widening by cement as a potential reason why veins can be more closely spaced than joints. Individual fractures open and seal multiple times when the stiffness of cemented springs is lower than that of the host-rock springs, suggesting that natural crack-seal vein opening is associated with persistent mechanical weakness at extant fractures. Modeled veins are more irregularly spaced than modeled joints, but the vein patterns remain more regularly spaced than would be expected for a random arrangement. Therefore the model does not explain systematic clustering of natural veins.
Reference Key
openalex_W2268147956 Use this key to autocite in the manuscript while using SciMatic Manuscript Manager or Thesis Manager
Authors John N. Hooker, Richard F. Katz
Journal american journal of science
Year 2015
DOI
10.2475/06.2015.03
URL
https://doi.org/10.2475/06.2015.03
Keywords Keywords not found

Citations

No citations found. To add a citation, contact the admin at info@scimatic.org

Comments

No comments yet. Be the first to comment on this article.