Document Type

Post-Print

Publication Date

5-2020

Abstract

The interpretation of fracture networks in contractional folds is challenging due to the range of factors that control fracture formation. We use outcrop-based analysis of fractures in plan-view pavements and in a 9-bed cross-sectional exposure to evaluate the fracture system within Cretaceous limestone layers of a Laramide fold in west Texas, the Stillwell anticline. Opening-mode extension fractures (veins) at high angles to bedding dominate the fracture population, although shear fractures and faults cut bedding at low angles within the forelimb. Analysis of extension fractures reveals NW-striking axial parallel and NE-striking axial-perpendicular fracture sets interpreted to have formed during contractional folding, a third N-striking fracture set formed during subsequent Basin and Range extension, and a fourth ESE-striking fracture formed due to unloading during exhumation. Fracture fill textures suggest that many fracture apertures increased during exhumation. The relative abundances of the four fracture sets and the intensity of each set vary from bed to bed in cross section. Because beds display no significant differences in mechanical strength and there is no correlation between bed thickness and fracture intensity, we attribute this bed-to-bed variability to differences in cohesion between beds. Bed decoupling, when combined with low extensional (

DOI

10.1016/j.jsg.2019.103974

Publisher

Elsevier Ltd.

Publication Information

Journal of Structural Geology

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