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Strike-slip fault zones are induced experimentally in artificial rock subjected to strike-slip displacement along basement fault. The purpose is to investigate in three dimensions, the geometries and sequence of development of structural elements comprising the fault zones by use of a helical X-ray CT scanner. 860 mm long, 310 mm wide, 25 mm high artificial rocks were made by mixing sand, plaster and water. The basement fault was displaced up to 100 mm at a displacement rate of 0.1mm/sec. The deformation of the artificial rocks with increasing basement displacement was observed as follows. 1) En echelon fractures corresponding to the Riedel shears are observed at the surface of the artificial rock.
These Riedel structures contain within them similar Riedels on a smaller scale (Riedel within Riedel structures). The length of the first and second order Riedel fractures is of the order of 100 mm and 10 mm, respectively. In three dimensions, each fracture has helicoidal shape. 2) Fractures corresponding to the first and second order P-shears form at the junctions between two first and second order Riedel shears, and serve to connect the Riedel shears. The combination of displacement along the Riedel and P-shears leads to the formation of the principal displacement shears including first and second order jogs and pull-aparts. 3) New shears (outer shears) branch off from Riedel and P-shears in compressional jogs and propagate aside from the fault zone that consists of Riedel and P-shears. The outer shears do not join the basement fault directly and develop near the surface of the artificial rock. The region among the Riedel shear, P-shear and outer shear is an up-squeezed block (push-up), which undergo rotation with increasing displacement. The push-up structures tend to be limited to shallow part of the artificial rock.
The lower artificial rock on the one side of basement fault adheres to one on the other side in the compressional jogs. 4) As slip proceed, wear erode the second order jogs and produce the progressively more continuous and smoother principal displacement shear plane, and the real area of contact on the shear plane decrease. 5) With decreasing distance between adjacent first order compressional jogs (protrusions on surface), the real area of contact on the shear plane increase. Such evolution of the shears and its associated structures in the fault model tests agrees well with that of strike-slip fault systems and its associated geomorphic structures.
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