Fracture Zones Between Overlapping en Echelon Fault Strands Outcrop Analogs Within The Balcones Fault Zone Central Texas
Fracture Zones Between Overlapping en Echelon Fault Strands Outcrop Analogs Within The Balcones Fault Zone Central Texas
Fracture Zones Between Overlapping en Echelon Fault Strands Outcrop Analogs Within The Balcones Fault Zone Central Texas
,. Smallfaults
- - - :..:..:::...._ - ,_ ,, '''>1'5i3 ,
Figure 5e Fault / Figure 51
surface
QAa2133c
Figure 4. Cross sections of fractured Cretaceous Glen Rose Limestone showing fracture intensity within overlapping en ech-
elon faults. Cross sections a-d correspond to outcrop locations a-d in Figure 3. Locations for collection of fracture data that
are presented in equal-area net plots of Figure 5 are indicated as 5a-5f.
oped within the graben adjacent to the ramp. Sorne
small east-striking faults also occur within the ramp.
The small faults dip mostly between 50 and 70.
Striations on the surfaces of the small faults in all three
sets indicate that slip has been parallel to and slightly
oblique to the fault dip direction. Rakes on oblique-slip
faults are usually greater than 70.
The extensional slip on the small northeast-striking
faults appears to have varied slightly from S30-35E at
the northwest part of the ramp to S10-20E at the
southeast side of the ramp. These small faults dip both
northwestward and southeastward. Small northwest-
striking faults, which have formed as cross faults
within the ramp area, dip northeastward and south-
westward. Striations on these faults show that exten-
sion was N55-65E, parallel and slightly oblique to the
dip of the fault surfaces. The small east-striking faults
are most abundant in the graben, and they dip north-
northwest and south-southeast. Striations that are par-
allel to and slightly oblique to the dip of these east-
striking fault surfaces indicate that extension was
southward at Sl0E to S20W. The shift in small fault
orientations from northeast to east-northeast across the
Figure 5. Lower hemisphere equal-area net plots of fracture
geometry data collected at western Comal County study
area. (a) Stereographic projection of joint surfaces and potes
(dots) to joint planes. (b)-(f) Stereographic projection of
fault surfaces, potes (dots) to fault planes, and striations/
lineations (arrows) on fault surfaces. Locations for collec-
tion of fracture data are shown in Figure 4.
COLLINS
ramp appears to be gradual. The master antithetic fault
of the graben also strikes eastward and dips about 55
toward the north. Fracture style changes abruptly
across the ramp and associated graben. Small faults are
most abundant in the ramp and at the northern part of
the graben, whereas joints are the main type of fracture
within the southern part of the graben. These joints
strike N65-100E, similar to many of the small faults.
Most joints dip greater than 70 south-southeastward.
Many of these joints cut through the entire height of the
outcrop, about 16 ft (5 m). Dissolution has widened
sorne of the joints, indicating that they have been con-
duits for ground-water flow.
HORST BRIDGE BETWEEN EN
ECHELON FAULTS DIPPING IN
OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS
Within the Balcones Fault Zone, horst bridges
between en echelon faults dipping in opposite direc-
tions (Figs. 2b and 6) are not as common as relay
ramps between overlapping faults dipping in the
same direction. However, outcrops of upper Austin
Chalk along the bed and banks of a creek that tran-
sects a fault-overlap zone in northern Ellis County
enabled the study of a horst type of structural bridge
between overlapping faults dipping in opposite direc-
tions. Both types of structural settings contain frac-
tures with similar characteristics.
At the Ellis County study site, the two en echelon
master normal faults strike northeastward at N30-
400E. One fault dips about 63 northwestward (Reaser,
1961), and the other fault dips southeastward at an
unknown angle. Throw across the faults is as much as
90 ft (27 m), although fault throws near the fault ter-
minations at the overlap area are probably less than 90
ft (27 m). Vegetation and stream alluvium cover most
Northwest
Northwest
_;e
,,' Study
,.
Southeas\
o
1----T--"
e lkm
Southeast
- . __ =:r
---===e:== "1"'
600m
0
:;: lOOOft O MArkP.r bed
Ven real x 1 O
Figure 6. Location of study outcrop within overlapping en
echelon faults in northern Ellis County and cross section
through area. Kau = Austin Chalk, Qal = alluvium.
(a)
(b)
Contour
interval
114-7%
>7%
(e)
5
"'
m-
-e:
C:Q)
e E
-a
-
o u
'-== Q)o
.O o
ZQJ
a.
o
N
N
N
1
Joints
n = 34
81
0Aa2136c
Figure 7. Lower hemisphere, equal-area net plots of fault
geometry data and rose diagram of joint data collected at
northem Ellis County study area. (a) Stereographic projec-
tion of fault surfaces and potes (dots) to fault surfaces. (b)
Contoured stereographic projection of poles to fault sur-
faces. (e) Rose diagram of nearly vertical joint azimuths.
82 GULF COAST ASSOCIATION OF GEOLOGICAL SOCIETIES
of the bridge area between the faults. Core and electri-
cal logs of borings drilled for studies of the
Superconducting Super Collider aided in recognizing
the northeastern trace of the southeast-dipping master
fault. The horst bridge between the faults is about 0.8
mi (1.3 km) wide. Poor exposures at the master faults
prevent precise identification of the master fault tips
and the amount of fault overlap. lt is possible that
these faults could be underlapped (Larsen, 1988, p. 7)
rather than overlapped. In either case the bridge area
is a strained zone because of shearing during slip
along the bounding offset faults (Larsen, 1988, p. 7).
Small normal faults with throws commonly less
than 1.6 ft (0.5 m) and joints are very common within
the horst bridge. The bridge area is a mosaic of inter-
mingled fault and joint sets having multiple strikes
(Fig. 7). Most small faults strike in one of three direc-
tions, N40-65E, N75-100E, and N5-45W. A less com-
mon set of small faults strikes N10-25E. Dips are
mostly between 50 and 70. Northeast-striking faults
dip southeastward and northwestward, northwest-
striking faults dip northeastward and southwestward,
and the east-northeast-striking faults dip north-north-
westward and south-southeastward. Striations along
fault surfaces of each set are nearly parallel to dip,
similar to faults in other areas along the Balcones
Fault Zone (Collins, 1987; Reaser and Collins, 1988;
Collins and others, 1992). Nearly vertical joints also
occur, mostly within three sets that strike N30-50E,
N75-100E, and N1-30W. Most fracture heights and
lengths exceed the outcrop dimensions, although the
length of one swarm of severa} faults with a cumula-
(a) .-L 1 1
tive throw of about 3 ft (1 m) was traced for over 130
ft (40 m).
FRACTURE SPACING AND
CONNECTIVITY IN OVERLAP AREAS
Areas between overlapping traces of en echelon
faults locally contain numerous fractures with variable
spacing. Sorne individual beds and multiple-bed pack-
ages may be more fractured than other beds, and the
fractures do not have uniform spacing within any
given unit. Fault overlap areas are a mosaic of individ-
ual fractures (small faults and joints) and swarms of
dosel y spaced faults and/ or joints. Variations in the
spacing and strikes of individual fractures and fracture
swarms cause fracture connectivity to be high locally.
A traverse across 1,800 ft (550 m) of Glen Rose
Limestone in western Comal County within the ramp
between overlapping master faults dipping in the same
direction intersected over 130 small faults and many
joints (Fig. 8a). Spacing of single small faults and frac-
ture swarms is commonly between 8 and 50 ft (2.5 and
15m). Swarms of small faults are as muchas 20ft (6 m)
wide and contain as many as 12 faults. Joints domnate
the graben associated with the ramp, and spacing
between the joints is between 2 and 15 ft (0.6 and 4.5
m).
A sean line along a 1,640-ft (500-m) traverse within
the northern Ellis County horst bridge between over-
lapping master. faults dipping in opposite directions
intersected more than 70 small faults and numerous
swarms of closely spaced joints in upper Austin Chalk
! 1 1 1 11
-tiiiHIIIIIIHI1-ti-HI !f-t-1 -HIIH-!IIt+-11+-1+ill+tiiiHI-HIIHtllll-11-it-11-t-1-HIIr---t-1 tHIIIiltt-11+1111-+tiiii-H---t--1 ---------------------- 1! h!: 111111111 1111111*
1 11 L 1 1 1 J._, l UID
*111111111111111111 1 -11111111111111 11 :1
-----------------------------*
1 1 . 1 1 J. 1 1 1 1 1 1 11 1 11
*- - - - -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --1f-----t-+-+ ' *
1
*
. -----------------------------------*
*----------------------------------------------------*
t ), L t t , t , t l ! ! J-..
* - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - i lil 1 .!1 1 1 11 1 11 1 IMI!!I *
J., ,1, 1 1 1 0/U
* lltlllillll l:lll!i il 1
1 1
'f
1 1 f --"-.
U/0 Large fault
(U=upthrown; O::downthrown)
i JOLilt Small tault * Continuat;on of scanline
o
o
tOO ft
30 tt
0A<l2137c
Figure 8. Sean lines showing fractures encountered along outcrop traverses. Line a is within Cretaceous Glen Rose
Limestone in an overlap area between two en echelon master faults dipping in the same direction. Outcrop locations are
shown in Figure 3. Line b is within Cretaceous Austin Chalk in an overlap area between two en echelon faults dipping in
opposite directions. Outcrop location is shown in Figure 6.
COLLINS 83
(a)
0/U
(b)
(C)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - ~ - + - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ~ ~ - - - - - - - - - - ~ - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
~ - - - - - - ~ ~ - + r r - - - - - - - - ~ ~ ~ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
U/0 Large fault
(U=upthrown: O=downthrown)
Jornt Small fault * Contrnuation of scanline
o
o
100 f1
30 f1
0Aa2'3Bc
Figure 9. Sean lines showing fractures encountered along outcrop traverses in Austin Chalk of Ellis County. Line a is adja-
cent to a fault having about 60 ft (18 m) of throw. Lines b and e do not cross large faults or folds and represent fracture inten-
sity away from large faults. Modified from Collins and others (1992).
(Fig. 8b ). Spacing of single small fractures and fracture
swarms is between 6.5 and 150 ft (2 and 46 m). Swarms
of small faults are as muchas 20ft (6 m) wide and con-
tainas many as 15 faults. Joint swarms that are as
much as 39 ft (12 m) wide have fracture spacing of 2 to
5 ft (0.6 to 1.5 m).
Areas bctween en echelon faults have about twice
as many fractures per unit traverse length as do areas
having only regional fracture abundance patterns
(Figs. 8 and 9), but fault overlap areas may have
fewer fractures than are found in local areas directly
adjacent to large faults. Howcver, fractured areas in
the overlap between en echelon faults may be larger
than in the fracture zones adjacent to large faults. The
multiple strikes of intermingled fracture sets within
fault overlap areas may cause high fracture connec-
tivity locally. Vertical and cross-strike fracture con-
nections result mainly from intersections among
small faults. The best fracture connectivity occurs
within swarms of small faults. Although joints within
joint swarms are often poorly connected, local cross
joints cause sorne cross-strike connectivity. Joints are
poorly interconnected vertically. In shallow near-sur-
face beds, separation of the limestone beds along bed-
ding planes may also cause joints and faults to be
connected.
SUMMARY
1. Two types of fault overlap exist within master en
echelon faults of the Balcones Fault Zone: (a) relay
ramps between overlapping master faults dipping in
the same direction and (b) horst bridges between
overlapping faults dipping in opposite directions.
Overlap areas are about 0.6 mi (1 km) wide, and en
echelon master faults may overlap by as much as 1.2
mi (2 km).
2. Fault overlap areas are a mosaic of individual
fractures and swarms of dosel y spaced faults and 1 or
joints. Spacing of single small faults and fracture
swarms is commonly between 6.5 and 150 ft (2 and 46
m). Fault swarms are as much as 20ft (6 m) wide and
may contain as many as 15 faults. Joint swarms are up
to 40 ft (12 m) wide and have fracture spacings of 2 to
5 ft (0.6 to 1.5 m). Fractured overlap areas consist of a
mosaic of intermingled fracture sets having multiple
strikes, and fracture connectivity is locally high.
Heights of fractures commonly exceed the limits of
the outcrop, approximately 16 ft (5 m) locally. Most
fracture lengths are unknown because they exceed the
outcrop dimensions; however, one swarm of several
small faults was mapped for more than 130ft (40 m).
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This research was conducted during mapping inves-
tigations of the 30- by 60-minute New Braunfels
Quadrangle for the ongoing U.S. Geological Survey
COGEOMAP project, funded under contract no. 1434-
92-A-1085, and during geologic investigations of the
Superconducting Super Collider, funded by the Texas
National Research Laboratory Commission (TNRLC)
under interag.ency contract IAC(90-91)1650. C. D.
Henry helped collect sorne of the fault data in western
Comal County. This paper benefited from useful com-
ments by J. A. Raney and T. F. Hentz. Helpful editorial
comments were made by B. S. Duncan.
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85