Tect~~nop~~s~cs, 75 (1981) T29-T36 T29

Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company, Amsterdam -Printed in The Netherlands

Letter Section
~-.~ __-- -

Stress fields about strike-slip faults inferred from stylolites and tension gashes

R. RISPOLI
Laboratoire de Geologic Structurale, U.S.T.L., 34060 Montpellier Cedex (France)
(Received April 14, 1980; revised version accepted February 18, 1981)

ABSTRACT

Rispoli, R., 1981. Stress fields about strike-slip faults inferred from stylolites and tension
gashes. Tectonophysics, 75: T29-T36,

In general, the long axis of the tension gashes and stylolitic columns developed in lime-
stones during a single phase of compressional deformation occur parallel to the direction
of the maximum compressive stress (u 1). This is the case in the Languedoc for structures
developed in the Jurassic limestones during the N-S Pyrenean compression. Exception-
nally, however, these microstructures turn in direction and become oblique (even ortho-
gonal) one to the other, probably as a consequence of a variation in intensity and direc-
tion of the stress field at the end of a microfault. This mechanism also occurs in a larger
scale structure involving segments of pre-tectonic joints that act as “en &helon” micro-
faults in a brittle “kink-band” equivalent to a peculiar type of potential wrench-fault.

INTRODUCTION

In Languedoc (southern France) the Upper Jurassic micritic limestones

show clear tension gashes, stylolites and strike-slip faults. These microstruc-
tures characterize one principal tectonic phase: the roughly N-S, Upper
Eocene Pyrenean compression. During this phase, inherited crustal fractures
are re-activated as regional sinistral faults trending approximately NZO”-N40”
(Arthaud and Mattauer, 1969a).
The area studied is close to one such fault, the Corconne-Les Matelles fault.
At this location, tension gashes and stylolites are exception~ly oblique to
each other, and sometimes perpendicular (Figs. la and 2). Three explana-
tions are usually put forward to interpret this situation:
(1) The structures did not develop at the same time, so that we are dealing
with successive phases of deformation. This explanation is unsatisfactory be-
cause at any point, tension gashes that are cut by younger ones are never
observed, and also because there are not just two trends of gashes but a varia-
tion between two extremes.
2. The structures represent a state of finite deformation and accordingly
some tension-gashes could have formed at an early stage and have subse-
quently been rotated; others may have formed at a later stage. This explana-

0040-1951/81l0000~000~$02.50 o 1981 Elsevier Scientific Publishing Company

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0.1 m

Fig. 1. a. Tectonic microstructures oblique one to the other, and their relation to strike
slip fault. b. PrincipaI stress trajectories inferred from field data near strike slip faults. 1 =
stylolites, 2 = tension-gash, 3 = fault, 3 = stress trajectories, 5 = compressional area, 6 =
tensional area.

Fig. 2. An example of a fracturing mode: sliding on a plane (white and grey, in the center
of the photo) trending N60”, with, at the extremity of a mierofault. an opening tension
gash (white) on one side and pressure solution on stylolites (thin gray line) on the other.
Only one extremity of the fault can been seen on the photo. The arrangement of micro-
faults, tension gashes, and stylolites strongly suggests large variations in stress. (Fig. 1.
shows a sketch of this region).
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tion is rejected for the same reason as above; no intersection is observed.

For this interpretation, it is also possible that the deformation is very
inhomogeneous and has induced a differential rotation of gashes. This argu-
ment does not hold because the deformation is very small (displacement of
a few centimetres and rigid-body rotation less than ten degrees), but the
variation in the orientations of the structures is greater than 10”.
(3) The structures are contemperaneous and they characterize stresses
which vary in intensity and in direction.
From this third possibility, we formulate a model in which variations of
stress explain: (a) oblique, sometimes orthogonal structures; (b) neighbouring
zones of weak and strong deformation.

STRAIN FIELD IN THE VICINITY OF THE END OF A FAULT

Sinistral strike-slip faults can be seen in Fig. la. Regional u1 (maximum

principal stress), is closed to N20”, the direction of the faults being N70”.
On the west side near the extremity of the fault (toward the top of the
sketch) tension gashes are inclined to the fault at an angle greater than 60”
and there are no stylolites. Deformation is slight with the axis of extension
(us) having nearly the same trend as the fault. The motion of vein opening
is transmitted along the fault.
On the east side (toward the bottom of the sketch), numerous stylolitic
columns and tension gashes lie parallel to the fault. This zone is more largely
deformed with 2, the axis of shortening, parallel to the fault. Starting from this
zone and moving away from the extremity of the fault, tension gashes and
stylolitic columns turn progressively and become suborthogonal to the direc-

1 IIb c
Fig. 3. Sketch of three brittle kink-bands. a. A slightly deformed stage (see Fig. 4). b. A
more deformed stage. c. A very deformed stage. The system has been locked, new dextral
shears appear on the kink-band boundaries.
Fig. 4. A zone of slight deformation in a brittle kink-band. En Echelon sliding planes trend
N60” and are 0.15 m long (Fig. 3a shows sketch of this region).

tion that they have near the fault. This situation is repeated several times in the
studied outcrop.
At the two extremities of these observed strike-slip faults, structures are
symmetrically inverted with respect to the midpoint of the faults. The
opening tension-gashes at one end of the fault become a shortening motion
(stylolitization) at the opposite end (see Fig. 3).

STRESS FIELD IN THE VICINITY OF A FAULT TERMINATION

An approximately elastic behaviour of the medium surrounding the tension

gashes, stylolites and microfaults constitutes the basis for proposing a model
which implicitly make three assumptions requiring verification.
(1) The mean trend of the tension-gashes and of the stylolitic columns
gives a good estimate of the position of 2, the axis of shortening (Blacke and
Roy, 1949; Arthaud and Mattauer, 1969b; Jaroszweski, 1969; Wartolowska,
1972, and others). The trend of a particular tension gash, with the associated
stylolitic columns gives an indication of the axis of shortening, locally.
(2) The amounts of displacement and rotation are small, so that the initial
microstructures remain parallel to one another with increasing deformation.
(3) From regional data, one can assume that, during the deformation, the
thickness of the overburden could not have exceeded one hundred metres.
 T33

These mechanical conditions lead to a brittle mode of failure (Bienawski,

1967) for micrite (fine-grained limestones) (Doukhan et al., 1976).
These conditions are supposed verified, so that the direction of the strain
axes are presumably parallel to the stress axes (2 is parallel to a,). Zones
with many stylolites have been shortened more than those without stylolites.
In these zones of concentrated shortening, the direction of the stress field is
clear, but not the relative magnitude. One can only say that (a1 - u3) is
probably high because the rate of the pressure solution depends on it (Durney,
1976; Rutter, 1976; Fletcher and Pollard, 1981). More tension gashes are
not often observed in these zones, so that u3 is probably compressive.
Presumably, u1 is a relatively high compression. Zones with tension gashes
and without stylolites reflect extension. The inferred stress field is shown on
Fig. lb. Near the end of the micro-fault, stresses deviate so that on one side
u1 becomes parallel to the fault at its end, and there is local compression. On
the other side, trajectories for u1 are orthogonal to the fault and there is
local tension. These results are consistent with those obtained theoretically
(Anderson, 1951, pp. 160-166, fig. 35 and table p. 164; Chinnery, 1966,
fig. 3, p. 168) and experimentally (Bieniawski, 1967, fig. 5, p. 408; Latjai,
1971).

A PECULIAR KIND OF POTENTIAL WRENCH FAULT: A BRITTLE KINK BAND

(Fig. 5)

These micro-faults are reactivated segments of pretectonic joints which

trend N60” (Fig. 5). During the Pyrenean phase, these planes partly acted as
micro-faults at a sub-metric scale, this motion producing the described struc-
tures (Fig. la).
In reality these microfaults define an “en echelon” system, and act as
antithetic shears within a dextral potential fault. On a decametric scale the
dextral fault is similar to a kink band. Inside the kink band (Fig. 5) the

Fig. 5. Mechanism of the brittle kink-band. a. The slab is early split by joints trending
N60”. b. o, is N-S. A dextral potential wrench-fault appears, making an angle of about
30” to c,. The preexisting fractures are reactivated and delimite separate blocks. c. Each
block rotates clockwise so that the preexisting joints are reactivated as antithetic sinistral
faults. Dotted zones indicate zones of opening, while hatched ones indicate closing.
T34

joints undergo an external clockwise rotation, and act as sinistral faults: the
blocks that they separate undergo an external clockwise rotation of a maxi-
mum of ten degrees, beyond which there is locking of the system and real
fault planes appear on the kink-band boundary (Fig. 3~). There is no obvious
change in the cross-section area of the blocks that are rotated.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

Fracture mechanism

In the equation of Griffith, the term dealing with the size: (I/p) (I is the
h~f-len~h of the flaw and p the radius of curvature at the tip) is invariant
by similarity. So we may expect that, on different scales, the fracture of
rock presents some consistent features.

On the microscopic scale

There are two fundamental modes of tension fractures: (1) one is linked
to an opening of a planar flaw (perpendicul~ to u,); (2) the other is linked
to the sliding on one or two preexisting planes. Tip-effects produce opening
of the material at the end of the planes.
These modes have been discussed by Brace et al. (1966). Since then, these
mechanisms have often been observed with scanning eiectron microscope by
Brace et al. (1972) and recent researchers.

On the macroscopic scale

The modes of fractures are the same :

(1) Opening of a crack parallel to ul with dissolution of carbonate in a
neighbouring stylolite (Raynaud and Delair, 1978). The calcite filling the
tension-gashes comes from the neighbou~ng zones of closing (stylolite). The
two mechanisms are synchronous. There is no volume change. The crack
grows essentially by a coalescence of relaying tension-gashes.
(2) Pressure solution is accompanied by sliding and the creation of tension
fractures. Cracks grow essentially by an increase in the angle at the tip of the
fissure, and by a migration of the tip, the styiolitic joints propagates and
evolves in a symmetrical way. The stress-strain pattern described above is
in good agreement with this mode.

STATE OF STRESS IN A FAULTED FORELAND

The influence of stress variations is a likely cause for the dispersion of

tectonic axes dete~ined by microtectonic methods, for example, see the
orientation diagram of tension gashes at “Les Matelles” (Fig. 6).
The model that we discussed explains the dispersion of the measurements
(60”); yet we do not know the distance from the end of the fault at which
 T35

Fig. 6. Direction of tension gashes in the zones of brittle kink-bands. The dispersion of the
data is near 60”) although there was only one phase of deformation.

the stress variations still have an effect. In Chinnery’s model, for a displace-
ment of five metres on a fault of 200 km long, stress variations have some
effects for a radius of several kilometres. For a displacement of 0.5 mm,
stress variations have some effect within a radius of several decimetres.
Along the faulted areas in Languedoc it has not been possible to prove
that there are large variations of stresses because it is difficult to study,paleo-
deformation in sufficient detail at a larger scale. But it is certain that the
stress variations contribute to the scatter of the data.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The author wishes to thank Pr, Mattauer for suggesting this project which
has been carried out with the assistance of P.E. Tapponnier. P. Molnar has
shown a great interest in this study. J.P. Burg, M. Faure, P. Laurent and
L. Harris have spent much time discussing and reviewing this work.

REFERENCES

Anderson, E.M., 195l’. The Dynamics of Faulting. Oliver and Boyd, Edinburgh.
T36

Arthaud, F. and Mattauer, M., 1969a. Sur les decrochements NE-m-SW senrstres con-
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Arthaud, F. and Mattauer, M., 1969b. Exemples de stylolites d’origine tectonique dam
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Bieniawski, E.T., 1967. Mechanism of brittle fracture of’ rocks. l.Theory of the I’racturt‘
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