Cataclasite is a cohesive granular fault rock. [1] Comminution, also known as cataclasis, is an important process in forming cataclasites. [2] They fall into the category of cataclastic rocks which are formed through faulting or fracturing in the upper crust. [3] Cataclasites are distinguished from fault gouge, which is incohesive, and fault breccia, which contains coarser fragments. [1]
Cataclasites are composed of fragments of the pre-existing wall rock as well as a matrix consisting of crushed microfragments, which cohesively holds the rock together. [2] There are different types of classification schemes for cataclasites in the fault rock literature. The original classification scheme by Sibson classifies them by their proportion of fine-grained matrix to angular fragments. [1] The term fault breccia is used for describing a cataclasite with coarser grains. A fault breccia is a cataclastic rock with clasts that are larger than two millimeters making up at least 30% of the rock. [4]
These are the varieties based on the classification scheme of cataclasites proposed by Sibson: [1]
This classification scheme separates distinct features of cataclasites, but any fault rock that has been formed through brittle deformation mechanisms containing pieces of the fractured pre-existing rock type are normally referred to as cataclasites. Cataclasites are different from mylonites, another type of fault rock, that is classified by the presence of a schistosity formed through ductile deformation methods. [5]
Although cataclasites often lack an oriented fabric, some cataclasites are foliated. [6] According to Sibson's 1975 classification scheme, these would be classified as mylonites [1] although it was proven experimentally that some cataclastic mechanisms can form cataclasites with an oriented foliation solely due to brittle deformation. [6] In a modification to the original definitions, the foliated fault rock would be still considered a cataclasite because it was created by cataclastic mechanisms.
Cataclasites form through the progressive fracturing of mineral grains and aggregates, a process known as comminution. Cataclasites are the result of comminution, along with frictional sliding and grain rotation during faulting. [2] This crushing, frictional sliding and rotation of grains is referred to as cataclasis. [2]
Comminution, along with frictional sliding and grain boundary rotation can allow a rock to macroscopically flow over a wide brittle zone in the crust. [2] This macroscopic flow due to the combination of brittle deformation mechanisms can be referred to as cataclastic flow. [2]
Many faults near the earth's surface are brittle and show evidence of low temperature deformation. [2] At low temperatures, there is not enough energy for the crystal grains to deform plastically, thus each grain fractures as opposed to elongation or recrystallizing. In these systems, cataclasites would be more likely to form as opposed to mylonites, which would require crystal plastic deformation. [6] Due to quartz being the main mineral in many rocks in the brittle regime of the crust, the brittle-ductile transition for quartz can be a good indication of where cataclasites would form before ductile deformation plays a role. [2] This normally refers to the uppermost 10–12 km of the continental crust. [2]
Structural geology is the study of the three-dimensional distribution of rock units with respect to their deformational histories. The primary goal of structural geology is to use measurements of present-day rock geometries to uncover information about the history of deformation (strain) in the rocks, and ultimately, to understand the stress field that resulted in the observed strain and geometries. This understanding of the dynamics of the stress field can be linked to important events in the geologic past; a common goal is to understand the structural evolution of a particular area with respect to regionally widespread patterns of rock deformation due to plate tectonics.
Metamorphic rocks arise from the transformation of existing rock to new types of rock in a process called metamorphism. The original rock (protolith) is subjected to temperatures greater than 150 to 200 °C and, often, elevated pressure of 100 megapascals (1,000 bar) or more, causing profound physical or chemical changes. During this process, the rock remains mostly in the solid state, but gradually recrystallizes to a new texture or mineral composition. The protolith may be an igneous, sedimentary, or existing metamorphic rock.
In geology, a fault is a planar fracture or discontinuity in a volume of rock across which there has been significant displacement as a result of rock-mass movements. Large faults within Earth's crust result from the action of plate tectonic forces, with the largest forming the boundaries between the plates, such as the megathrust faults of subduction zones or transform faults. Energy release associated with rapid movement on active faults is the cause of most earthquakes. Faults may also displace slowly, by aseismic creep.
Metamorphism is the transformation of existing rock to rock with a different mineral composition or texture. Metamorphism takes place at temperatures in excess of 150 °C (300 °F), and often also at elevated pressure or in the presence of chemically active fluids, but the rock remains mostly solid during the transformation. Metamorphism is distinct from weathering or diagenesis, which are changes that take place at or just beneath Earth's surface.
In geology, a shear zone is a thin zone within the Earth's crust or upper mantle that has been strongly deformed, due to the walls of rock on either side of the zone slipping past each other. In the upper crust, where rock is brittle, the shear zone takes the form of a fracture called a fault. In the lower crust and mantle, the extreme conditions of pressure and temperature make the rock ductile. That is, the rock is capable of slowly deforming without fracture, like hot metal being worked by a blacksmith. Here the shear zone is a wider zone, in which the ductile rock has slowly flowed to accommodate the relative motion of the rock walls on either side.
Mylonite is a fine-grained, compact metamorphic rock produced by dynamic recrystallization of the constituent minerals resulting in a reduction of the grain size of the rock. Mylonites can have many different mineralogical compositions; it is a classification based on the textural appearance of the rock.
In geology, a vein is a distinct sheetlike body of crystallized minerals within a rock. Veins form when mineral constituents carried by an aqueous solution within the rock mass are deposited through precipitation. The hydraulic flow involved is usually due to hydrothermal circulation.
In geology, shear is the response of a rock to deformation usually by compressive stress and forms particular textures. Shear can be homogeneous or non-homogeneous, and may be pure shear or simple shear. Study of geological shear is related to the study of structural geology, rock microstructure or rock texture and fault mechanics.
A cataclastic rock is a type of fault rock that has been wholly or partly formed by the progressive fracturing and comminution of existing rocks, a process known as cataclasis. Cataclasis involves the granulation, crushing, or milling of the original rock, then rigid-body rotation and translation of mineral grains or aggregates before lithification. Cataclastic rocks are associated with fault zones and impact event breccias.
The brittle-ductile transition zone is the zone of the Earth's crust that marks the transition from the upper, more brittle crust to the lower, more ductile crust. For quartz and feldspar-rich rocks in continental crust, the transition zone occurs at an approximate depth of 20 km, at temperatures of 250–400 °C. At this depth, rock becomes less likely to fracture, and more likely to deform ductilely by creep because the brittle strength of a material increases with confining pressure, while its ductile strength decreases with increasing temperature.
A fracture is any separation in a geologic formation, such as a joint or a fault that divides the rock into two or more pieces. A fracture will sometimes form a deep fissure or crevice in the rock. Fractures are commonly caused by stress exceeding the rock strength, causing the rock to lose cohesion along its weakest plane. Fractures can provide permeability for fluid movement, such as water or hydrocarbons. Highly fractured rocks can make good aquifers or hydrocarbon reservoirs, since they may possess both significant permeability and fracture porosity.
Pseudotachylyte is an extremely fine-grained to glassy, dark, cohesive rock occurring as veins that form through frictional melting and subsequent quenching during earthquakes, large-scale landslides, and impacts events. Chemical composition of pseudotachylyte generally reflects the local bulk chemistry, though may skew to slightly more mafic compositions due to the preferential incorporation of hydrous and ferro-magnesian minerals into the melt phase.
Fault breccia, or tectonic breccia, is a breccia that was formed by tectonic forces.
A deformation mechanism, in geology, is a process occurring at a microscopic scale that is responsible for changes in a material's internal structure, shape and volume. The process involves planar discontinuity and/or displacement of atoms from their original position within a crystal lattice structure. These small changes are preserved in various microstructures of materials such as rocks, metals and plastics, and can be studied in depth using optical or digital microscopy.
Fault gouge is a type of fault rock best defined by its grain size. It is found as incohesive fault rock, with less than 30% clasts >2mm in diameter. Fault gouge forms in near-surface fault zones with brittle deformation mechanisms. There are several properties of fault gouge that influence its strength including composition, water content, thickness, temperature, and the strain rate conditions of the fault.
Deformation bands are small faults with very small displacements. In the past, these bands have been called Luder's bands or braided shear fractures. They often precede large faults. They develop in porous rocks, such as sandstone. Material in a deformation band has a much smaller grain size, poorer sorting, and a lower porosity than the original sandstone. They can restrict and/or change the flow of fluids like water and oil. They are common in the Colorado Plateau, where examples occur in the Entrada Sandstone in the San Rafael Swell in Utah.
In Earth science, ductility refers to the capacity of a rock to deform to large strains without macroscopic fracturing. Such behavior may occur in unlithified or poorly lithified sediments, in weak materials such as halite or at greater depths in all rock types where higher temperatures promote crystal plasticity and higher confining pressures suppress brittle fracture. In addition, when a material is behaving ductilely, it exhibits a linear stress vs strain relationship past the elastic limit.
Paleostress inversion refers to the determination of paleostress history from evidence found in rocks, based on the principle that past tectonic stress should have left traces in the rocks. Such relationships have been discovered from field studies for years: qualitative and quantitative analyses of deformation structures are useful for understanding the distribution and transformation of paleostress fields controlled by sequential tectonic events. Deformation ranges from microscopic to regional scale, and from brittle to ductile behaviour, depending on the rheology of the rock, orientation and magnitude of the stress etc. Therefore, detailed observations in outcrops, as well as in thin sections, are important in reconstructing the paleostress trajectories.
Fault zone hydrogeology is the study of how brittlely deformed rocks alter fluid flows in different lithological settings, such as clastic, igneous and carbonate rocks. Fluid movements, that can be quantified as permeability, can be facilitated or impeded due to the existence of a fault zone. This is because different mechanisms that deform rocks can alter porosity and permeability within a fault zone. Fluids involved in a fault system generally are groundwater and hydrocarbons.
