This study reconstructs the palaeohydrogeologic evolution of the shallow-to-moderate Mesozoic subsidence history for the Mecsekalja Zone (MZ), a narrow metamorphic belt in the eastern Mecsek Mountains, Hungary. Brittle deformation of the MZ produced a vein system with a cement history consisting of five sequential carbonate generations and one quartz phase. Vein textures suggest different fluid-flow mechanisms for the parent fluids of subsequent cement generations. Combined microthermometric and stable-isotope measurements permit reconstruction of the character of subsequent fluid generations with different flow types, as defined by vein textures, yielding new information regarding the hydraulic behaviour of a metamorphic crystalline complex. Textural observations and geochemical data suggest that fracture-controlled flow pathways and externally derived fluids were typical of some flow events, while percolation through the rock matrix and the relationship to the Cretaceous volcanism and dyke emplacement were typical of others. The difference in the mode of calcite deposition from pervasive fluids (i.e. pervasive carbonatisation along grain boundaries versus deposition in antitaxial veins) between two calcite generations related to the volcanism inspired a stress-dependent model of antitaxial vein growth. Textural and isotope variations in a vein generation produced by the same parent fluid indicate rock-dependent hydraulic behaviour for different rock types, distinct action of the contemporaneous fracture systems and different extents of fluid-rock interaction. Cathodoluminescence microscopy and fluid-inclusion microthermometry shed light on the possible role of hydraulic fracturing in the formation of massive calcite. The time of formation was estimated from the isotope composition of the oldest calcite generation and its presumptive relationship with the sedimentary sequences to the north, whereas microthermometry permitted conciliation of the reconstructed flow sequence with the Mesozoic subsidence history of the Mó rá gy Block (including the MZ).
With the intent of making data acquisition for fractal geometry-based discrete fracture network (DFN) modeling time-efficient and automatized, a new method was established. For the automation of data retrieval from the images of the studied surfaces, a series of image-processing operations and MATLAB algorithms have been developed. The method allows the retrieval of more than 1,000 fracture-length data/cm2 of one sample in several minutes. This methodology tends to be a useful tool in studies of fracture network geometries. DFN models of a supposed excavated and/or environmental damage zone, designed with the use of data supplied by the above method, are presented in this work as an example.
Physical and petrographic properties of drill core specimens were determined as a part of investigations into excavation damage in the dedicated study area in the ONKALO® research facility in Olkiluoto, Western Finland. Microfractures in 16 specimens from two drillholes were analysed and used as a basis for fractal geometry-based discrete fracture network (DFN) modelling. It was concluded that the difference in resistivity between pegmatoid granite (PGR) and veined gneiss (VGN) specimens of similar porosity was likely due to differences in the types of microfractures. This hypothesis was confirmed from microfracture analysis and simulation: fractures in gneiss were short and mostly in one preferred orientation, whereas the fractures in granite were longer and had two preferred orientations. This may be due to microstructure differences of the rock types or could suggests that gneiss and granite may suffer different types of excavation damage. No dependencies on depth from the excavated surface were observed in the geometric parameters of the microfractures. This suggests that the excavation damaged zone cannot be identified based on the changes in the parameters of the microfracture networks, and that the disturbed layer observed by geophysical methods may be caused by macro-scale fractures.
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