Karst development related to extensional fracture network at Bany-Kanana area, northern Jordan

Abstract

The study area lies east of the northern segment of the Dead Sea Transform (DST), within the Jordan valley active strike-slip fault system. The exposed rocks in the study area consist of Upper Cretaceous to Cenozoic carbonates and cherts. This study concentrated on detailed field measurements of the various structural elements such as extensional fractures, normal faults, and strike-slip faults, with a total of 1,976 measurements. The predominant trends of all fractures (faults and joints) in the study area are N-S, NNW-SSE, and NW-SE with steep dips and characterized by sinistral and extensional modes of deformation. The NNW to NW trend has the same general trend of the water flow path in the study area. Normal and strike-slip conjugate and hybrid fracture sets with different acute dihedral angles and steep dips were observed in the study area. These fractures connect with the vertical extensional fractures in the same stratigraphic level. In addition, the interconnected orthogonal fracture systems with bedding parallel fractures play a major role conducting fluid movement and therefore, in initiation of karst development in the study area. These fractures network were enlarged by water dissolution forming small caverns.

Structural Analysis of Folds System and Related Mesostructures in the Area West of Irbed, Jordan

“…1). It extends from the northwestern of the Dead Sea to the southeastern of lake Tiberias with a general N-S trend (Diabat, et al, 2015). The Jordan Valley, between the sea of Galilee to the north and the Dead Sea to the south, is a long and narrow depression that is part of the Syrian-African Rift system (Garfunkel and Derin, 1984).…”

Paleokarst features in the Aptian carbonates of the Barra Velha Formation, Santos Basin, Brazil

“…Diagenetic features such as dissolution structures and fractures influence the reservoir quality, and the understanding of their distribution could be useful in determining permeability anisotropies, preferred flow directions, or possible compartmentalization due to impermeable barriers (Watkins et al 2018, Tanaka et al 2022. Several studies have linked different karst development to the gradual and progressive enlargement of conductive fractures and faults which facilitate the flow of surface and deep-source fluids (Kacaroglu 1999, Diabat et al 2015. This dissolution in the carbonate reservoirs controls the size of pores, which may vary from small micro-scale cracks to meter-scale cave features (Xiaoxia et al 2021).…”

Relationship between micro-fracture network and karstification in recent (Mecsek) and paleokarst (Gomba) reservoirs

“…7) likely formed due to surface karstic processes (Bauer et al, 2016) following exhumation of the cave due to erosion. Karstic caves evolve in fractured rocks (e.g., Palmer 1991;Diabat 2013), but the spatial appearances of caves can be very different (White 1988;Palmer 1991). Based on more than 500 individual modern samples, cave geometries can be classified into four main categories: branchwork, network, anastomotic and ramiform and spongework caves (Palmer 1991) (Fig.…”

“…In more permeable zones, dissolution is also more effective than in low-permeability zones (Singurindy and Berkowitz 2005). In carbonate reservoirs, this phenomenon has a basic importance in terms of palaeo-fluid migration, e.g., it can control the spatial position of karstic dissolution forms (Palmer 1991;Diabat 2013;Bauer and M. Tóth 2015). Thus, if the main characteristics of the fracture network can be determined, (Fig.…”