Stress directions in eastern North America determined to 4.5 km from borehole elongation measurements

Plumb, R.A.; Cox, John W.

doi:10.1029/jb092ib06p04805

Cited by 119 publications

(57 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…4) along a north-northeast trend is consistent with the current ambient stress field in which the greatest principal horizontal compressive stress is oriented N54°E (Plumb and Cox, 1987). High lateral stress, associated with karst collapse, has been documented at three sink holes near Windsor (Nieto et al, 1983).…”

Section: Coupe (Haut) Et Plan (Bas) Schématiques De La Maison Dont Lesupporting

confidence: 74%

Contemporary Subsidence and Ground Movement, Southwestern Ontario: Possible Bedrock Controls

Veldhuyzen¹

2007

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Section: Coupe (Haut) Et Plan (Bas) Schématiques De La Maison Dont Lesupporting

confidence: 74%

Contemporary Subsidence and Ground Movement, Southwestern Ontario: Possible Bedrock Controls

Veldhuyzen¹

2007

gpq

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“…The use of stress-induced wellbore breakouts as indicators of in-situ stress orientation is well documented (Bell and Gough, 1979;Gough and Bell, 1982;Zoback et al, 1985;Paillet and Kim, 1987;Plumb and Cox, 1987). Spalling resulting from con jugate shear fractures around a borehole can be related to the directions of the horizontal principal stresses in the upper crust.…”

Section: State Of Stress Location and Distribution Of Breakoutsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis and Interpretation of the Borehole Televiewer Log: Information on the State of Stress and the Lithostratigraphy at Hole 504B

Morin¹,

Anderson²,

Barton³

1989

Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program

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Hole 504B in the eastern equatorial Pacific has been the focus of several scientific expeditions during the past few years, where a series of re-entry, drilling, and coring operations has yielded important data regarding the structure of the upper kilometer of the oceanic lithosphere. As part of the extensive downhole experiments program planned for ODP Leg 111 at this site, a borehole televiewer (BHTV) log was obtained across a 355-m vertical section of crustal base ment, extending upward from 1531 to 1176 m below the seafloor. The BHTV record was analyzed in terms of both acoustic amplitude and traveltime in order to accurately identify zones of structural failure in the surrounding basement rock. A subsequent examination of breakout frequency vs. azimuth helped identify the orientation of in-situ horizontal principal stresses according to the well-substantiated hypothesis that breakouts occur coincident with the direction of minimum principal stress (S h ) where compressive forces are at their greatest. This S h orientation is found to be NI22.5°E, a direction that agrees closely with the results of a previous BHTV study of breakouts in the upper section of this same borehole and also with stress orientation estimates inferred from regional intraplate earthquakes. The distri bution of breakout frequency vs. azimuth shows the data to be bimodal and orthogonal to a degree that is statistically significant. The S h direction is inferred from the primary mode. The orthogonal pattern indicates that a considerable number of wellbore enlargements were detected coincident with the direction of maximum principal stress (S H ). These are interpreted as extensional fractures produced by localized tensional stresses parallel with the S H orientation. Consid eration of various hydraulic fracturing schemes and attendant analyses indicates that these fractures are likely to be in duced when the ratio of effective horizontal principal stresses {S H /S h ) is very large in a cylindrical wellbore or is some what smaller in a hole exhibiting a slight degree of ellipticity. This hypothesis is supported by the solutions to source mechanism studies associated with local earthquakes that indicate a strike-slip sense of faulting and a relative order of stress magnitude where S H » S h . The bimodal, orthogonal distribution of wellbore enlargements also results in a slight correction to the method used for estimating the principal stress orientation, one based upon the population modes rather than the mean.Inspection of three-dimensional images generated from the BHTV record in the lower portion of the borehole re veals the surprising appearance of pillow lavas at a depth previously assumed to be composed of sheeted dikes. When the ophiolite analogy is applied to contemporary oceanic crust, the transitional unit between the upper pillow lavas and minor flows and the variably metamorphosed diabase dikes below seems to be a complex, gradual, and gradational interlayering of lithologies that extends over a thicker vertical inter...

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“…1) and may thus be related to the rock anisotropy (Table 2). Babcock, 1978Guenot, 1989Brown, 1978Schafer, 1980 Hubbert andWillis, 1957;Haimson and Fairhurst, 1967;Haimson, 1978Morin et al, 1990Guenot, 1987Dart and Zoback, 1989Hottman et al, 1979Bell and Gough, 1979;Zoback et al, 1985Guenot, 1989Cheatham, 1984Teufel, 1983;Bradley, 1979Babcock, 1978Dart andZoback, 1989 Plumb andCox, 1987;Plumb and Hickman, 1985Guenot, 1989Gaylord, 1983 Table 1) and azimuth (AzCmax) of the pad that corresponds to the larger measured diameter for each of the five passes, labeled from pi to p5. Azimuth is with respect to magnetic north.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Constraints on the Geometry and Fracturing of Hole 894G, Hess Deep, from Formation MicroScanner Logging Data

Célérier¹,

Macleod²,

Harvey³

1996

Proceedings of the Ocean Drilling Program, 147 Scientific Results

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Ocean Drilling Program Hole 894G, sited on a small horst within Hess Deep, was drilled in lower oceanic crust that was generated at the East Pacific Rise and then rifted by the propagating Cocos/Nazca divergent plate boundary. Difficult drilling conditions in fractured gabbros resulted in a washed-out hole.Despite these unfavorable circumstances, open-hole logs from the Formation MicroScanner (FMS) tool string provide strong constraints on the fracture orientations and suggest a few directions of preferential enlargement. These results were obtained because five logging passes were recorded to compensate for the expected low data quality by redundancy and because the now classical analysis of FMS data has been adapted to this situation of multiple passes and washed out borehole.An east enlargement direction is thought to be related to the east-west strike of the dense network of fractures observed both in cores and on the FMS resistivity images, and an east-northeast enlargement direction may be the result of drill pipe wear along the borehole plunge direction. Additional east-southeast to south-southeast and north-northeast enlargements may reflect the influence of either the Nazca-Galapagos or the Cocos-Nazca plate boundary state of stress, respectively. However, the interpretation of these poorly defined directions remains uncertain.The analysis of the FMS resistivity images shows mainly east-west striking and southward dipping fractures and very few north-south trending features. This suggests a strong Cocos-Nazca control on brittle deformation in the Hess Deep. The distribution of orientation of the fractures identified on the FMS images is very similar to that obtained from core veins reoriented relative to paleomagnetic north. Matching the two sets requires that the remanent magnetization direction points north-northwest. The preferred interpretation of this result is a vertical-axis component of tectonic rotation of 30° to 40° counterclockwise.

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Stress directions in eastern North America determined to 4.5 km from borehole elongation measurements

Cited by 119 publications

References 29 publications

Contemporary Subsidence and Ground Movement, Southwestern Ontario: Possible Bedrock Controls

Contemporary Subsidence and Ground Movement, Southwestern Ontario: Possible Bedrock Controls

Analysis and Interpretation of the Borehole Televiewer Log: Information on the State of Stress and the Lithostratigraphy at Hole 504B

Constraints on the Geometry and Fracturing of Hole 894G, Hess Deep, from Formation MicroScanner Logging Data

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