Fault block splitting

Fault Block Splitting (FBS) One approach to the structural modelling problem imbeds the fault surfaces into an extended set of surfaces that divide the volume of interest (VOI) into a set of closed compartments. When there are only a few faults this is a simple extension of the fault framework modelling activity. Some extra surfaces need to be added, and parts of the fault surfaces on which there is a throw, and the parts on which there is not must be specified. There is however an extra burden on the user of the software the order of the faults has to be chosen. The reason is that a convenient approach (for the software implementation) to fault block splitting is to build a binary FBS tree. Thus the volume of interest is defined, the first fault is extended so that it divides the VOI into two pieces. This operation is then repeated with each fault in turn. The extended faults must cut one or more fault blocks -the compartments in the binary FBS tree - into two pieces. In principle this is simple but in practice very difficult. 

Fault block mountains When a continent-sized layer cake of rock is pushed, the upper layers can be pushed more readily than the lower layers. The easy-to-push upper layers split from the deeper rocks and a broad eet of the upper cmst, a few miles thick, begins to move across the continent. This thmst sheet floats on fluid pressure between the upper and lower sections of the crust. The horizontal split in the cmst that separates the motionless lower crast from the floating upper layers is called a detachment fault in English, or a decollement in French. 

Fig. 15.12 According to a proposal by Schmidt and Rowley (1986), the Antarctic plate was split by a rift that developed during the Jurassic Period. This rift caused the eruption of basalt flows and the intrusion of dolerite sills of the Ferrar Group in the Transantarctic Mountains along the raised margin of the rift valley. Marie Byrd Land, which was originally located adjacent to northern Victoria Land, moved to its present position in West Antttfctica by right-lateral motion along the Transantarctic rift system tmd the EUsworth Mountain block was rotated clockwise out of alignment with the Transantarctic Mountains at about the same time. These displacements of blocks of continental crust were caused by transform faults that developed in the spreading ridge that separated Africa from Queen Maud Land of East Antarctica (Adapted from Fig. 1 of Schmidt and Rowley (1986))...

As in West Block 4, in West Block 2 sealing faults are found on the east and south flanks (Fig. 3). The three injection wells, located on the east flank, were operated at rates between 160 and 260 nw per day. A total of 1,100 metric tons of polymer emulsion was injected, split up proportionally among the three wells. Well HS 69 shows a typical effluent profile (Fig. 4). In this well, as In the surrounding wells, injection concentration of 1,800 g/m emulsion polymer was not reached, as could be expected considering the size of the injected polymer slug. 

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