Fault hydraulic properties: seal vs. conduit behavior
Projects are addressing the complex interactions among fault structure, fluid flow, and fault sealing by cementation. Emphasis has been on the conduit behavior of faults, looking in detail at faults in coastal California and Utah. Current focus lies in applications to CO2 sequestration.
View along the Moab fault at Courthouse Canyon. Bleached sandstone of the Entrada Sandstone (foreground) is transected by a dense network of joints. Joints are preferentially cemented by calcite which serves as evidence of focused fluid flow along this section of the Moab normal fault system.
Mapping the distribution of veins and sandstone alteration along the Little Grand Wash fault in Utah. Alex Urquhart points at a banded carbonate vein that formed during natural seepage of CO2-charged water along this fault zone.
Shale smear that formed by entrainment of shale along a normal fault at Black Diamond Mines (right side down) (photograph by A. Aydin). Examination of shale smear at Black Diamond Mines near Antioch, CA, with Pete D'Onfro (in orange vest).

Publications

Eichhubl, P., Davatzes, N. C., and Becker, S. P., 2009, Structural and Diagenetic Control of Fluid Migration and Cementation along the Moab Fault, Utah: AAPG Bulletin, vol. 93, no. 5, p. 653-681. [html abstract, pdf full text, cover]

Appold, M. S., Garven, G., Boles, J. R., and Eichhubl, P., 2007, Numerical modeling of the origin of calcite mineralization in the Refugio-Carneros fault, Santa Barbara Basin, California: Geofluids, v. 7, p. 79-95. [html abstract, pdf full text]

Eichhubl, P., D'Onfro, P., Aydin, A., Waters, J., and McCarty, D. K., 2005, Structure, petrophysics, and diagenesis of shale entrained along a normal fault at Black Diamond Mines, California--Implications for fault seal. AAPG Bulletin, vol. 89, no. 9, p. 1113-1137. [html abstract, pdf full text, cover]

Davatzes, N. C., Eichhubl, P., and Aydin, A., 2005, Structural evolution of fault zones in sandstone by multiple deformation mechanisms: Moab fault, southeast Utah. Geological Society of America Bulletin, vol. 117, no. 1/2, p. 135-148. [html abstract, pdf full text]

Boles, J. R., Eichhubl, P., Garven, G., and Chen, J., 2004, Evolution of a hydrocarbon migration pathway along basin-bounding faults: Evidence from fault cement. AAPG Bulletin, vol. 88, no. 7, p. 947-970. [html abstract, pdf full text]

Eichhubl, P., D'Onfro, P., Aydin, A., Waters, J., and Gerdes, M., 2002, Deformation and Alteration of Shale in Fault Zones: An Example from the Black Diamond Mines, California: AAPG Annual Convention Official Program, vol. 11, p. A49. [html text]

last update: 03/26/11

© P. Eichhubl, 2011

back