THE INFLUENCE OF PERMEABILITY ANISOTROPY ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF PORE FLUID PRESSURE AROUND FAULT ZONES: INSIGHTS FOR FAULT STABILITY AND REACTIVATION

Changes in pore fluid pressure can trigger the reactivation of a fault. In order to understand the process of reactivation, discerning how pore fluid pressure is distributed, spatially and temporally, within a fault zone is necessary. Imperative to this is an accurate quantification of the permeability – and any anisotropy of permeability – of the rocks that comprise the fault zone.

A recent experimental study has provided insight into the distribution of permeability anisotropy surrounding a normal fault in a porous sandstone (Farrell et al. 2014). In the study performed here, we use this new data to populate a model of a normal fault in order to investigate the impact of permeability anisotropy on normal fault stability and the potential for reactivation. Fault zone permeability can evolve through deformation due to reactivation, and therefore our longer term aim is to understand how permeability anisotropy evolves with fault growth, slip and reactivation.

A coupled hydrological-mechanical simulator (Tough2-FLAC3D) is employed to simulate changes in pore fluid pressure in the area surrounding the modelled normal fault. To increase the pore pressure in the model and reduce effective stress along the fault zone, two scenarios are examined; firstly, through regional stress and secondly, through fluid injection at a well.

Systematic variations in the model parameters are performed in order to assess the sensitivity of fault reactivation to the various properties. Such variations include the regional stress setting, well to fault separation distance, degree of permeability anisotropy and fault core and damage zone dimensions. All variations are guided by experimental and field observations. These results can be used to understand how permeability anisotropy and fluid flow affect fault slip and guide assessment of fault stability.