Evaluation of Cementation of the Loma Blanca Fault Zone Utilizing Electrical Resistivity
Abstract
Fault-zones are an important control on fluid flow, affecting groundwater supply, hydrocarbon/contaminant migration, and waste/carbon storage. However, current models of fault seal are inadequate, primarily focusing on juxtaposition and entrainment effects, despite the recognition that fault-zone cementation is common and can dramatically reduce permeability. We map cementation patterns of the variably cemented Loma Blanca fault from the land surface to 40 m depth, using electrical resistivity and induced polarization (IP) data from 7 parallel two-dimensional transects running orthogonal to the strike of the fault and 4 three-dimensional grids centered on exposures of the fault at the land surface. Inversions of the 3-D resistivity surveys indicate a low resistivity anomaly in the cemented portions of the fault and within the adjacent footwall; these anomalies are present in the unsaturated zone. This low resistivity signature may be an indication of a higher degree of fluid saturation resulting from greater capillary forces, both in the cemented fault (due to reduced pore sizes within the cemented material) and in the footwall (possibly due to smaller grain size). These mechanisms for generating low resistivity anomalies in both the cemented fault zone and in the footwall, suggest that the low resistivity anomalies likely correspond to regions with low permeability. In areas where no cement is exposed at the surface, we use the low resistivity signature to determine the extent of cementation at depth. The ability to characterize spatial variations in the degree of fault zone cementation with resistivity and IP has exciting implications for improving predictive models of the hydrogeologic impacts of cementation within faults.
- Publication:
-
AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2016
- Bibcode:
- 2016AGUFMNS41B1911B
- Keywords:
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- 1829 Groundwater hydrology;
- HYDROLOGYDE: 1835 Hydrogeophysics;
- HYDROLOGYDE: 1880 Water management;
- HYDROLOGY