K.
McClay Structural Geology for Petroleum Exploration
Ilustración 1Figure 2.1.8. Mohr circle construction
illustrating the effects of increasing or reducing
the coefficient of friction along a fault with
reduced cohesion. Possible faults that could be
frictionally reactivated are 1) for 1t = 0.75 (A-0-B)
are between 14°
stress) such that R = 00 when a = O or a = 53°
For fault angles greater than 53° fault reactivation will
only occur if the least principal stress becomes tensile. For
reactivation of extensional faults in compression this implies
that elevated pore fluids are required.
Pore fluid pressures
Elevated pore fluid pressures in fault sytems characteris-
tically lower the effective normal stress across the failure
plane - 'the law of effective stress' (Hubbert and Rubey 1859.
The shear stress remains unchanged thus permitting fault
movement at lower resolved shear stresses on the fault plane.
Therefore for a given stress system high pore fluid pressure
will Mercase the rango of possible fault angles that can be
reactivated (Fig. 2.1.12). Sibson (1985) demonstrated the
importance of high pore fluid pressures for both positive
inversion of extensional faults in compression, and also for
negative inversion of low-angle thrust faults in extension