Journal of Structural Geology 74 (2015) 31e44

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Journal of Structural Geology

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jsg

Non-linear growth kinematics of opening-mode fractures

Yaser Alzayer, Peter Eichhubl*, Stephen E. Laubach
Bureau of Economic Geology, Jackson School of Geosciences, The University of Texas at Austin, TX 78758, USA

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Fracture aperture is commonly assumed to be a linear function of fracture length, stress, and elastic
Received 11 September 2014 material properties. Under constant stress, fracture opening displacement may change without con-
Received in revised form current length or height growth if the material effectively weakens after initial linear elastic fracture
2 February 2015
growth by changes in elastic properties or by non-elastic deformation processes. To investigate the ki-
Accepted 6 February 2015
nematics of fracture opening and its dependence on length and height growth, we reconstructed the
Available online 5 March 2015
opening history of three opening-mode fractures that are bridged by crack-seal quartz cement. Similar
crack-seal cement bridges had been interpreted to form by repeated incremental fracture opening and
Keywords:
Fracture
subsequent precipitation of quartz cement. Using scanning electron microscope cathodoluminescence
Diagenesis imaging, we determined the thickness and number of crack-seal cement layers as a function of position
Crack-seal along fracture length and height. Observed trends in crack-seal cement layer thickness and number of
Creep fracture opening increments are consistent with non-linear fracture growth kinematics, consisting of an
Sandstone initial stage of fast fracture propagation relative to aperture growth, followed by a stage of slow prop-
Quartz agation and pronounced aperture growth. Consistent with earlier fluid inclusion observations indicating
fracture opening and propagation occurring over 40e50 m.y., we interpret the second stage of pro-
nounced aperture growth and slow propagation to result from fracture opening strain accommodated by
solution-precipitation creep and concurrent slow, possibly subcritical, fracture propagation.
© 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND
license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

1. Introduction kinematic aperture growth to fracture length and height growth,

Fractures and fracture networks control fluid flow and mass and
heat transfer in the upper crust, and significantly govern its me-
chanical properties (National Research Council, 1996). Properties
that control fluid flow in single fractures include aperture, length
and height, connectivity with other fractures, fracture wall rough-
ness, connectivity of the fracture space to the pore space in the host
rock, and host rock permeability (Lee and Farmer, 1993; Klimczak
et al., 2010; Tokan-Lawal et al., 2014; Landry et al., 2014). Where
not occluded by fracture mineralization, fracture aperture provides
primary control on permeability of open, i.e. well connected, frac-
tures (Snow, 1968). For partially mineralized fractures, flow prop-
erties are governed by the hydraulic or open fracture aperture. In
this study, we are concerned with growth in kinematic aperture, i.e.
the kinematic separation of both fracture walls regardless of con-
current or subsequent mineral cement infill, and the relation in
* Corresponding author. Bureau of Economic Geology, The University of Texas at
Austin, University Station Box X, Austin, TX 78713-8924, USA. Tel.: þ1 512 475 8829.
E-mail address: peter.eichhubl@beg.utexas.edu (P. Eichhubl).
where length and height designate horizontal and vertical fracture
dimension, respectively.
Guided by the successful application of engineering linear elastic
fracture mechanics in geologic systems, the aperture of opening-
mode or extension fractures is generally assumed to follow a
linear function of fracture length, rock elastic properties, pore fluid
pressure, and total normal stress acting on the fracture, the last two
parameters combined into an effective loading stress (Secor, 1965;
Segall, 1984; Pollard and Aydin, 1988; Engelder et al., 1993). Field
and lab measurements of opening displacement profiles measured
along the trace length of opening-mode fractures have found a first-
order agreement with the predicted elliptical fracture profile for
elastic fractures (Delaney and Pollard, 1981; Pollard and Segall,
1987; Gudmundsson, 2011). Fracture aperture, however, is
frequently observed to exceed the predicted magnitude for elastic
fractures for elastic and fracture toughness parameters represen-
tative of the host rock. For instance, for elastic and fracture prop-
erties typical of well-cemented sedimentary rock (Young's
modulus: 50 GPa, Poisson ratio 0.25, fracture toughness
1e2 MPa m½; Atkinson and Meredith, 1987), the predicted aperture
of a 10 cm-long opening-mode fracture is between 10 and 30 mm

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jsg.2015.02.003
0191-8141/© 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).
32 Y. Alzayer et al. / Journal of Structural Geology 74 (2015) 31e44
(after Pollard and Segall, 1987; see also Section 4.2). Apertures of
opening-mode fractures of similar length observed in sandstone
reservoirs frequently exceed these values by a factor of 100e1000
(Laubach, 1989; Vermilye and Scholz, 1995; Stowell et al., 1999).
Based on observations of fracture opening occurring concur-
rently with diagenetic dissolution-precipitation reactions in
adjoining host rock, Eichhubl et al. (2001), Eichhubl and Aydin
(2003), and Eichhubl (2004) proposed that the opening displace-
ment of such wide-aperture fractures is accommodated by
dissolution-precipitation creep in the host rock. In this case, it is
conceivable that fracture aperture growth relates to length or
height growth in a non-linear way. For example, fractures may
reach an initial length or height to aperture aspect ratio by elastic
fracture growth, with subsequent solution-precipitation creep
increasing fracture aperture without additional length growth.
Solution-precipitation creep would effectively weaken the rock,
equivalent to an increase in elastic compliance subsequent to
fracture growth in purely elastic media. Alternatively, fracture
opening displacement may be accommodated entirely by non-
elastic creep processes.
This study was designed to test such non-linear rock fracture
growth models by comparing the fracture opening displacement
recorded in crack-seal fracture cement along fracture length and
height. Crack-seal cement forms by repeated episodes or stages of
fracture opening and subsequent fracture cementation resulting in
banded cement textures (Taber, 1916; Hulin, 1929; Ramsay, 1980).
Crack-seal cement is considered synkinematic relative to the frac-
ture opening. The textural and compositional record contained in
crack-seal cement thus represents a record of fracture opening ki-
nematics (Durney and Ramsay, 1973; Cox and Etheridge, 1983; Cox,
1987; Urai et al., 1991; Hilgers and Urai, 2002; Renard et al., 2005;
Bons et al., 2012). Microthermometric and Raman probe analyses of
fluid inclusions trapped during the crack-seal cement growth allow
reconstruction of pore fluid chemical, temperature, and pressure
conditions during fracture opening (Parris et al., 2003; Hanks et al.,
2006; Becker et al., 2010; Van Noten et al., 2011; Duncan et al.,
2012; Fall et al., 2012, 2015). In quartz fracture cement, crack-seal
textures are best observed in scanning electron microscope-
cathodoluminescence (SEM-CL), with individual crack-seal
cement layers, also referred to as gap deposits (Laubach, 2004a),
highlighted by variations in CL intensity and color (Dietrich and
Grant, 1985; Laubach et al., 2004b).
In sandstone that has experienced burial temperatures in excess
of ~80  C, crack-seal quartz cement in partially cemented fractures
forms isolated cement bridges that connect both fracture walls
surrounded by residual fracture porosity (Laubach, 1988, 2004b;
Lander and Laubach, 2014). Based on microthermometric and
Raman microprobe studies of fluid-inclusions trapped during
crack-seal cement growth we have found that crack-seal bridges
track a protracted history of fracture opening extending over mil-
lions to tens of millions of years (Becker et al., 2010; Fall et al., 2012,
2015).
To investigate the fracture opening and length and height
growth kinematics of opening-mode fractures, we performed a
SEM-CL textural analysis of crack-seal cement bridges sampled
along the length and height from the fracture center to the tip.
Fractures for this analysis were collected from core in the Travis
Peak Formation in East Texas.
2. Geologic background
Fracture analyzed in this study were collected from core of the
Ashland Exploration, S. F. O. T. No. 1 well, Nacogdoches, N. W. Field,
Nacogdoches County, Texas (Fig. 1). This well was drilled as part of
the Gas Research Institute extensive tight gas drilling program in
the 1980's. The well is located in the East Texas Basin, on the SW
flank of the Sabine Arch, a low-amplitude north-trending anticline
(Fig. 1) (Laubach and Jackson, 1990). The well is located in gently
dipping strata, distant from normal faults with small displacement,
and open folds.
Fractures for this study were collected from the Lower Creta-
ceous Travis Peak Formation, a gas-producing unit consisting of
mainly quartzarenite and subarkose interbedded with mudstone
(Dutton and Land, 1988). Significant porosity and permeability loss
is caused by pervasive quartz cementation, resulting in average
porosity of 8.8% and core plug permeability of less than 0.1 mD
(Holditch et al., 1985; Dutton, 1986; Dutton and Land, 1988). Quartz
cementation was noted to increase with increasing present-day
depth (Dutton and Diggs, 1990; Soeder and Chowdiah, 1990).
Quartz cementation gradually increases with burial depth within
the Travis Peak and ranges from 16% at the top of the formation to
19% at the bottom (Dutton and Diggs, 1990).
The sand-rich intervals of the Travis Peak Formation contain
cemented and partially cemented vertical opening-mode fractures
striking east-northeast (Laubach, 1988). Fracture mineralization is
dominated by crack-seal and euhedral quartz with small amount of
late ankerite and clay. Ratios in natural fracture height to aperture
in the Travis Peak Formation range from 30 to 6000 (Laubach,
1989). Fractures with apertures >0.1 mm tend to be only partially
mineralized with remaining porosity between quartz cement
bridges (Laubach, 2003). Fluid inclusion microthermometry corre-
lated to a burial curve for the Travis Peak Formation at the nearby
SFE2 well (Fig. 1) suggested that fractures initiated near maximum
burial depth around 48 Ma and continued to grow to present day
(Becker et al., 2010). The maximum burial depth of the Travis Peak
at the S.F.O.T. 1 well was 3.2 km corresponding to a maximum
temperature of 145 C at the top of the formation. Currently, the top
of the Travis Peak Formation is at a depth of 2.7 km (8957 ft) (CER,
1985). The fractures in this study come from a depth of approxi-
mately 3 km (~10,100 ft).
3. Methods
To allow a comparison between bridges in the center of fractures
and at the tip, we collected 7 samples of fractures with preserved
fracture tips. We sampled only fractures that were observed under
a binocular microscope to be partially or completely filled with
quartz cement thus avoiding barren fractures formed during core
extraction and handling. Because most macroscopic fractures
observed in this core have lengths greater than the 4-inch (10 cm)
core diameter, all fractures sampled for this study contained only
one tip (Fig. 2A). Thus, the total length of these fractures is not
known. Crack-seal bridges were initially identified in transmitted
light petrography by their characteristic fluid inclusion trails
(Fig. 2B). Bridge crack-seal textures were imaged using a Phillips
XL30 SEM equipped with an Oxford Instruments MonoCL system
operated at 15 kV. Panchromatic CL images were obtained for each
bridge by taking several images at 500 magnification with no
color filter at 400 ms dwell time following techniques described by
Reed and Milliken (2003) and Laubach et al. (2004b). Grayscale
photo mosaics for ̊ each bridge were created using Adobe Photoshop
(Fig. 2C). Images were digitally sharpened and corrected for optimal
contrast and exposure.
For each of the 38 bridges that we imaged, we measured the
thickness of 3e44 crack-seal cement layers (10 or more cement
layers for 35 bridges) that we determined to be intact, i.e. cement
layers that were not split by subsequent crack-seal. This determi-
nation was based on the symmetry of the cement texture within
each increment around its medial line or suture as marked by fluid
inclusion trails. In CL-SEM, the cement layers are separated by dark
 Y. Alzayer et al. / Journal of Structural Geology 74 (2015) 31e44
Fig. 1. Location of the SFOT-1 and SFE-2 wells located southwest of the Sabine Arch in east Texas.
lines (Fig. 2E). Measurements of increment thickness were obtained
using a digital ruler calibrated to the SEM image scale. The mea-
surement error is ±1 mm. We also measured the kinematic aperture,
i.e. the distance from fracture wall to wall orthogonal to the fracture
trace, at the location of each bridge. The number of fracture opening
increments at each bridge location was estimated by dividing the
kinematic aperture by the average crack-seal cement layer
thickness.
A direct count of the number of crack-seal cement layers would
tend to provide an inaccurate count of the number of fracture
opening increments for two reasons: (1) The crack-seal texture of
some bridges is only incompletely imaged where the long axis of
the bridge is oriented oblique to the thin section and thus imaged
only partway across the fracture width. In this case, the imaged
crack-seal cement layer count underestimates the total number of
crack-seal opening increments across the width of the fracture. (2)
Continued crack-seal process breaks earlier-formed crack-seal
cement. Thus, younger crack-seal opening increments frequently
split earlier crack-seal cement layers into what appears to be two or
more cement layers. Without accounting for split cement layers, a
direct count of crack-seal cement layers would overestimate the
number of fracture opening increments. The number of fracture
opening increments at each bridge location was thus estimated by
dividing the kinematic aperture by the average size of complete
crack-seal cement layers.
In addition to determining the thickness of crack-seal cement
layers and the number of fracture opening increments, we pal-
inspastically reconstructed two bridges that provided a complete
crack-seal cement record over the entire aperture of the fracture
using restoration techniques summarized by Laubach et al. (2004a)
33
and Becker et al. (2010). These techniques utilize cross-cutting and
overlapping relationships between crack-seal cement and
bordering lateral euhedral cement to determine the relative
sequence of crack-seal cement deposits (Fig. 2). In this recon-
struction, we attempted to identify and account for split crack-seal
cement layers. Because relative timing difference is difficult to
discern for adjacent crack-seal cement layers, groups of roughly
contemporaneous cement layers were lumped into larger bridge
growth segments (Fig. 2D). For these two bridges, we measured the
reconstructed thicknesses of all cement layers (69 and 80 in each
bridge) and compared this record to the calculated number of
fracture opening increments based on the average crack-seal
cement layer thickness.
4. Results
Of seven fracture samples collected, three partially cemented
vertical fractures of Travis Peak Formation the SFOT-1 core were
found to contain a sufficient number of bridges suitable for fracture
growth analysis. Two of these three fractures are closely-spaced en
chelon fractures sampled for thin sections along their length or
e
horizontal extent (perpendicular to the vertical core axis and par-
allel to bedding); one fracture was sampled along its height or
vertical extent (parallel to core axis and perpendicular to bedding).
For these three fractures, we imaged 38 crack-seal cement bridges
and calculated the number of fracture opening increments based on
the kinematic aperture and average crack-seal cement layer thick-
ness. Bridges were selected to sample the fractures along transects
from the fracture tips to a position approximately in the center of
the fractures.
 34
Y. Alzayer et al. / Journal of Structural Geology 74 (2015) 31e44
Fig. 2. (A) Core image of fractures in Travis Peak Formation, SFOT-1 well, measured depth of 10,107 feet (3080.6 m). (B) Transmitted light photomicrograph (plane polarized) of partially cemented fracture. Quartz fracture cement bridge
indicated with red rectangle. Blue: Residual fracture porosity filled with epoxy. (C) SEM-cathodoluminescence image of quartz cement bridge outlined in B. (D) Interpreted map of the quartz bridge indicating stages of bridge cement
growth, numbered from oldest (1) to youngest (11). (E) Detail of C illustrating the symmetry of the internal cement texture of intact crack-seal cement layers around their medial line, in contrast to asymmetric layers interpreted to be
split by later crack-seal cement growth.
 Y. Alzayer et al. / Journal of Structural Geology 74 (2015) 31e44
chelon fractures imaged along strike (SFOT-1 well: depth 10,108.3 feet, 3081.0 m). Blue is epoxy filling remaining fracture porosity. Red rectangles indicate
Fig. 3. (A) Photomicrograph (plane polarized) of two partially cemented en e
analyzed crack-seal cement bridges. (B) Average crack-seal cement layer thickness for positions along fracture dip indicated by red rectangles in A. Error bars indicate standard error of the mean. (C) Calculated number of fracture
opening increments for positions along fracture dip indicated by red rectangles in A. Error bars indicate predicted range in number of fracture opening increments for standard error given in B.

35
36 Y. Alzayer et al. / Journal of Structural Geology 74 (2015) 31e44

All three transects revealed an increase in average crack-seal
cement thickness and in the number of fracture opening in-
crements for a limited distance away from fracture tips before
reaching a roughly constant value of both parameters for the
remainder of the fracture (Figs. 3 and 4). Average crack-seal cement
layer thickness for cement bridges ranges between 3 and 14 mm.
The calculated number of fracture opening increments ranges be-
tween 16 and 105, with the majority of cement bridges away from
fracture tips containing 70e95 fracture opening increments.
For the two cement bridges that were reconstructed, crack-seal
cement layer thickness is variable over the growth history of the
bridges, ranging between 1 and 30 mm (Figs. 2, 5 and 6). No

Fig. 4. (A) Photomicrograph (plane polarized) of a partially cemented fracture imaged parallel to the fracture dip (parallel to the core axis) (SFOT-1 well, depth of 10,107 feet,
3080.6 m). Red rectangles indicate analyzed crack-seal cement bridges. (B) Average crack-seal cement layer thickness for positions along fracture dip indicated by red rectangles in
A. Error bars indicate standard error of the mean. (C) Calculated number of fracture opening increments for positions along fracture dip indicated by red rectangles in A. Error bars
indicate predicted range in number of fracture opening increments for standard error given in B.
 Y. Alzayer et al. / Journal of Structural Geology 74 (2015) 31e44 37

Fig. 5. (A) Reconstructed crack-seal cement sequence based on SEM-cathodoluminescence image on bridge 4855 mm from tip in Fig. 4 (sample SFOT-1-10107 feet, 3080.6 m).
Selected stages of bridge reconstruction labeled by number of increments. See Fig. 2 for color scheme of interpreted bridge. (B) Crack-seal cement layer thicknesses plotted in order
of relative time of formation.
38 Y. Alzayer et al. / Journal of Structural Geology 74 (2015) 31e44

systematic trend toward wider or narrower cement layer thickness
can be discerned from older to younger increment across the
bridges (Figs. 5B and 6B).
5. Discussion
5.1. Geometric analysis of fracture aperture growth
Four geometric growth models for opening-mode fractures
were tested against the crack-seal cement layer thickness and
fracture opening increment data obtained from the SFOT-1 crack-
seal cement bridges (Fig. 7): (1) The first model considers fracture
length and height growth occurring by tip propagation with con-
current aperture growth as expected for critical fracture propaga-
tion in a linear elastic material (Fig. 7A). In this model, the number
of crack-seal fracture opening increments, shown in Fig. 7 as out-
lines of successive stages of fracture propagation, is expected to
decrease linearly toward the fracture tip while the average width of
opening increments increases toward the tip (Fig. 8A). For a
critically loaded linear-elastic fracture and assuming quasi-static
fracture growth, the width of fracture opening increments and
thus crack-seal cement layer thickness within a cement bridge is
expected to decrease over time as the driving stress decreases with
increasing fracture length (Engelder et al., 1993; see also Section
4.2) (Fig. 8A). (2) The second model assumes that fracture growth
occurs by initial tip propagation and concurrent aperture growth to
a finite fracture length and height (stage 1), followed by a second
stage of aperture growth without further propagation (Fig. 7B). If
the stage of initial fracture propagation resulted in only few or, as
shown in Fig. 7B, in a single aperture growth increment, with the
majority of aperture growth increments occurring during the sec-
ond stage, this type of fracture would result in a roughly constant
number of fracture opening increments along the length and height
of the fracture, with narrower increments and thinner crack-seal
cement layers near the tip and wider increments and thicker
cement layers near the center of the fracture (Fig. 8B). Aperture
growth without propagation, referred to as a stationary fracture,
may be envisioned as reloading of a previously formed, then

Fig. 6. (A) Reconstructed crack-seal cement sequence based on SEM-cathodoluminescence image of bridge 4187 mm from tip in Fig. 4 (sample SFOT-1-10107 feet, 3080.6 m).
Selected stages of bridge reconstruction labeled by number of increments. See Fig. 2 for color scheme of interpreted bridge. (B) Crack-seal cement layer thicknesses plotted in order
of relative time of formation.
 Y. Alzayer et al. / Journal of Structural Geology 74 (2015) 31e44 39

unloaded fracture, with reloading stress conditions remaining
below the critical stress for further propagation. Alternatively, a
stationary fracture could increase in aperture under constant stress
with a change in elastic material properties or accommodation of
fracture opening displacement by non-elastic deformation mech-
anisms such as solution-precipitation creep (see discussion sec-
tion). (3) The third model, a variant of model 2, includes initial rapid
length and height propagation with concurrent aperture growth
(stage 1), followed by a stage 2 of slow propagation and pro-
nounced aperture growth (Fig. 7C). As in model 2, the number of
opening increments along the fracture would be roughly constant
along the fracture length and height. Opening increments and
crack-seal cement layers would be thinner at the fracture tip
compared to the fracture center (Fig. 8C). (4) The fourth model
assumes fracture propagation to a finite fracture height and
continued growth in length. This model reflects fracture growth in
layered sedimentary rock where bedding interfaces limit height
growth (Fig. 7D) (Corbett et al., 1987; Helgeson and Aydin, 1991;
Cooke and Underwood, 2001; Rijken and Cooke, 2001;
Underwood et al., 2003; Laubach et al., 2009). Because the short

Fig. 7. Conceptual models for fracture growth kinematics. (A) Linear elastic circular or penny-shaped fracture propagates both in height and length with concurrent proportional
aperture growth. (B) Stationary circular fracture with aperture growth without tip propagation. (C) Non-linear two-stage growth of a circular fracture with initially fast propagation
with concurrent lesser aperture growth followed by slow propagation and pronounced aperture growth. (D) Fracture height growth limited by mechanical layer boundaries while
horizontal propagation continues resulting in an elongate fracture shape; aperture growth in center of fracture is limited by restricted height growth. Opening kinematics of Travis
Peak fractures resemble non-linear growth model in C.
40 Y. Alzayer et al. / Journal of Structural Geology 74 (2015) 31e44
 Y. Alzayer et al. / Journal of Structural Geology 74 (2015) 31e44
fracture dimension controls the fracture aperture (Gudmundsson,
2000), the aperture at the fracture center will stop growing once
the final fracture height has been reached provided the elastic rock
properties remain constant. For such a blade- or tunnel-shaped
fracture, the number of fracture opening increments would be
constant along the fracture length or strike direction with excep-
tion of the near-tip region.
Observed trends in number of fracture opening increments in the
SFOT-1 fractures decreasing toward the fracture tips (Figs. 3 and 4)
are compatible with fracture propagation and thus with the first and
third fracture growth models but inconsistent with the second
model which assumes a stationary tip during the second stage of
aperture growth (Fig. 7). The lack of a trend toward decreasing crack-
seal cement layer thickness with time for any position along the
fracture transect as observed in the two bridge reconstructions
(Figs. 5B and 6B) is inconsistent with the first model which predicts
opening increments at any position along the fracture that decrease
in size over time. Model 1 also invokes wider fracture opening in-
crements in the tip region than in the fracture interior which is not
consistent with the observed decrease in average crack-seal cement
layer thickness toward tips. Instead, the observed decrease in both
the number of fracture opening increments and in average crack-seal
cement layer thickness at fracture tips is consistent with slow
propagation and enhanced aperture growth as predicted in model 3.
Model 4 of height-limited fracture growth fails to account for the
observed decrease in the average crack-seal cement layer thickness
toward the fracture tip in the vertical fracture transect which we
consider evidence of aperture growth with no or only slow vertical
fracture propagation. This is because the height-limited fracture
would stop growing in aperture once the bed height is reached.
However, height-limited fracture growth may be invoked for the
second fracture growth stage in model 3. The wide range in fracture
height to aperture ratio of 30e6000 observed in the Travis Peak
Formation (Laubach, 1989) can be explained by model 3, with the
growth history of narrow fractures limited to stage 1 of initial fast
propagation with concurrent aperture growth and no or only limited
stage 2 fracture growth of slow propagation and pronounced aper-
ture growth. Fractures with high aspect ratios represent both growth
stages. We thus consider the two-stage fracture growth model 3,
with an initial stage of fast propagation followed by a stage of slow
propagation relative to the rate of aperture growth to account for the
observed fracture opening displacement data.
The apparently random and fluctuating crack-seal cement layer
thickness in the reconstructed bridges (Figs. 5B and 6B) may be
evidence for the role of changing pore pressure over time in frac-
ture growth. A similar fluctuating crack-seal cement layer thickness
was also reported in the Travis Peak and other formations (Laubach
et al., 2004a). Variation in pore pressure has been interpreted
previously to have caused cyclic fracture growth (Bahat and
Engelder, 1984; Lacazette and Engelder, 1992), and records of
cyclically variable pore fluid pressure have been obtained through
fluid inclusion analyses in crack-seal fracture cements (Fall et al.,
2012, 2015).
5.2. Comparison to linear elastic fracture mechanics predictions
For a quantitative analysis of the SFOT-1 fracture opening
displacement results we compared measured cumulative fracture
Fig. 8. Predicted trends in width and number of fracture opening displacement increments for fracture kinematic models. Aperture profiles (left diagrams) shown for half-fracture
only. (A) Proportional tip propagation and aperture growth characteristic of linear elastic fracture growth propagating under critical quasi-static loading conditions. Compare to
Fig. 7A. (B) Aperture opening with no propagation (stationary fracture). Compare to Fig. 7B. (C) Two-stage growth model consisting of fast initial propagation with concurrent lesser
aperture growth followed by slow propagation and pronounced aperture growth (non-linear fracture growth). Compare to Fig. 7C. Fracture is envisioned to propagate subcritically
during stage 2.
41
opening displacement for the two reconstructed bridges against
theoretical predictions based on linear elastic fracture mechanics
(LEFM) (Fig. 9). Assuming constant elastic material properties, two
scenarios of aperture growth are distinguished for this analysis: (1)
Fracture growth by tip propagation with concurrent aperture
opening (propagating fracture), here assumed to propagate at
critical loading conditions with KI ¼ KIc where KI is the mode-I
stress concentration at the fracture tip, and KIc the mode-I frac-
ture toughness, a material property that quantifies the material
resistance to fracture propagation; this scenario is equivalent to
model 1 above. (2) Fracture aperture opening without tip propa-
gation (stationary fracture). In this case, the fracture is assumed to
have initially propagated to its finite length by either subcritical
growth, or by critical growth followed by elastic unloading of the
fracture. Any further loading that results in aperture growth
remained below the critical loading stress for propagation. This
scenario is equivalent to model 2 above but can also approximate
conditions during stage 2 of fracture growth in model 3.
The maximum opening displacement umax, equivalent to half
the maximum aperture, of a stationary circular or penny-shaped
mode-I fracture is given by


4 1  n2 sc
umax ¼ (4-1)
pE
where s is the effective loading stress (effective tension positive), y
is Poisson's ratio, c is the fracture half-length, and E is Young's
modulus (Gudmundsson, 2011, p. 266e267).
For an opening-mode fracture that is critically loaded,
K
s ¼ sIc ¼ pIcffiffiffiffiffiffi (4-2)
Y pc
where sIc is the critical loading stress for mode I fracture propa-
gation, KIc is the mode-I fracture toughness, and Y is a shape factor
(2/p for a penny-shaped fracture).
The opening displacement profile can be obtained through
rffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffiffi
x2
ux ¼ umax 1 (4-3)
c
where ux is the opening displacement at position x measured from
the center of the fracture, i.e. from the location of maximum
aperture.
From Eqs. (4-2) it follows that, for fracture aperture growth
concurrent with critical but stable quasi-static tip propagation, the
fracture driving stress required for propagation decreases with
increasing fracture length. Increments in fracture opening
displacement per unit length growth at any position x along the
fracture thus decrease in size with increasing fracture length
(Fig. 8A). Consequently, the slope of the cumulative opening
displacement at any position x decreases with time (Fig. 9, curves
labeled propagating fracture). In contrast, for the stationary frac-
ture, the fracture opening displacement scales linearly with the
loading stress. At any position x, the slope in cumulative opening
displacement over time is constant (Fig. 9, curves labeled stationary
fracture).
The observed cumulative fracture opening displacement for the
two reconstructed cement bridges, showing a near-linear increase
42 Y. Alzayer et al. / Journal of Structural Geology 74 (2015) 31e44
Fig. 9. Cumulative fracture opening displacement for the reconstructed bridge in Fig. 5. Shown for comparison are predicted cumulative opening displacements for propagating and
stationary fractures calculated using material properties in Table 1.
in fracture opening displacement with time, follows the trend
predicted by the stationary fracture model but is inconsistent with
the propagating fracture (Fig. 9). This suggests that the initial stage
of critical fracture propagation is either not recorded in the two
reconstructed crack-seal cement bridges, or in too few crack-seal
increments to be recognized in the cumulative fracture opening
displacement plot. This result is consistent with the two-stage
geometric fracture growth model 3 (Section 4.1) of fast initial
propagation relative to the rate of aperture growth, followed by a
stage of pronounced aperture growth and slow propagation. The
two reconstructed bridges, collected away from tips, thus reflect
predominantly the second stage of fracture growth in model 3.
Alternatively, or in addition, the linear slope of the cumulative
fracture opening displacement curve may reflect subcritical frac-
ture propagation under constant loading stress. Subcritical propa-
gation is consistent with the slow rate of fracture opening of about
23 mm/m.y. based on the duration of fracture opening of 48 m.y. for
a 1.1 mm wide bridged fracture in the Travis Peak Formation in the
SFE-2 well (Becker et al., 2010). The distinction between slow
subcritical fracture growth and aperture growth in a near-
stationary fracture cannot be made based on the results shown in
Fig. 9. However, slow propagation is again consistent with the
second growth stage of the two-stage geometric fracture opening
model outlined above and found most consistent with the fracture
opening displacement data (Figs. 3 and 4).
Cumulative opening displacement curves in Fig. 9 are shown for
elastic properties of E ¼ 40,000 MPa and y ¼ 0.18, elastic properties
that were reported by Jizba (1991) for the Travis Peak Formation in
the SFOT-1 core. These calculations conservatively assume that the
measured aperture profiles are in the equatorial plane of circular
Table 1
Fracture and material properties used for calculation of cumulative fracture opening
displacement (Fig. 9).
Distance from location of maximum aperture [x] (m)
Fracture half-length [c] (m)
Young's modulus [E] (MPa)

pffiffiffiffiffi
Fracture toughness [KIc] MPa m
Shape factor [Y]
Poisson ratio [ʋ]
a
c ¼ 0e0.0417 m for propagating fracture.
b
Measured value from Jizba (1991).
c
Best-fit Young's modulus to match observed fracture aperture and Poisson ratio
of 0.18.
fractures thus providing maximum apertures as a function of dis-
tance from the fracture tip along the observed fracture profiles. To
match the observed fracture apertures, a second set of curves was
calculated with an “effective” best-fit Young's modulus
Eeff ¼ 470 MPa, using the Poisson ratio as measured by Jizba (1991)
(Table 1). Theoretical lower and upper bounds in Poisson ratio of
0 and 0.5 limit the possible range in “effective” Young's modulus to
350 and 500 MPa, respectively.
The low “effective” Young's modulus needed to account for the
observed fracture opening displacement, two orders of magnitude
lower than the measured value in core plugs, appears inconsistent
with a linear elastic fracture opening process. Instead, we attribute
the differences in lab-measured and “effective” Young's moduli to
fracture strain accommodated by inelastic deformation processes
such as solution-precipitation creep as proposed by Eichhubl
et al..(2001), Eichhubl and Aydin (2003), and Eichhubl (2004) for
fracture growth in chemically reactive subsurface environments.
The timing of fracture opening in the Travis Peak Formation as
deduced by Becker at al. (2010) based on fluid inclusion micro-
thermometry, commencing during deep burial and lasting
throughout maximum burial, coincides with silicate diagenetic
reactions and quartz pore cementation in the host sandstone
(Dutton and Diggs, 1990). The slow fracture opening rates proposed
by Becker et al. (2010) in the Travis Peak Formation and by Fall et al.
(2012, 2015) in similar burial-diagenetic environments elsewhere,
and synkinematic quartz precipitation resulting in bridge forma-
tion are consistent with fracture opening accommodated by slow
solution-precipitation creep and concurrent silica mass transfer
from sites of dissolution along grain contacts in the host rock to
quartz precipitation sites in the fracture. While inelastic deforma-
tion processes account for the finite fracture opening displacement,
individual fracture opening increments likely represent episodic
elastic strain events that alternate with periods of dissolution-
precipitation creep converting elastic strain into permanent, non-
recoverable fracture opening displacement.
0.0064
0.0417a
40,000b 6. Conclusions
470c
1.5
Fracture opening displacement history is recorded in crack-seal
0.637
0.18b cement textures of three opening-mode fractures in the Travis Peak
Formation. Trends in average crack-seal cement layer thickness and
in the number of fracture opening increments along fracture length
and height suggest that fractures grew by initial fast propagation
relative to the rate in aperture growth, followed by a stage of slow
 Y. Alzayer et al. / Journal of Structural Geology 74 (2015) 31e44
propagation and pronounced aperture growth. Based on the cu-
mulative opening increment distribution obtained through pal-
inspastic reconstruction of two cement bridges that span the entire
fracture aperture, we find that the crack-seal record reflects largely
the second fracture growth stage of dominant aperture growth and
subcritical fracture propagation under constant loading stress.
These findings are consistent with earlier fluid inclusion micro-
thermometric studies indicating that fracture cement bridges track
fracture opening in the Travis Peak Formation spanning up to
48 m y. In combination, these results support models of slow
fracture growth in diagenetically reactive environments where
fracture opening resulted from repeated episodes of elastic fracture
opening, with the finite fracture opening accommodated by
solution-precipitation creep.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the industrial associates of the
Fracture Research and Application Consortium at the Bureau of
Economic Geology and by grant DE-FG 02-03ER15430 from
Chemical Sciences, Geosciences and Biosciences Division, Office of
Basic Energy Sciences, Office of Science, U.S. Department of Energy.
YA acknowledges scholarship support through Saudi Aramco. We
thank Christoph Hilgers and Michele Cooke for constructive re-
views. Publication authorized by the Director, Bureau of Economic
Geology.
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