Characterization of Fault Roughness at Various Scales: Implications of Three-Dimensional High Resolution Topography Measurements

Thibault Candela (1) , François Renard (1, 2) , Michel Bouchon (3) , Alexandre Brouste (4) , David Marsan (3) , Jean Schmittbuhl (5) , Christophe Voisin (3)

1 LGCA - Laboratoire de Géodynamique des Chaines Alpines
2 PGP - Physics of Geological Processes [Oslo]
3 LGIT - Laboratoire de Géophysique Interne et Tectonophysique
4 LMM - Laboratoire Manceau de Mathématiques
5 EOST - Ecole et Observatoire des sciences de la terre

Accurate description of the topography of active faults surfaces represents an important geophysical issue because this topography is strongly related to the stress distribution along fault planes, and therefore to processes implicated in earthquake nucleation, propagation, and arrest. With the recent development of Light Detection And Ranging (LIDAR) apparatus, it is now possible to measure accurately the 3D topography of rough surfaces with a comparable resolution in all directions, both at field and laboratory scales. In the present study, we have investigated the scaling properties including possible anisotropy properties of several outcrops of two natural fault surfaces (Vuache strike-slip fault, France, and Magnola normal fault, Italy) in limestones.

Mots clés: fault; 3D laser scanner; fault-surface roughness; self-affine surface; roughness exponent

Domaines: Géophysique [physics.geo-ph]; Géophysique [physics.geo-ph]; Milieux et Changements globaux

Thibault Candela, François Renard, Michel Bouchon, Alexandre Brouste, David Marsan, et al.. Characterization of Fault Roughness at Various Scales: Implications of Three-Dimensional High Resolution Topography Measurements. 2008. ⟨hal-00326981⟩