Growth of stylolite teeth patterns depends on normal stress and finite compaction

Daniel Koehn (1) , François Renard (2, 3) , Renaud Toussaint (4) , Cees Passchier (1)

1 Tectonophysics
2 LGIT - Laboratoire de Géophysique Interne et Tectonophysique
3 PGP - Physics of Geological Processes [Oslo]
4 GE

Stylolites are spectacular rough dissolution surfaces that are found in many rock types. Despite many studies, their genesis is still debated, particularly the time scales of their formation and the relationship between this time and their morphology. We developed a new discrete simulation technique to explore the dynamic growth of the stylolite roughness, starting from an initially flat dissolution surface. We demonstrate that the typical steep stylolite teeth geometry can accurately be modelled and reproduce natural patterns. The growth of the roughness takes place in two successive time regimes: i) an initial non-linear increase in roughness amplitude that follows a power-law in time up to ii) a critical time where the roughness amplitude saturates and stays constant.

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

Daniel Koehn, François Renard, Renaud Toussaint, Cees Passchier. Growth of stylolite teeth patterns depends on normal stress and finite compaction. Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 2007, 257, pp.582-595. ⟨10.1016/j.epsl.2007.03.015⟩. ⟨hal-00201785⟩