the upper ordovician black shales of southern quebec canada and their significance for naturally occurring hydrocarbons in shallow groundwater abstract shale gas exploration in the st lawrence platform of southern quebec eastern canada focussed on the upper ordovician utica shale from 2006 to 2010 during which 28 wells were drilled 18 of which were fracked the st lawrence platform is thus considered as a pristine geological domain where potential environmental effects of fracking can be evaluated relative to the natural baseline conditions of the shallow aquifers in the saint edouard area southwest of quebec city it has been shown that groundwater carries variable and locally high levels of naturally occurring dissolved hydrocarbons in which thermogenic ethane and propane can be found fifteen shallow 30 147 m wells were drilled into bedrock and sampled cores and cuttings with the purpose of characterizing the shallow bedrock in a shale gas pre development context the shallow bedrock geology is made of three upper ordovician clastic formations the lotbiniere and les fonds formations are time and facies correlative with the utica shale present at a depth of 1 5 to 2 km in this area they are dominated by calcareous black shales with minor siltstone and micrite beds the nicolet formation is the youngest unit of the area and consists of gray to dark gray shales with locally abundant thick siltstone and fine grained sandstone beds the organic matter in the lotbiniere and les fonds formations is represented by solid bitumen with subordinate liptinite algae graptolites and chitinozoans representing normal marine type ii kerogen both formations are at the post peak hydrocarbon generation as indicated by the equivalent random vitrinite reflectance of 0 94 to 1 04 rock eval data support the type ii nature of the kerogen and the late oil window maturation level hydrocarbon extracts from the three formations have yielded high to low concentrations of c1 to c6 for all units an upward decrease in total volatiles c1 c2 c3 together with an increase in the gas dryness ratio c1 c2 c3 is recorded the transitions occurring at depths shallower than 50 m where the shales are more fractured the upward increase in the gas dryness ratio results from the more significant reduction of ethane and propane concentrations compared to that of methane consistent with the dryness ratio trend the 13 c vpdb values of methane change from thermogenic values 50 for deeper samples to more biogenic negative values 2 h vsmow trend of more negative values at shallower depths is noted the 13 c vpdb and 2 h vsmow values of rock hosted methane indicate that samples at shallow depth recorded a microbial influence it is proposed that diffusion and some microbial degradation of hydrocarbons are responsible for the decrease of rock volatiles and the in situ generation of biogenic methane in the shales at shallow depths to mix with the in situ thermogenic methane the utica shale is a very good source rock with high generation potential however thermogenic volatiles can also originate from shallower units with much shorter migration pathways the mixed thermogenic and biogenic methane in the groundwater results from fracture enhanced diffusion and biodegradation of volatiles at shallow depths

late quaternary movement of aspy fault nova scotia an emerged sangamonian 125 ka intertidal rock platform at 7 m asl is apparently upthrown to 22 m asl along aspy fault on cape breton island the 15 m displacement may be an isostatic response to rapid ice retreat or erosional unloading or it may be a tectonic effect due to release of crustal stress stored during wisconsinan glacier cover

stress directions in eastern north america determined to 4 5 km from borehole elongation measurements stress directions have been determined to depths of 4 5 km in eastern north america from borehole elongation measured by dipmeter calipers in 47 wells the average maximum horizontal stress directions are eastern canada n54 e 7 appalachian basin n58 e 8 and the illinois basin n89 w 5 stress directions determined for the illinois and appalachian basins are in agreement with published interpretations from hydraulic fractures and earthquake fault plane solutions new results from eastern canada and the appalachian basin show that stress directions are everywhere consistent with the midcontinent stress province these data suggest that the maximum horizontal stress does not rotate from the ene midcontinent trend to nw near the atlantic coast a directional analysis of hydraulic fractures petal centerline fractures and natural fractures from the appalachian basin shows that borehole elongation is systematically aligned perpendicular to the directions of hydraulic fractures centerline fractures and northeast striking natural fractures but is not systematically aligned with northwest striking natural fractures these observations indicate that borehole elongations provide reliable stress orientations

non trionychid turtles from the paleocene of alberta canada turtle fossils of paleocene age have been recovered from four formations in alberta canada the upper paleocene part of the scollard formation the upper paleocene portion of the willow creek formation and the exclusively paleocene porcupine hills and paskapoo formations at least three non trionychid turtle taxa can be recognized definitely present are a generically indeterminate baenid the macrobaenid judithemys backmani and the chelydrid protochelydra zangerli the carapace of a juvenile chelydrid could be either a juvenile of p zangerli or a fourth distinct taxon the macrobaenid j backmani and the chelydrid p zangerli are the most abundant non trionychid turtles from the paleocene of alberta the turtles from the paleocene of alberta differ from those of comparable age in new mexico usa and other more southern localities in the north american western interior in i the presence of macrobaenids and chelydrids and ii the absence of kinosternoids these differences mirror those of the

stress field constraints on intraplate seismicity in eastern north america focal mechanisms of 32 north american midplate earthquakes mo 3 8 6 5 were evaluated to determine if slip is compatible with a broad scale regional stress field derived from plate driving forces and if so under what conditions stress regime pore pressure and frictional coefficient using independent information on in situ stress orientations from well bore breakout and hydraulic fracturing data and assuming that the regional principal stresses are in approximately horizontal and vertical planes 10o the constraint that the slip vector represents the direction of maximum resolved shear stress on the fault plane was used to calculate relative stress magnitudes defined by the parameterb s2 s3 s s3 from the fault stress geometry as long as the focal mechanism has a component of oblique slip i e the b axis does not coincide with the intermediate principal stress direction this calculation identifies which of the two nodal planes is a geometrically possible slip plane gephart 1985 slip in a majority of the earthquakes 25 of 32 was found to be geometrically compatible with reactivation of favorably oriented preexisting fault planes in response to the broad scale uniform regional stress field slip in five events was clearly inconsistent with the regional stress field and appears to require a localized stress anomaly to explain the seismicity significantly all five of these events occurred prior to 1970 when many regional networks were installed and their focal mechanisms are inconsistent with more recent solutions of nearby smaller events the frictional likelihood of the geometrically possible slip on the selected fault planes was evaluated in the context of conventional frictional faulting theory the ratio of shear to normal stress on the fault planes at hypocentral depth was calculated relative to an assumed regional stress field regional stress magnitudes were determined from 1 s s3 ratios based on the frictional strength of optimally oriented faults the basis for the linear brittle portion of lithospheric strength profiles 2 the computed relative stress magnitude b values and 3 a vertical principal stress assumed equal to the lithostat two end member possibilities were examined to explain the observed slip in these less than optimally oriented fault planes first the frictional coefficient was held constant on all faults hydrostatic pore pressure was assumed regionally and the fault zone pore pressure was determined since pore pressure is a measurable quantity with real limits in the crust p0 s3 this end member case was used to determine which of the geometrically possible slip planes were frictionally likely slip planes alternately pore pressure was fixed at hydrostatic everywhere and the required relative lowered frictional coefficient of the fault zone was computed slip in 23 of the 25 geometrically compatible earthquakes was determined to also be frictionally likely in response to an approximately horizontal and vertical regional stress field derived from plate driving forces whose magnitudes are constrained by the frictional strength of optimally oriented faults assuming hydrostatic pore pressure regionally the conditions for slip on these 23 relatively well oriented earthquake faults were determined relative to this regional crustal strength model and require only moderate increases in pore pressure between about 0 4 0 8 of lithostatic hydrostatic is about 0 37 of lithostatic or alternately moderate lowering 50 of the frictional coefficient on the faults which slipped superlithostatic pore pressures are not required focal mechanisms for the two other earthquakes with slip vectors geometrically consistent with the regional stress field however did require pore pressures far exceeding the least principal stress or extremely low coefficients of friction these events may reflect either local stress rotations undetected with current sampling or poorly constrained focal mechanisms the analysis also confirmed a roughly north to south contrast in stress regime between the central eastern united states and southeastern canada previously inferred from a contrast in focal mecha nisms between the two areas most central eastern united states earthquakes occur in response to a strike slip stress regime whereas the southeastern canadian events require a thrust faulting stress regime this contrast in stress regime with a constant maximum horizontal stress orientation determined by far field plate driving forces requires a systematic lateral variation in relative stress magnitudes superposition of stresses due to simple flexural models of glacial rebound stresses are of the correct sense to explain the observed lateral variation but maximum computed rebound related stress magnitude changes are quite small about 10 mpa and do not appear large enough to account for the stress regime change if commonly assumed stress magnitudes determined from frictional strength apply to the crust at seismogenic depths

in situ stress natural fracture distribution and borehole elongation in the auburn geothermal well auburn new york hydraulic fracturing stress measurements and a borehole televiewer survey were conducted in a 1 6 km deep well at auburn new york this well which was drilled at the outer margin of the appalachian fold and thrust belt in the appalachian plateau penetrates approximately 1540 m of lower paleozoic sedimentary rocks and terminates 60 m into the precambrian marble basement analysis of the hydraulic fracturing tests indicates that the minimum horizontal principal stress increases in a nearly linear fashion from 9 9 0 2 mpa at 593 m to 30 6 0 4 mpa at 1482 m the magnitude of the maximum horizontal principal stress increases in a less regular fashion from 13 8 1 2 mpa to 49 0 2 0 mpa over the same depth range the magnitudes of the horizontal principal stresses relative to the calculated overburden stress are somewhat lower than is the norm for this region and are indicative of a strike slip faulting regime that at some depths is transitional to normal faulting as expected from the relative aseismicity of central new york state however analysis of the magnitudes of the horizontal principal stresses indicates at least to a depth of 1 5 km that frictional failure on favorably oriented preexisting fault planes is unlikely orientations of the hydraulic fractures at 593 and 919 m indicate that the azimuth of the maximum horizontal principal stress at auburn is n83 e 15 in agreement with other stress field indicators for this region the borehole televiewer log revealed a considerable number of planar features in the auburn well the great majority of which are subhorizontal dips 5 and are thought to be bedding plane washouts or drill bit scour marks in addition a smaller number of distinct natural fractures were observed on the borehole televiewer log of these the distinct steeply dipping natural fractures in the lower half of the sedimentary section at auburn tend to strike approximately east west while those in the upper part of the well and in the precambrian basement exhibit no strong preferred orientation the origin of this east west striking fracture set is uncertain as it is parallel both to the contemporary direction of maximum horizontal compression and to a late paleozoic fracture set that has been mapped to the south of auburn in addition to these planar features the borehole televiewer log indicates paired dark bands on diametrically opposite sides of the borehole throughout the auburn well processing of the borehole televiewer data in the time domain revealed these features to be irregular depressions in the borehole wall as these depressions were consistently oriented in a direction at right angles to the direction of maximum horizontal compression we interpret them to be the result of stress induced spalling of the borehole wall breakouts

the utica shale and gas play in southern quebec geological and hydrogeological syntheses and methodological approaches to groundwater risk evaluation abstract the risk of groundwater contamination from shale gas exploration and development is a major societal concern especially in populated areas where groundwater is an essential source of drinking water and for agricultural or industrial use since groundwater decontamination is difficult or nearly impossible it is essential to evaluate exploration and production conditions that would prevent or at least minimize risks of groundwater contamination the current consensus in recent literature is that these risks are primarily related to engineering issues including casing integrity and surface activities such as truck traffic equipment and fluid haulage waste management mainly drill cuttings and water storage and treatment when hydraulic fracturing is utilized concerns have also been raised with respect to groundwater contamination that could result from potential fracture or fault interconnections between the shale unit and surficial aquifers which would allow fracturing fluids and methane to reach the surface away from the wellbore despite the fact that groundwater resources are relatively well characterized in some regions there is currently no recognized method to evaluate the vulnerability or risks to aquifers resulting from hydrocarbon industry operations carried out at great depths this paper focuses on the utica shale of the st lawrence platform quebec where an environmental study aiming to evaluate potential risks for aquifers related to shale gas development has been initiated to provide the context of these research efforts this paper describes the regional tectono stratigraphic evolution and current stress regime of the cambrian ordovician st lawrence platform as well as the utica shale internal stratigraphy mineralogy and thermal maturation then the hydrogeological context of the st lawrence platform is discussed finally the methodology for this environmental study based on geological geophysical geomechanical hydrogeological and geochemical data is presented

recent tectonically induced surficial stress relief structures in the ottawa hull area canada contemporary reverse faults marked by offset boreholes were identified in two roadcuts and recently formed pop ups which are surficial chevron folds have been recognized in a quarry in the ottawa hull area of ontario and quebec canada displacement directions of the hanging walls marked by the offset boreholes are commonly north northeast to east northeast though one set shows displacement to the northwest the pop ups recorded during this investigation show average orientations of 120 and 063 these are similar to the average trends of 136 and 074 documented in a previous study from a quarry about 20 km away east southeast to southeast trending pop ups predominate in the two quarries and are kinematically compatible with most of the offset borehole directions recognized to date in the ottawa hull area moreover the quarry floor pop up trends in the ottawa hull area are consistent with those of open field lake bottom and other quarry floor pop ups in an area extending from the miramichi reg

seismotectonics of northeastern united states and adjacent canada data for local earthquakes recorded by a network of stations in northeastern united states and adjacent canada were analyzed to study the seismicity the relationship between earthquakes and known faults the state of stress and crustal and upper mantle velocity structure in addition portable seismographs were deployed in the field to study aftershocks as a result accurate locations for about 364 local earthquakes 2 mb 5 and 22 focal mechanism solutions were determined a comparison of the spatial distribution of these events 1970 1979 with historical earthquakes 1534 1959 reveals that seismic activity in the northeast is relatively stationary in space those areas that have had little or no seismicity historically are relatively aseismic today whereas the historically active areas are also active today the instrumental locations historical seismicity and focal mechanism solutions show an internal consistency that help us distinguish two distinct seismogenic provinces 1 the adirondack western quebec province is a northwesterly trending zone of seismic activity about 200 km wide and at least 500 km long extending from the se adirondacks into western quebec canada thrust faulting on planes striking nnw to nw appears to predominate and the inferred axis of maximum horizontal compression is largely uniform and trends wsw nearly parallel to the calculated absolute plate motion of north america little or no seismicity is found where anorthosite outcrops at the surface correlations between gravity anomalies and earthquake locations suggest that seismic activity in this zone is localized to regions of steep ne or sw gradient in bouguer anomalies this zone does not appear to extend southeastward to boston as proposed by some workers 2 the appalachian province is a northeasterly trending zone of seismic activity extending from northern virginia to new brunswick canada highangle reverse or thrust faulting on n to ne trending planes appears to predominate the western margin of this province however appears to be relatively aseismic we attribute this relative lack of activity to one or more of the following the presence of igneous activity postdating rifting of africa from north america the occurrence of intense metamorphism during the acadian orogeny which may have annealed preexisting faults and the predominance of ductile as opposed to brittle deformation in the geologic past the inferred axis of maximum horizontal compression along the eastern margin of the appalachians is rather uniform and trends w wnw almost perpendicular to the magnetic lineations offshore we suggest that this w wnw compression reflects the gravitational force arising from horizontal density variations in the oceanic lithosphere as it cools and moves away from spreading centers

a new ambystomatid salamander dicamptodon antiquus n sp from the paleocene of alberta canada the discovery of a skull and partial postcranial skeleton of dicamptodon from northern alberta is the earliest certain record of the subfamily dicamptodontinae the specimen comes from late paleocene lake sediments which also contain the remains of fish and plants the close resemblance of the specimen to larvae or neotenes of extant dicamptodon shows that this family exhibits the common trend of extreme conservatism known from other salamanders the specimen is found in association with floral assemblages confirming nussbaum s hypothesis of the origin of the genus in northwestern north america

the presence characteristics and earthquake implications of the st lawrence fault zone within and near lake ontario canada usa abstract questions persist concerning the earthquake potential of the populous and industrial lake ontario canada usa area pertinent to those questions is whether the major fault zone that extends along the st lawrence river valley herein named the st lawrence fault zone continues upstream along the st lawrence river valley at least as far as lake ontario or terminates near cornwall ontario canada massena ny usa new geological studies uncovered paleotectonic bedrock faults that are parallel to and lie within the projection of that northeast oriented fault zone between cornwall and northeastern lake ontario suggesting that the fault zone continues into lake ontario the aforementioned bedrock faults range from meters to tens of kilometers in length and display kinematically incompatible displacements implying that the fault zone was periodically reactivated in the study area beneath lake ontario the hamilton presqu ile fault lines up with the st lawrence fault zone and projects to the southwest where it coincides with the dundas valley ontario canada the dundas valley extends landward from beneath the western end of the lake and is marked by a vertical stratigraphic displacement across its width the alignment of the hamilton presqu ile fault with the st lawrence fault zone strongly suggests that the latter crosses the entire length of lake ontario and continues along the dundas valley the rochester basin an east northeast trending linear trough in the southeastern corner of lake ontario lies along the southern part of the st lawrence fault zone submarine dives in may 1997 revealed inclined layers of glaciolacustrine clay along two different scarps within the basin the inclined layers strike parallel to the long dimension of the basin and dip about 20 to the north northwest suggesting that they are the result of rigid body rotation consequent upon post glacial faulting those post glacial faults are growth faults as demonstrated by the consistently greater thickness unit by unit of unconsolidated sediments on the downthrown northwest side of the faults relative to their counterparts on the upthrown southeast side underneath the western part of lake ontario is a monoclinal warp that displaces the glacial and post glacial sediments and the underlying bedrock sediment interface because of the post glacial growth faults and the monoclinal warp the st lawrence fault zone is inferred to be tectonically active beneath lake ontario furthermore within the lake it crosses at least five major faults and fault zones and coexists with other neotectonic structures those attributes combined with the large earthquakes associated with the st lawrence fault zone well to the northeast of lake ontario suggest that the seismic risk in the area surrounding and including lake ontario is likely much greater than previously believed

development and recent activity of the san andres landslide on el hierro canary islands spain abstract extremely voluminous landslides with a long run out also known as megalandslides on oceanic volcanic islands are infrequent denudational processes on such islands at the same time they represent a major geological hazard that must be looked into to avoid negative consequences for the inhabitants of these islands their occurrence can be related to periods of intense seismo volcanic activity similar to that which occurred on el hierro island over 2011 2012 landslides on volcanic islands are studied using onshore and offshore geological geophysical and geomorphological records considering their unique triggering conditions e g lava intrusions eruptive vents magma chamber collapses previous work has pointed out similarities between specific cases of landslides on volcanic islands and deep seated gravitational slope deformations dsgsds which are typical in high mountain settings nevertheless the methodological approaches and concepts used to investigate dsgsds are not commonly applied on volcanic islands studies even though their use may provide new information about the development stage recent movements and future hazards therefore this approach for studying the san andres landslide sal on el hierro canary islands has been developed applying a detailed morphological field mapping an interpretation of digital elevation models structural measurements kinematic testing and a precise movement monitoring system the acquired information revealed a strong structural influence on the landslide morphology and the presence of sets of weakened planes acting as the sliding surfaces of the sal or secondary landslides within its body the presence of secondary landslides deep erosive gullies coastal cliffs and high on shore relative relief also suggests a high susceptibility to future landslide movement direct monitoring on the landslide scarps and the slip plane performed between february 2013 and july 2014 using an automated optical mechanical crack gauge with a precision of up to 10 2 mm detected creep movement in the order of 1 mm yr 1 with a persistent sinistral component as well as episodic horizontal and a subtle vertical movement this monitoring will continue in the future in order to verify the initial observations which instead of long term movement patterns could represent a landslide response to the period of an intense seismo volcanic activity during 2011 12

characterisation of a volcanic residual soil and its implications for large landslide phenomena application to tenerife canary islands large landslides are common processes during the evolution of volcanoes and individual events can exceed several cubic kilometres in volume volcanic slope failures are a significant risk for the neighbouring population due to their huge volumes and great runout distances around the canary archipelago a total of seventeen deposits of large landslides have been found and on tenerife seven large landslides have affected the subaerial and submarine morphology during the last 6 ma however the causes of such mass movements are still poorly understood this work analyses the events around the canary islands and focuses on the ones that occurred on tenerife in order to obtain new insights into the mechanisms of large volcanic landslides the study is divided into a first part that includes site investigations examining the general features favouring large scale failures at volcanoes the second part describes the laboratory tests used to analyse a residual soil that may be the potential slip surface of the slides on tenerife the site investigation revealed that regional tectonics and the climate have a significant influence on the spatial distribution of the landslides moreover morphological and geological features such as deep fluvial canyons a high coastal cliff and persistent dike intrusion may favour the initiation of slope failure a typical residual soil sample from the lateral scarp of the la orotava amphitheatre on tenerife was studied by carrying out standard laboratory tests the microstructure was analysed using environmental scanning electron microscopy and a particular bonding was found this bonding was also detected by the geotechnical tests consolidation tests and direct shear tests revealed that the mechanical behaviour of the residual soil changes greatly if the bonding of the soil is broken the bonded structure generally fails when the effective normal stress surpasses the yield strength of the bonding in the case of large volcanic landslides with thicknesses up to several hundred meters the high overburden easily exceeds this yield strength and generates a broken bonding therefore volcanic residual soils such as the one analysed in this study are perfect candidates for the potential failure surfaces of large volcanic landslides referring to the la orotava events we assume that residual soil layers and morphological geological and climatic features reduced the slope stability to critical conditions whereas a strong earthquake associated with a caldera collapse episode may have finally triggered the landslide the results obtained indicate that the residual soils play an important role in affecting the stability of volcano slopes and their destabilising influence significantly favours large scale sliding we suggest that the results obtained from this study can be applied to other locations since volcanic residual soils are common in volcanic areas

gravitational spreading controls rift zones and flank instability on el hierro canary islands ocean island volcanoes frequently develop local rift zones associated with flank movement and flank collapses the ocean island el hierro grew by coalescence and collapse of three volcanic edifices which are an elongated topographic ridge the southern ridge and two semi circular volcanic cones tinor volcano el golfo volcano during edifice growth and volcano coalescence eruption fissures nucleated into rift zones that developed a complex triangle pattern in scaled analogue experiments we could successfully reproduce the geometry of rift zones and unstable flanks as observed on el hierro the experimental results suggest that the rift configuration on el hierro is the result of gravitational volcano spreading over deformable basal substrata rather than of deep seated magma updoming as thought previously this paper elucidates the importance of the basal substratum and gravitational spreading and the relationship to rifting and flank instability on el hierro island and may help in understanding similar volcano architectures elsewhere

fracture model of the upper freeport coal marshall county west virginia pilot ecbmr and co2 sequestration site a model discrete fracture or cleat network was developed for the pennsylvanian upper freeport coal seam at a carbon sequestration pilot site in southeastern marshall co west virginia u s a the model reservoir cleat network was developed using 3d seismic post stack processing and interpretation workflows combined with observations of fracture systems in the surrounding region the upper freeport coal is unminable in this area and served as a test for the feasibility of combined enhanced coalbed methane recovery ecbmr operations with co2 storage in unminable coals well log derived subsurface structure maps were used to calibrate 3d seismic time to depth conversion post stack processing was used to enhance and identify subtle discontinuities in the seismic data that could be related to field scale faults fracture zones or stratigraphic heterogeneity the cleat model was developed using power law fracture length and aperture distributions spatial variations of cleat intensity in the model were controlled using measures of localized structural discontinuity extracted from 3d seismic attribute workflows the cleat model identifies a permeable fracture facies within the reservoir most likely to be impacted by co2 injection and migration areas of concentrated seismic discontinuity bear some spatial association to areas of positive vertical deformation observed in a tiltmeter survey of the site and attributed to co2 injection the model could help focus time lapse processing and interpretation in regions estimated to have higher permeability and porosity and higher probability for change of acoustic properties in response to co2 injection and methane production the approach developed here has general applicability to identification of fracture facies and development of unconventional naturally fractured reservoirs in other lithologies and basins

stress orientations from oil well fractures in alberta and texas many oil wells in alberta exhibit spalling of the walls known as breakouts which elongates the holes with the longer axis aligned northwest southeast this alignment is observed over an area in excess of 4 105 km2 in siltstones sandstones carbonate sediments and one shale formation through the stratigraphic column from devonian to cretaceous it is unrelated to dip of the beds we have elsewhere suggested that these breakouts are produced through stress concentration near the hole walls in a stress field having large unequal horizontal principal stresses and with the larger compression oriented northeast southwest it is probable that this northeast southwest principal stress is 1 this paper adds new data from oil wells in alberta and northern british columbia and shows that the breakouts and by inference the stress orientations are consistent through much of the western canadian sedimentary basin it also uses evidence from hydraulic fracturing in west central alberta and from steam injec

is there a genetic relationship between selected regional joints and contemporary stress within the lithosphere of north america on the appalachian plateau of new york ene striking joints parallel the mid continent contemporary stress field and do not correlate with other structures joints within ohio indiana michigan and west virginia also parallel the mid continent maximum horizontal compression as indicated by hydraulic fracture measurements in northern indiana where the contemporary stress field deviates significantly from the orientation of the mid continent stress the attitude of the joints deviates accordingly in addition to joints structures on several scales from subcontinent size fracture systems to microfabrics in shales apparently parallel the mid continent stress field from this i conclude that these joints are mode i cracks whose orientation corresponds to the contemporary tectonic stress field in itself the formation of these structures constitutes a tectonic event that has often been overlooked in favor of tectonic events that produce the more spectacular but less pervasive faults and folds

relationships among in situ stress fractures and faults and fluid flow monterey formation santa maria basin california we used borehole televiewer bhtv data from four wells within the onshore and offshore santa maria basin california to investigate the relationships among fracture distribution orientation and variation with depth and in situ stress our analysis of stress induced well bore breakouts shows a uniform northeast maximum horizontal stress sh max orientation in each well this direction is consistent with the sh max direction determined from well bore breakouts in other wells in this region the northwest trend of active fold axes and kinematic inversion of nearby earthquake focal plane mechanisms in contrast to the uniformity of the stress field fracture orientation dip and frequency vary considerably from well to well and within each well with depth fractures can be divided into distinct subsets on the basis of fracture frequency and orientation which correlate with changes of lithology and physical properties although factors such as tectonic history diagenesis and structural variations obviously have influenced fracture distribution integration of the in situ stress and fracture data sets indicates that many of the fractures faults and bedding planes are active small scale strike slip and reverse faults in the current northeast trending transpressive stress field in fact we observed local breakout rotations in the wells providing kinematic evidence for recent shear motion along fracture copyright 1997 the american association of petroleum geologists all rights reserved 1manuscript received april 15 1996 revised manuscript received december 27 1996 final acceptance july 15 1997 2department of geophysics stanford university stanford california 94305 2215 we wish to thank tom zalan of the chevron u s a production company for providing the offshore well data unocal corporation for providing the data on the onshore well and marcia mclaren from pacific gas and electric company for providing the earthquake focal mechanisms used in the stress inversion analysis the data used as background seismicity in figure 1 were extracted from the world wide web of the southern california seismic network scsn catalog operated jointly by the seismological laboratory at caltech and the u s geological survey both in pasadena california we appreciate the comments and helpful discussions from daniel moos steve graham and lev vernik

stress induced borehole elongation a comparison between the four arm dipmeter and the borehole televiewer in the auburn geothermal well the nature and origin of borehole elongation recorded by the four arm dipmeter calipers is studied utilizing information obtained from hydraulic fracturing stress measurements and borehole televiewer data taken in a well located in auburn new york a preferred orientation n10 w s10 e 10 and a less prominant e w orientation of borehole elongation was observed on two runs of the dipmeter comparisons of borehole geometry determined using the televiewer and the dipmeter show that both tools give the same orientation of borehole elongtion provided that the zone of elongation is longer than 30 cm comparisons of dipmeter caliper data with orientation of in situ stress and natural fractures obtained from hydrofracturing tests and televiewer data show that the n10 w s10 e borehole elongations 1 are axisymmetric 2 are aligned with the minimum horizontal stress sh and 3 are not associated with natural fractures intersecting the well these elongations are interpreted as stress induced well bore breakouts the e w elongation direction is characterized by an asymmetric borehole cross section in thinly bedded rocks and is not caused by breakouts this asymmetric geometry can be discriminated from breakouts using the oriented electric measurements provided by the dipmeter this study demonstrates that the dipmeter can be used to determine the orientation of sh by mapping breakouts confirming the results of earlier less detailed studies and provides a firm basis for mapping regional stress patterns using existing dipmeter data

volcanic rock mass properties from snowdonia and tenerife implications for volcano edifice strength although volcano instability is increasingly recognized as a societal hazard numerical data on the relevant mechanical properties remain sparse we report new field data on the rock mass properties of volcanic materials from snowdonia north wales uk and tenerife canary islands using rock types that range in composition from phonolite to rhyolite we summarize a method for estimating the overall strength of a volcanic edifice based on the rock mass rating index rmr and the hoek brown criterion we show that the average rock mass compressive cm and cohesive c strengths decrease exponentially with rmr according to cm 0 652 0 0559rmr and c 0 035 0 0669rmr respectively and appear insensitive to both initial magma composition and relative age this exponential relationship provides a new predictive tool for directly estimating rock mass strength from the rmr our analysis further predicts a marked reduction of up to 96 in the rock mass compressive strength relative to the intact rock value based on laboratory tests and that overall the combined results from both study areas yield cohesive strength values from 4 8 to 0 44 mpa estimated values of rock mass angle of friction range from 28 to c 38 recent modifications to the hoek brown criterion in particular the inclusion of the disturbance factor d suggest that even these low values of rock mass strength and cohesion may be optimistic and the true values of rock parameters relevant for accurate predictions of volcano edifice strength may be up to 30 weaker still

the role of salt in fold and thrust belts davis d m and engelder t 1985 the role of salt in fold and thrust belts in n l carter and s uycda editors collision tectonics deformation of continental lithosphere tectonophysics 119 67 88 the style of deformation in thin skinned fold and thrust belts is critically dependent upon the resistance to sliding along the detachment between the mass of deforming sediments and the underlying rocks evaporites can provide an extremely weak horizon within which a basal detachment can form and along which only a relatively small shear traction can be supported fold and thrust belts that form atop a salt layer such as the appalachian plateau the franklin mountains in northwestern canada and the jura of the alps among others share several readily observable characteristics as predicted by a simple mechanical model for fold and thrust belts a detachment in salt permits a thrust belt to have an extremely narrow cross sectional taper in addition predicted orientations of the principal stress axes over a salt dtcollement are consistent with the commonly observed lack of a consistently dominant vergence direction of structures within the thrust belt other common attributes of salt basal thin skinned deformation include the presence of several widely but regularly spaced folds and abrupt changes in deformational style at the edge of the salt basin

upper crustal stresses and vertical stress migration in eastern canada diversified phenomena are contributing to our knowledge of various aspects of the stress field and the origin of the crustal stresses in eastern canada both in situ stress measurements to 2100 m and earthquake fault plane solutions in the upper crust 5 20 km indicate that the maximum horizontal stress is greater than the vertical absence of earthquakes in the lower crust 20 km implies a comparatively lower deviatoric horizontal stress in this layer stress directions as determined from both in situ measurements and earthquake fault plane solutions indicate an overprint confined to the ene octant which correlates with the direction predicted by modeling of plate tectonic stresses thus spreading mid atlantic ridge stress is considered to be one of the important contributors to the stress field in eastern canada viscoelastic relaxation of this stress is considered to enhance the deviatoric stress level in the upper crust while simultaneously reducing that in the lower crust the crust acts as a stress guide within which stresses in the upper crust that are lost through brittle failure i e earthquake stress drop can be replenished from the lower crust moreover the directionality predicted by modeling of spreading mid atlantic ridge stress is maintained incomplete postglacial rebound also contributes to deviatoric compression other possible contributors to the upper crustal stress field are basal drag and membrane stress but the relative contributions from these sources are not properly understood

near surface in situ stress 3 correlation with microcrack fabric within the new hampshire granites we studied the correlation between near surface in situ stress and the preferred orientation of microcracks at two quarries in the milford granite and one quarry in the conway granite new hampshire the orientation of in situ stress was determined by overcoring doorstoppers and from the strike of induced borehole fractures produced by a pressurized packer the preferred orientation of vertical microcracks was determined using ultrasonic measurements to determine p wave velocity vp on core and in situ and from thin section analyses in situ vp anisotropy was determined from interborehole travel time data at all three sites directions of maximum compressive stress 1 and induced borehole fractures are aligned with the preferred orientation of open microcracks determined from core vp and thin section data an analysis of the microcracking sequence within each pluton suggests 1 that the quarry grain resulted from cooling induced thermal stresses and 2 a method of distinguishing the paleostress axes at the time of cooling from contemporary stress

neotectonism along the atlantic passive continental margin a review abstract an extensive body of geologic data including the modern state of stress historical seismicity surface and subsurface stratigraphy numerical models of crustal deformation surficial geomorphic systems and historical precise leveling and tidal gauge records constrain the style and rate of neotectonic deformation for the appalachians and atlantic passive continental margin there are two major styles of neotectonism in the eastern united states the northeastern united states is dominated by isostatic uplift and northward migration of peripheral bulge collapse in response to deglaciation this locally rapid but decreasing rate of deformation is superimposed upon slower long term deformation along the atlantic margin most of the long term continental margin deformation is attributed to lithospheric flexuring in response to sediment loading in sedimentary basins especially the baltimore canyon trough and carolina trough isostatic deformation in response to continental denudation and water loading of the shelf and stress from far field plate tectonic sources significant deformational features include an uplift anomaly near cape fear n c northward and southward tilting of the coastal plain into the salisbury and southeast georgia embayments respectively seaward tilting of the coastal plain piedmont and a complex pattern of postglacial uplift and later subsidence in the northeast estimates of vertical crustal velocities for similar locations vary over several orders of magnitude measurement interval bias and systematic leveling errors may account for some of the discrepancies evidence for periodic deformation in the eastern united states in substantial and it is possible that historic data indicate a period of accelerated deformation along the atlantic continental margin

dykes and structures of the ne rift of tenerife canary islands a record of stabilisation and destabilisation of ocean island rift zones many oceanic island rift zones are associated with lateral sector collapses and several models have been proposed to explain this link the north east rift zone nerz of tenerife island spain offers an opportunity to explore this relationship as three successive collapses are located on both sides of the rift we have carried out a systematic and detailed mapping campaign on the rift zone including analysis of about 400 dykes we recorded dyke morphology thickness composition internal textural features and orientation to provide a catalogue of the characteristics of rift zone dykes dykes were intruded along the rift but also radiate from several nodes along the rift and form en echelon sets along the walls of collapse scars a striking characteristic of the dykes along the collapse scars is that they dip away from rift or embayment axes and are oblique to the collapse walls this dyke pattern is consistent with the lateral spreading of the sectors long before the collapse events the slump sides would create the necessary strike slip movement to promote en echelon dyke patterns the spreading flank would probably involve a basal decollement lateral flank spreading could have been generated by the intense intrusive activity along the rift but sectorial spreading in turn focused intrusive activity and allowed the development of deep intra volcanic intrusive complexes with continued magma supply spreading caused temporary stabilisation of the rift by reducing slopes and relaxing stress however as magmatic intrusion persisted a critical point was reached beyond which further intrusion led to large scale flank failure and sector collapse during the early stages of growth the rift could have been influenced by regional stress strain fields and by pre existing oceanic structures but its later and mature development probably depended largely on the local volcanic and magmatic stress strain fields that are effectively controlled by the rift zone growth the intrusive complex development the flank creep the speed of flank deformation and the associated changes in topography using different approaches a similar rift evolution has been proposed in volcanic oceanic islands elsewhere showing that this model likely reflects a general and widespread process this study however shows that the idea that dykes orient simply parallel to the rift or to the collapse scar walls is too simple instead a dynamic interplay between external factors e g collapse erosion and internal forces e g intrusions is envisaged this model thus provides a geological framework to understand the evolution of the nerz and may help to predict developments in similar oceanic volcanoes elsewhere

orientation of the stress field from breakouts in a crystalline well in a seismic active area abstract the orientation of the regional stress field in the swabian jura was determined from borehole breakouts caused by stress accumulation at the borehole wall the analysis is based on caliper data recorded in the urach 3 geothermal well within an intervall of about 1450 m the azimuths of the breakouts are consistent with depth and indicate a stress direction which is in good agreement with the interpretation of fault plane solutions of nearby earthquakes

thrust fault nucleation due to heterogeneous bedding plane slip evidence from an ohio coal mine abstract shales often form the roof and floor rocks of coal mines in the appalachian basin from a geologic perspective these mines offer outstanding 3d exposures of fresh rocks otherwise only accessible via boreholes or heavily weathered surface outcrops and present an excellent opportunity to directly observe pristine in situ natural fractures in shale in carroll county ohio small thrust faults that predate mining operations are well exposed within the roof rocks and develop near areas where gradients of coal shale contacts are steepest causing ground instability we hypothesize that bedding contact surfaces served as natural displacement discontinuities that perturbed the local stress state resulting in localized thrust fault development using borehole and in mine survey data we digitally constrain bedding contact geometry to model slip along this interface and resolve related stress perturbations our modeling results suggest that inherited non planarity of contact surfaces influenced the nucleation of secondary faults simulation results as constrained by the integrated field and modeling approach taken in this study help us to better understand the relationship between subsurface stress perturbations and the formation of secondary fractures for mining purposes recognizing subsurface stress heterogeneities due to variable bedding geometry within a regional stress field can improve our predictive capabilities of underground structural hazards

repeated debris avalanches on tenerife and genesis of las canadas caldera wall canary islands geologic evidence on tenerife canary islands indicates six successive north directed debris avalanche events including the anaga and teno ca 6 ma events that affected the old basaltic series and the tigaiga 2 3 ma roques de garcia possibly 0 6 0 7 ma orotava ca 0 6 ma and icod 0 15 ma avalanche events that affected the canadas and dorsal volcanic edifices the approximate total volume 1000 km3 inferred for these events can account for the volume of previous estimates of offshore volcanic debris these repeated flank failures can also account for the present morphology of las canadas caldera wall which partly bounds a multiepisodic lateral collapse structure 25 km wide

on the state of stress in new england as determined from earthquake focal mechanisms assuming only that slip occurs in the direction of resolved shear stress on fault planes we have found a wide range of uniform stress tensors each of which is consistent with ten diverse focal mechanisms for recent moderate size earthquakes in new england and vicinity thus it is possible that the variations in focal mechanisms are due to the occurrence of specific pre existing zones of weakness rather than to inhomogeneous stresses acceptable stresses are broadly consistent with those established for other parts of the eastern united states namely northeast or east northeast directed maximum compression and nearly vertical minimum compression

conditions favouring catastrophic landslides on tenerife canary islands catastrophic failures of volcano flanks represent one of the most hazardous geological phenomena these immense mass movements originate either by increasing the destabilizing forces driving forces or by reducing the strength of the materials involved or both the study of large volcanic landslides on tenerife suggests that the presence of weak residual soils palaeosols in combination with the pre existence of deep narrow canyons created by fluvial erosion have played a fundamental role in the initiation of large scale sector collapses of the volcanic edifice regardless of the triggering mechanism considered residual soils strongly reduce the material strength during undrained loading while pre existing canyons control the lateral limits of the landslide the existence of a wet climate in some sectors of the island favours these circumstances

tectonic implications of recent earthquakes near annsville new york a sequence of microearthquakes near annsville new york during january 1980 yielded a composite focal mechanism solution indicating east northeast compression resulting in thrust motion on a north northwest striking fault plane these findings are in agreement with the east northeast trending near horizontal maximum compressive stress field defined for most of the eastern united states an earlier sequence of minor seismicity near annsville during september 1977 resulted in a similar solution as did a sequence at nearby wappingers falls new york in june 1974 other local events however indicate northwest compression and faulting on northeast striking structures notably at mt kisco new york in 1979 due to the prominent northeast trending structural grain of the region and the suggestion of northwest compression from events such as at mt kisco the interpretation of northwest compression resulting in thrust motion on northeast trending faults has been favored for this region to date these recent data from earthquakes near annsville provide cause for questioning the current interpretation and highlight the need for deep in situ stress measurements in this area to help resolve the conflicting data from focal mechanism solutions

coal cleat domains and domain boundaries in the allegheny plateau of west virginia regional face cleats cutting pennsylvanian and permian coal seams in the allegheny plateau of west virginia can be divided into domains separated by boundaries that are sharply defined along most of their lengths domains and domain boundaries are established based on cleat trends number of regional cleat sets and relative chronology of cleat set development regional cleats of each set show a common trend and abutting relationships between multiple sets within a domain describe a progressive history of changing stress fields and cleat development boundaries dividing the in situ directions of horizontal principal stress are coincident with cleat domain boundaries suggesting a common and persistent controlling factor uniform trends of face cleats within domains and ab upt changes in cleat signature across domain boundaries can be spatially related to regional basement structures and a depositional hinge line within the coal bearing and underlying mississippian rocks in addition fold structures in coal and underlying sedimentary rocks across the allegheny plateau commonly terminate or change trend abruptly at joint domain boundaries in some cases regions of common fold trends in coal bearing rocks are contained within specific domains face cleat trends commonly differ from joint trends in rocks immediately bounding coal seams however one domain boundary in coal can be traced into mississippian rocks through the unconformity at the base of the pennsylvanian section in this case mississippian and pennsylvanian joint trends differ it follows tha joint domain boundaries can extend downward through rocks of different lithologies as well as coincide with conformable and unconformable stratigraphic boundaries

stress orientation profile to 3 5 km depth near the san andreas fault at cajon pass california a detailed profile of the orientation of the apparent maximum horizontal compressive stress was constructed over the depth interval 1 75 3 46 km in the cajon pass drill hole located 4 2 km from the san andreas fault in southern california the profile is based on the analysis of stress induced well bore breakouts and consists of 32 616 orientation determinations at a basic sampling interval of 4 cm the azimuth of the apparent maximum horizontal compressive stress around the borehole is 057 s d 19 depth dependent variations in breakout azimuths from a few degrees to as much as 100 occur over depth intervals of several centimeters to hundreds of meters in the borehole with wavelengths showing a self similar distribution over a range of depth intervals the variations in breakout orientation at depth seem to reflect stress fluctuations associated with active faults penetrated by the drill hole assuming linear elastic behavior perturbations in stress magnitude and orientation were computed for predrilling slip on these faults fault stress drops limited to the ambient shear stress i e up to total stress drop along with occasional local extreme stress drops and geometrical complications can explain the variations in breakout orientations in the drill hole the penetrative stress inhomogeneity may suggest that the average orientation of borehole breakouts in cajon pass which indicates left lateral shear on planes parallel to the san andreas fault may not be representative of the state of stress near the fault at depth in this region rather the stress orientation profile indicates the superposition of numerous local stress perturbations on an average stress field which is characterized by an absence of appreciable right lateral shear on planes parallel to the san andreas combining these observations with the highly variable stress state in shallow boreholes in the western mojave desert it is suggested that the heterogeneous stress field in this region representing a spectrum of seismic events may extend over substantial distances across and along the san andreas fault zone if the average measured breakout orientation in cajon pass is representative of the state of stress near the san andreas in this region then substantial left lateral shear stress is resolved on planes parallel to the fault in contradiction to the sense of its long term motion we use an elastic dislocation model to compute the net stress change near the cajon pass drill site since just prior to the large 1812 earthquake taking into account coseismic slip in major earthquakes and aseismic accumulation of slip on the san andreas and san jacinto faults the model suggests that the net change in fault parallel shear stress during the current earthquake cycle in the cajon pass area is nearly negligible the difference between the measured and computed results requires that additional left lateral shear stress be superimposed on a generally fault normal maximum horizontal compressive stress the results suggest that during the great fort tejon earthquake of 1857 left lateral shear stress parallel to the san andreas fault in the region of cajon pass may have played a role in terminating the southeastward extent of the rupture propagation

rifting recurrent landsliding and miocene structural reorganization on nw tenerife canary islands we studied mechanisms of structural destabilization of ocean island flanks by considering the linkage between volcano construction and volcano destruction exemplified by the composite teno shield volcano on tenerife canary islands during growth tenerife episodically experienced giant landslides genetically associated with rifting and preferentially located between two arms of a three armed rift system the deeply eroded late miocene teno massif allows insights into the rifting processes the failure mechanisms and related structures the semicircular geometry of palaeo scarps and fracture systems breccia deposits and the local dike swarm reconfigurations delineate two clear landslide scarp regions following an earlier collapse of the older los gigantes formation to the north the rocks around the scarp became fractured and intruded by dikes substantial lava infill and enduring dike emplacement increased the load on the weak scarp and forced the flank to creep again finally resulting in the collapse of the younger carrizales formation once more the changing stress field caused deformation of the nearby rocks a fracture belt formed around the scarp and dikes intruded into new concentric directions the outline size and direction of the second failed flank of teno very much resembles the first collapse we suggest structural clues concerning mechanisms of recurrent volcano flank failure verifying the concept that volcano flanks that have failed are prone to collapse again with similar dimensions

a new palaeocene genus and species of percopsiform teleostei paracanthopterygii from the paskapoo formation smoky tower alberta a new genus and species of teleostean fish lateopisciculus turrifumosus fossil taxon from the palaeocene paskapoo formation at smoky tower alberta is described this new species is classified in the family percopsidae paracanthopterygii percopsiformes based on the presence of a dorsal process on the maxilla the presence of this fish extends the earliest known age of this family from the eocene amphiplaga and erismatopterus fossil taxa to the late palaeocene the fossil assemblage at the smoky tower locality includes pike esocidae an osteoglossomorph and two salamanders as well as the new species of percopsid the site was likely an oxbow lake or shallow swamp a mass death event is indicated by the multiple species and size and age class distribution of the specimens

island edifice failures and associated tsunami hazards volcanic ocean islands are prone to structural failure of the edifice that result in landslides that can generate destructive tsunamis these island landslides range enormously in size varying from small rock falls to giant sector failures involving tens of cubic kilometers of debris a survey of literature has allowed us to identify twenty three processes that contribute to edifice collapse these have been divided into endogenetic and exogenetic sources of edifice failure endogenetic sources of instability and failure include unstable foundations volcanic intrusions thermal alteration edifice pore pressures unbuttressed structures and buried faults exogenetic sources of instability and failure include collapse of subaerial or submarine deposits endo upwelling karst megaporosity fractures oversteepening overloading sea level change marine erosion weathering including hurricanes glacial response volcanic activity regional uplift or subsidence tectonic seismicity and anthropogenic agents while the endogenetic sources dominate during periods of active volcanism and cone building the exogenetic sources may cause failure at any time tsunamis both small and large are associated with these edifice failures

introduction to the special issue commemorating the 30th anniversary of the royal tyrrell museum of palaeontology with a summary of the museum s early history and its research contributions located just west of drumheller in southern alberta canada the royal tyrrell museum of palaeontology rtmp is nestled among outcrops of the upper cretaceous horseshoe canyon formation exposed along the red deer river valley fig 1 since it officially opened on 25 september 19851 the museum has become one of alberta s must see tourist attractions a significant contributor to the local economy and earned an international reputation for the quality of its palaeontological collections and the research conducted by its scientists the rtmp is unique within canada in being the only government supported museum dedicated to palaeontology and it is one of the few such institutions in the world fig 1 the royal tyrrell museum of palaeontology a front of museum and main entrance circa 2010 looking westwards and with horizontal beds of the upper cretaceous horseshoe canyon formation exposed in the walls of the red deer river valley in the distance b aerial photograph oblique angle and looking to the north northeast the museum sits on top of the number 7 coal seam sensu gibson 1977 and at the base of the horsethief member of the horseshoe canyon formation d a eberth pers comm 2015 that stratigraphic position correlates with an age of about 71 5 ma i e late campanian and lies within the upper part of the edmontosaurus regalis pachyrhinosaurus canadensis dinosaur assemblage zone see eberth et al 2013 fig 6 c the iconic running theropod logo that until recently graced the exterior of the museum below a life sized tyrannosaurid sculpture by brian cooley one of many such sculptures by cooley that have been featured at the museum since its opening in 1985 and with the education wing opened in 2003 as the atco tyrrell learning centre in the background d the cretaceous alberta life sized diorama opened in 2007 an example of a rtmp exhibit that relies heavily on discoveries and interpretations by museum researchers in this case work done in the albertosaurus bonebed and at other localities throughout the horseshoe canyon formation all photographs courtesy of the royal tyrrell museum of palaeontology this special issue of the canadian journal of earth sciences presents a collection of papers commemorating the rtmp s 30th or pearl anniversary our rationale for doing a 30th anniversary volume was two fold first it is an opportunity to showcase the breadth of research conducted by current and former museum scientists as well as by some colleagues having a history of collaboration with the rtmp the 13 invited papers included in this volume are a mix of review and original research papers all thematically focused on the geology and palaeontology of alberta to varying degrees each contribution is the result of work supported by the rtmp and relies on specimens housed in the museum s collections second the 30th anniversary is an opportunity to reflect on the rtmp s history and its research program as is typical for most institutions the rtmp has done little to formally document its own history this year likely will be the last major milestone for which the original generation of museum staff are still working and available to share their recollections about the museum fieldwork and research already deaths and departures have winnowed away part of the original

loading paths to joint propagation during a tectonic cycle an example from the appalachian plateau u s a abstract based on the timing of joint propagation during the history of burial lithification deformation and denudation of clastic rocks within sedimentary basins four types of joints may be distinguished tectonic hydraulic unloading and release tectonic and hydraulic joints form at depth prior to uplift in response to abnormal fluid pressures whereas unloading and release joints form near the surface in response to thermal elastic contraction accompanying erosion and uplift tectonic joints are distinguished from hydraulic joints in that tectonic compaction is a mechanism for achieving abnormal pore pressures leading to the propagation of the former whereas compaction by overburden loading leads to the abnormal pore pressures in the latter case the orientation of unloading joints is controlled by either a residual or contemporary tectonic stress whereas the orientation of release joints is controlled by a rock fabric examples of some of these joints are found within the devonian catskill delta of the appalachian plateau new york during the alleghanian orogeny tectonic joints cross fold joints formed under abnormal pore pressure as indicated by the observation that joints propagated in the siltstones before they developed in shales and by the cross cutting relationships of folds cleavage and joints this sequence is compatible with oil company hydraulic fracture data which show that the least principal stress within sandstone layers is less than that in the intercalated shale layers plumose structures indicate that the joints within siltstones propagated as discontinuous rupture events each of which affected less than a meter of bed length the discontinuous rupturing is compatible with models for natural hydraulic fracturing release joints strike joints post date the alleghanian orogeny as indicated by abutting relationships within the deeper parts of the devonian clastic section unloading joints are orthogonal to the contemporary tectonic stress field

geomechanical parameters of intact rocks and rock masses from the canary islands implications on their flank stability abstract new data on the geomechanical properties of the highly cohesive volcanic rocks of the canary archipelago and their role in the flank stability on oceanic islands are provided in this work on the basis of the textural and petrological features a preliminary classification of rocks grouped into lithotypes was carried out this classification includes vesicular and non vesicular basalts trachybasalts trachytes phonolites welded and non welded ignimbrites strength and strain related features are summarized here for each distinctive lithotype taking into account the results of the uniaxial and triaxial compressive tests the geological strength index of rock masses and their textural structural features an estimate of the rock mass parameters and mohr coulomb fit has been carried out a final discussion on the impact of those geomechanical parameters as factors governing the stability of steep slopes in volcanic islands is then made here as a contribution in volcanic risk

well bore breakouts and in situ stress the detailed cross sectional shape of stress induced well bore breakouts has been studied using specially processed ultrasonic borehole televiewer data we show breakout shapes for a variety of rock types and introduce a simple elastic failure model which explains many features of the observations both the observations and calculations indicate that the breakouts define relatively broad and flat curvilinear surfaces which enlarge the borehole in the direction of minimum horizontal compression this work supports the hypothesis that breakouts result from shear failure of the rock where the compressive stress concentration around the well bore is greatest and that breakouts can be used to determine the orientation of the horizontal principal stresses in situ

growth structure instability and collapse of canarian volcanoes and comparisons with hawaiian volcanoes recent onshore and offshore investigations in the canarian archipelago especially in the western islands of la palma and el hierro have greatly improved the understanding of the genesis and evolution of these islands and allow interesting comparisons with other hotspot induced oceanic island volcanoes especially the hawaiian archipelago genesis induced by hotspot activity and consequently shield and post erosional stages of growth allow the definition of similar main stratigraphic units the canarian and hawaiian volcanoes show common constructional and structural features such as rift zones progressive volcano instability and multiple gravitational collapses however the canaries present some important geological differences from the prototypical hotspot volcanoes of the hawaiian islands particularly the absence of significant subsidence the canarian volcanoes remain emergent until completely mass wasted by gravitational collapses and erosion volcanic formations over 20 million years are observable in outcrop in the canaries including the seamount stages of growth in several of the islands

the present day stress regime of the southwestern part of the aquitaine basin france as indicated by oil well data abstract in the aquitaine basin there is little information available for estimating subsurface in situ stress magnitudes but a small number of oil industry drilling leak off tests suggest that h approaches 80 of v in magnitude horizontal principal stress orientations have been obtained by analysing drill breakout ovalization in 55 wells however there is no clearcut directional homogeneity to the indicated stress trajectories and ovalization commonly parallels well deviation around bordeaux h exhibits a consistent nw se orientation as one approaches the pyrenees the situation becomes less definitive ne sw h orientations are widely present and nw se h orientations also occur high grading the data does not improve the picture significantly this lack of directional homogeneity in areas adjacent to the pyrenees is not completely understood the data points could straddle a sinuous boundary between two stress provinces but this explanation is not favoured alternatively they may indicate that there is some local structural control of stress orientations whatever the cause there are grounds for suspecting that horizontal stress anisotropy is weakly developed in this region today

summary of fossil vertebrate taxa named by richard c fox with an annotated list of taxa named between 1962 and 2012 and new photographs for non mammalian therapsid and mammalian holotypes erected between 1968 and 1994 beginning in 1962 and extending to the present richard c fox and colleagues have named 87 species of fossil vertebrates 1 fish 4 amphibians 2 choristoderes 12 lizards 1 crocodile 1 dinosaur 2 pelycosaurs 2 non mammalian therapsids and 62 mammals and numerous new supraspecific taxa virtually all of these species continue to be accepted although the higher level assignments of several have been altered the vast majority of the named species were founded on specimens collected during the mid 1960s to early 2000s by field parties under fox s direction from the late cretaceous late santonian to late maastrichtian and paleocene of alberta and saskatchewan canada and that are housed at the university of alberta laboratory for vertebrate paleontology here we present i an annotated list of all fossil vertebrate species named by richard fox between 1962 and 2012 ii updated information on the stratigraphic nomenclature and age estimates for the eight localities in alberta that yielded ho

tracking the burial and tectonic history of devonian shale of the appalachian basin by analysis of joint intersection style the most pervasive systematic joints hosted by devonian black shale of the appalachian plateau include east northeast joints and younger northwest striking cross fold joints both sets were driven exclusively by fluid pressure generated as a consequence of hydrocarbon related maturation supplemented by subsequent tectonic compaction during the alleghanian tectonic cycle in the more deeply buried proximal region of the catskill delta joints of both sets cross cut however in stratigraphically equivalent black shale of the distal shallower region of the delta to the west 25 of the joint intersections are crosscutting whereas 75 of the intersections are defined by east northeast joints curving into and abutting cross fold joints east northeast joints in the distal shale propagated early but were neither as long nor as pervasive as similarly oriented joints in the more deeply buried proximal delta deposits however these same joints are much better developed more closely spaced stratigraphically lower in the distal shale succession where essentially all intersections are crosscutting it is likely that relatively high contact stress an effective stress on east northeast joints in the more deeply buried parts of the delta enabled the unimpeded transmission of elastic stress concentration at the tip of cross fold joints across the older joints in the distal delta exhumation of the devonian shale sequence following establishment of the contemporary stress field in middle tertiary time to within 1 km of the earth s surface resulted in renewed propagation of east northeast joints the propagation path of the reactivated joints curved into and terminated against cross fold joints at angles of 60 90 the curving to termination intersection style is a manifestation of crack tip stress field blunting as a consequence of slippage along the interface of cross fold joints enabled by exhumation induced relaxation of contact stress on these latter joints it is noteworthy that the orientation of the densely formed east northeast joints parallel to the maximum horizontal stress direction of the contemporary lithospheric stress field likely imparts a meaningful permeability anisotropy to these hydrocarbon source rocks

reservoir characterization using oil production induced microseismicity clinton county kentucky abstract microseismic monitoring tests were conducted from 1993 to 1995 in the seventy six oil field clinton county kentucky oil is produced from low porosity fractured carbonate rocks at 3 no injection operations were conducted gross changes in production rate correlate with event rate event rate lags changes in production rate by 2 to 3 weeks hypocenters and first motion data have revealed previously undetected low angle thrust faults above and below the currently drained depth intervals production history well logs and drill tests indicate that the seismically active faults or fractures are previously drained intervals that have subsequently recovered to hydrostatic pressure via brine invasion storage capacity computed for one of these drained fractures implies that total oil production represents about 20 of total pore volume correlation of older production intervals and well log porosity anomalies with the seismically active faults indicate that the oil reservoir in the study area is primarily a set of compartmentalized low angle thrust faults although low angle fracture sets have not previously been considered in the exploration and development of the area the mapped thrust faults are consistent with other investigators interpretations of oil associated with secondary fracture sets occurring along deeper seated wrench fault structures stress determined from composite focal mechanisms indicates a near surface

utilization of observations of well bore failure to constrain the orientation and magnitude of crustal stresses application to continental deep sea drilling project and ocean drilling program boreholes

stress orientations from borehole wall fractures with examples from colorado east texas and northern canada azimuthally aligned breakouts in oil wells are explained as shear fractures in the zone of amplified stress difference near the borehole in a stress field having unequal horizontal principal stres

spreading and potential instability of teide volcano tenerife canary islands 1 we analyze the role of low strength materials in the potential structural instability related to volcano spreading at the active teide stratovolcano tenerife canary islands to study the low strength materials we took advantage of a network of large tunnels within the volcano excavated for water supply which allows the in situ inspection and reconstruction of both volcano and substratum structure we identified two factors which are potentially important to teide s instability 1 a dipping low strength substratum breccia layer and 2 a hydrothermally altered weak core inside the volcano despite we do not find clear structural evidence for volcano substratum spreading both teide topographic shape and the summit faulting are features similar to those accepted as examples of volcano flank spreading over a weak core the detected asymmetric deformation of the edifice makes the north flank of teide a strong candidate for a potential failure

geophysical log responses and their correlation with bed to bed stress contrasts in paleozoic rocks appalachian plateau new york a 1 km profile of in situ stress and geophysical log data was acquired in the wilkins well to study the relationship between rock properties and in situ stress contrasts the wilkins well penetrates devonian clastic rocks on the appalachian plateau near the town of south canisteo new york open hole hydraulic fracture stress measurements were made in stratigraphic sequences where geophysical logs indicated significant bed to bed variations in elastic and lithologic properties analysis of stress magnitudes and interval averaged geophysical data shows that principal horizontal stress magnitudes correlate directly with elastic stiffness and inversely with clay content a similar relation is found for older paleozoic strata penetrated by a well at auburn new york correlations between stress magnitude and geophysical properties observed in the wilkins and auburn wells provide strong evidence that bed to bed stress variations arise from a uniform ene wsw directed strain acting on beds of different young s modulus rather than from variations in rock shear strength because of their high young s modulus sandstones siltstones and limestones in the northern appalachian basin are likely to be stronger barriers to hydraulic fracture propagation than shales porosity logs in the wilkins well show that the large decrease in horizontal stress found at the base of the rhine street formation occurs where shales are less compacted the correlation with undercompaction is consistent with a paleo overpressure drainage mechanism as the cause for the stress decrease

aftershock sequences of the 1982 miramichi new brunswick earthquakes the mb 5 7 miramichi new brunswick earthquake of 9 january 1982 was located by comparison to the aftershock distribution in central new brunswick canada at 47 00 n 66 60 w with a focal depth of 7 km and an uncertainty of 3 km on each of the spatial coordinates the main shock was followed by a long and complex aftershock sequence with four events m 4 5 and more than 800 events m 1 0 until 30 june 1982 the aftershocks were studied by three temporary field networks set up in the epicentral areas from 10 to 20 january 2 to 7 april and 17 to 23 june 1982 and by the permanent canadian seismograph networks the aftershock activity was concentrated in a volume approximately 6 km ns 6 km ew 8 km deep and arranged in a north trending conjugate v pattern the miramichi earthquakes were predominatly thrust earthquakes occurring on north trending mid to high angle faults in the upper 8 km of the crust in the presence of an east west compressive horizontal regional stress field detailed field surveys have not yet been able to associate the earthquakes with any known preexisting faults the main shock had a moment of 2 2 0 7 1024 dyne cm and a stress drop of 35 to 70 bars the rupture started at 7 km depth on a plane striking 195 dipping 50 down to the west and propagated up to the east with a rake angle of 120 aftershocks deeper than 3 5 km had composite mechanisms very similar to the main shock s but shallower events took place on more steeply dipping planes up to 78 dip the rupture planes of the main shock and its principal aftershocks may have been similarly curved the magnitude frequency relationship b 0 8 of the aftershocks was comparable to the regional one the aftershock activity decayed as t 0 8 and had the highest rate of activity following the principal aftershock on 11 january that aftershock mb 5 4 appears to have ruptured the east dipping plane conjugate to the main shock s plane two other principal aftershocks mb 5 1 on 9 january and mb 5 0 on 31 march were associated with the main shock rupture plane while the fourth large event mb 4 7 on 16 june occurred 30 km west of the other activity and was seemingly unrelated however all the earthquakes were apparently associated with the same granitic terrain the miramichi earthquakes did not produce any significant surface faulting one small 25 mm surface displacement was found but it was identified as a secondary stress induced movement along a preexisting joint

well bore bottom stress concentration and induced core fractures the orientation spacing and shape of drilling induced disking petal and petal centerline fractures in core commonly are remarkably uniform these fractures result from concentrations of in situ stress by the well bore bottom hole cavity and in oriented core their strikes commonly have been used as indicators of the horizontal principal stress directions however an understanding of how these varied fractures are produced has been limited by the lack of detailed knowledge of the distribution of stresses near the bottom hole in this paper we present our result of studying these stress concentrations using full three dimensional finite element modeling for a variety of applied far field in situ stress conditions and as a function of core stub length in nearly all cases purely tensional concentrated stresses are generated within the core by the compressive in situ stresses the directions and magnitudes of these tensions vary with the applied stress indicating the morphology of many of the observed drilling induced core fractures cupped shape disking fractures result from a state of uniform horizontal biaxial stress these fractures also initiate within the rock at the root of the core stub as the horizontal stresses become more anisotropic the point of fracture initiation shifts to the surface of the core and saddle shaped core disks are possible such fractures strike in the direction of the most compressive in situ horizontal principal stress increasing the magnitude of the overburden stress eventually results in petal and copyright 1997 the american association of petroleum geologists all rights reserved 1manuscript received april 1 1996 revised manuscript received december 2 1996 final acceptance june 19 1997 2institute of geophysics meteorology and space physics department of physics university of alberta edmonton alberta canada e mail yongyi phys ualberta ca doug phys ualberta ca this work is supported in part by nserc lithoprobe supporting science grant nserc and the alberta oil sand technology and research authority d schmitt acknowledges the assistance of the a v humboldt foundation during revisions of this paper constructive reviews and comments of b r kulander j c lorenz and s l dean were greatly appreciated this paper is lithoprobe submission number 882