Permeability Development During Fault Growth and Slip in Granite

Abstract

In tight crystalline rocks faults are known to be substantially more hydraulically conductive than the rock matrix. However, most of our knowledge relies on static measurements, or before/after failure data sets. The spatio‐temporal evolution of the permeability field during faulting remains unknown. Here, we determine at which stage of faulting permeability changes most, and the degree of permeability heterogeneity along shear faults. We conducted triaxial deformation experiments in intact Westerly granite, where faulting was stabilized by monitoring acoustic emission rate. At repeated stages during deformation and faulting we paused deformation and imposed macroscopic fluid flow to characterize the overall permeability of the material. The pore pressure distribution was measured along the prospective fault to estimate apparent hydraulic transmissivity, and propagation of the macroscopic shear fault was monitored by locating acoustic emissions. We find that average permeability increases dramatically (by two orders of magnitude) with increasing deformation up to peak stress, where the fault is not yet through‐going. Post‐peak stress, overall permeability increases by a factor of three. However, at this stage we observed local heterogeneities in permeability by up to factors of eight, ascribed to a partially connected fracture network. This heterogeneity decreases with fault completion at residual shear stress. With further slip on the newly formed fault, the average hydraulic transmissivity remains mostly stable. Our results show that permeability enhancement during shear rupture mostly occurs ahead of the rupture tip, and that strongly heterogeneous permeability patterns are generated in the fault cohesive zone due to partial fracture connectivity.