- 1University of Stavanger, Department of Energy Resources, Stavanger, Norway
- 2Martin Luther University, Halle-Wittenberg, Germany
Boundary element modelling is a well-established numerical method to predict fracture patterns in the subsurface (Comniou and Dundurs, 1975 and others).
We apply this technique to an orthorhombic E-W, N-S normal fault system in the Wisting field, near the Hoop Fault Complex, Barents Sea. The study area has undergone significant Cenozoic uplift and thus the influence of SV has decreased over geological time. The faults are less than 400 m depth below the sea floor present day, and the regional stress field is such that SH is N-S (Gölke and Brudy, 1996). The aim is to explore potential local stress perturbations among intersecting E-W and N-S faults.
At the reservoirs present shallow depth, the reduced influence of SV may have affected sub-seismic fractures around faults such that they may now be critically stressed and by proxy an indicator of permeability.
Given the regional stress orientation, the presumption would be that the most hydraulically conductive faults trend N-S. However, based on our findings and supporting evidence we propose that in fact due to local stress perturbations, E-W faults may be hydraulically conductive despite being in-optimally oriented for reactivation (Sibson, 1990).
Further work will focus on expanding the study area to the east and west of the Wisting field, where the orthorhombic fault systems no longer predominate.
References
Comniou, M., Dundurs, J., 1975. The angular dislocation in a half-space. Journal of Elasticity 5, 203-216. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00126985
Gölke, M., Brudy, M., 1996, Orientation of crustal stresses in the North Sea and Barents Sea inferred from borehole breakouts, Tectonophysics, Volume 266, Issues 1–4, Pages 25-32, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0040-1951(96)00181-3.
Sibson, Richard, H., 1990, Conditions for fault valve behaviour. Geological Society London Special Publications, Volume 54, Pages 15-28, https://doi.org/10.1144/GSL.SP.1990.054.01.02
How to cite: Butcher, J., Jagemann, S., and Cardozo, N.: Local Stress Perturbations Among Intersecting Faults in an Orthorombic Fault System: The Wisting Field, Barents Sea, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-19312, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-19312, 2025.
