Imagery analysis of fracture domains within a tabular intrusion in Svalbard, Norway
Advisor Information
Harmon Maher
Location
MBSC 201
Presentation Type
Poster
Start Date
6-3-2020 12:30 PM
End Date
6-3-2020 1:45 PM
Abstract
Fractures in rocks are ubiquitous and critical to subsurface fluid flow, landscape development, and rock body strength. Extensive literature explores how fracture patterns caused by crustal stresses in the same area differ from rock unit to rock unit. Less is known when it comes to within-unit fracture domains. Our main goal is to characterize these within-unit fracture domains by using imagery to collect data on their density, preferred directions, and degree of organization. The outcrop locations for this study is central eastern Svalbard. European satellite imagery obtained from Landinfo has an up to fifty centimeters resolution, an order of magnitude better than earlier imagery used before from the Norsk Polar Institute website. Within-unit fracture domains are areas where the fractures pattern differs from the pattern in the surrounding area within the same geological unit. The fractures being studied are in a shallow intrusion of magma that spread across a large area, solidified, and was then exposed in unusually large outcrops due to glacial and shoreline erosion. In order to describe, understand, and possibly classify these domains, we need to first visualize (map) them. This is typically done by hand, or human interpretation of the fracture trace on the outcrop. However, in order to reduce potential operator bias we are exploring the possibilities of computer based fracture trace classification. The difference between the two can then be evaluated. Domains appear to have a mix and match of four regional directions.
Imagery analysis of fracture domains within a tabular intrusion in Svalbard, Norway
MBSC 201
Fractures in rocks are ubiquitous and critical to subsurface fluid flow, landscape development, and rock body strength. Extensive literature explores how fracture patterns caused by crustal stresses in the same area differ from rock unit to rock unit. Less is known when it comes to within-unit fracture domains. Our main goal is to characterize these within-unit fracture domains by using imagery to collect data on their density, preferred directions, and degree of organization. The outcrop locations for this study is central eastern Svalbard. European satellite imagery obtained from Landinfo has an up to fifty centimeters resolution, an order of magnitude better than earlier imagery used before from the Norsk Polar Institute website. Within-unit fracture domains are areas where the fractures pattern differs from the pattern in the surrounding area within the same geological unit. The fractures being studied are in a shallow intrusion of magma that spread across a large area, solidified, and was then exposed in unusually large outcrops due to glacial and shoreline erosion. In order to describe, understand, and possibly classify these domains, we need to first visualize (map) them. This is typically done by hand, or human interpretation of the fracture trace on the outcrop. However, in order to reduce potential operator bias we are exploring the possibilities of computer based fracture trace classification. The difference between the two can then be evaluated. Domains appear to have a mix and match of four regional directions.