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Tectonic stress in the Earth's crust: Advances in the World Stress Map project
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Abstract: Tectonic stress is one of the fundamental data sets in Earth sciences comparable with
topography, gravity, heat flow and others. The importance of stress observations for both aca-
demic research (e.g. geodynamics, plate tectonics) and applied sciences (e.g. hydrocarbon pro-
duction, civil engineering) proves the necessity of a project like the World Stress Map for com-
piling and making available stress data on a global scale. The World Stress Map project offers
not only free access to this global database via the Internet, but also continues in its effort to
expand and improve the database, to develop new quality criteria, and to initiate topical research
projects. In this paper we present (a) the new release of the World Stress Map, (b) expanded
quality ranking schemes for borehole breakouts and geological indicators, (c) new stress indi-
cators (drilling-induced fractures, borehole slotter data) and their quality ranking schemes, and
(d) examples for the application of tectonic stress data.
Tectonic stress is felt most extremely during its different types of plate boundaries (Gordon & Stein
release in catastrophic earthquakes, although less 1992). These differences express the laterally and
spectacular tectonic stress is a key safety factor for vertically heterogeneous deformation pattern of the
underground constructions such as tunnels, caverns crust due to its composition, mechanical properties
for gas storage or deposits of nuclear waste and tectonic setting. The comparison of the strain
(Fuchs & Muller 2001). Furthermore, the economic rate field at the surface with earthquake data from
aspect is of increasing importance in hydrocarbon the seismogenic part of the crust will give infor-
recovery. Knowledge of the stress field is used in mation on the depth variation of strain. The
the hydrocarbon industry to foresee stability prob- relationship of strain and stress is of special impor-
lems of boreholes and to optimize reservoir man- tance at active fault zones, where accumulated
agement through tectonic modelling in combi- stress is abruptly released in earthquakes.
nation with correlation with other data sets such as The scale of stress impact ranges from a
3D-structural information, e.g. location and orien- continent-wide scale in order to explain tectonic
tation of faults. processes, to a metre scale at reservoir and con-
Geodetic measurements (e.g. Global Positioning struction sites. The global database World Stress
System, GPS; Very Long Baseline Interferometry, Map (WSM) provides information on the contem-
VLBI; Satellite Laser Ranging, SLR) have become porary tectonic stress in the Earth's crust in a com-
available in increasing numbers and enhanced pact and comprehensive way. The WSM project
quality. They provide surface displacement vectors was initiated as a task force of the International
from which the strain rate field can be deduced. Lithosphere Program under the leadership of M. L.
The combined interpretation of stress and strain Zoback. The database is now maintained and
rate data provides unique challenges for Earth expanded at the Geophysical Institute of Karlsruhe
scientists in a number of fields. In tectonics, plate University as a research project of the Heidelberg
boundary forces confine the kinematics of plate Academy of Sciences and Humanities. The WSM
motion and the dynamics of plate deformation team regards itself as 'brokers' for these fundamen-
resulting, for example, in major differences tal data: data of different types from all over the
between intraplate and plate boundary deformation world are integrated into a compact database fol-
zones. The width of the latter even varies for the lowing standardized procedures for quality assign-
From: NIEUWLAND, D.A. (ed.) New Insights into Structural Interpretation and Modelling. Geological Society, London,
Special Publications, 212, 101-116. 0305-8719/03/$15
© The Geological Society of London 2003.
102 B. SPERNER ET AL.
ment and for data format conversion. The resulting regions, guidelines for data analysis (which until
database is available to all via the Internet now are available for borehole breakouts), and
(http://www.world-stress-map.org) for further much more.
investigations. Numerous stress maps for different regions of
We are indebted to numerous individual the world are available on the Internet as postscript
researchers and working groups all over the world files. As an additional service the program CASMO
for providing data for the database and we are (Create A Stress Map Online) offers the possibility
looking forward to receiving new data for upgrad- to create user-defined stress maps, for example by
ing the database in the near future. For its success- adding topography, plotting only data of a specific
ful continuation the WSM project is dependent on type (e.g. only earthquakes), or plotting data from
further data release from industry and academia. a certain depth range. CASMO is available on
Since the presentation of the WSM project in a request and takes less than two hours for a return
special volume of the Journal of Geophysical of the stress map via e-mail. All stress maps are
Research in 1992 (Vol. 97, no. B8), relevant plotted with GMT provided by Wessel & Smith
changes took place, not only concerning the (1991, 1998; http://www.soest.hawaii.edu/gmt/);
amount of data available in the WSM database, but plate boundaries come from the PLATES project
also regarding new methods for stress investi- (http://www.ig.utexas.edu/researchlprojects/plates/
gations (e.g. drilling-induced fractures, borehole plates.html).
slotter) as well as improved quality criteria for geo-
logical indicators and for borehole breakouts. Here,
we give an overview about the state-of-the-art of The new release of the WSM
the database complemented by an outlook on the
capability of stress data for practical applications The new release of the WSM (Muller et at. 2000;
in industry and academia. Thereby, we concentrate Fig. 1) encompasses 10 920 data records, each with
on the new features of the WSM; for basic infor- up to 56 detail entries. As in the earlier releases
mation about the project we refer readers to the (e.g. Zoback 1992; Muller et at. 1997) most data
Journal of Geophysical Research special volume come from earthquakes (63%; with Harvard Uni-
(as mentioned above). versity being the major 'data contributor'; CMT
solutions;
http://www.seismology.harvard.edu/projects/CMT/)
Database and Internet access
and borehole breakouts (22%; Table 1, Fig. 2).
Information about the tectonic stress field in the About two-third of the data (68%) have a quality
Earth's crust can be obtained from different types of A, B or C and thus can be used for further inves-
of stress indicators, namely earthquake focal mech- tigations (D and E quality data are too unreliable,
anisms, well bore breakouts, hydraulic fracturing but are kept for book-keeping purposes in order to
and overcoring measurements, and young inform future researchers that these data have
(Quaternary) geological indicators like fault-slip already been analysed). New data mainly came
data and volcanic alignments. The reliability and from Europe, Australia and America.
comparability of the data are indicated by a quality The WSM database is designed as a tool to work
ranking from A to E, with A being the highest with stress data. Due to the structure of the data-
quality and E the lowest (for further investigations base the data can be selected according to a number
only the most reliable data with a quality of A, B or of criteria such as type, location, regime, depth, and
C should be used). An overview about the quality so on. Additionally, data from mid-ocean ridges
ranking scheme is given in Zoback (1992) as well which may be directly related to plate boundary
as on the WSM website (http://www.world-stress- processes and which had so far been excluded from
map.org). the WSM database are now included. These data
The WSM website gives a detailed description with less than 2° distance to the next plate bound-
of the database comprising not only data on the ary are marked by 'PBE' (Possible Plate Boundary
orientation of the maximum horizontal com- Event) in the last field of the database (field PBE),
pression (SH), which are usually plotted on the so that they can easily be filtered if necessary.
stress maps, but also information such as the depth
of the measurement, the magnitude, the lithology
and so on. The complete database can be down- New database structure
loaded from the website either as dBase IV or as
an ASCII file. In addition, the website provides A three-letter country code is used for the num-
instructions for stress regime characterization, bering of the data; it is based on ISO 3166 provided
abstracts from the two WSM Euroconferences, by the United Nations (http://www.un.orglDepts/un
interpretations of the stress field in selected sdlmethods/m49alpha.htm). We opted for a new
WORLD STRESS MAP PROJECT 103
180' 210' 240' 270' 300' 330' 30' 60' 90' 120' 150' 180'
60' 60'
30' 30'
I
/
J O'
-30'
Method:
1 ~%~~~hanism
~ ~~~e~~~~"~~C.
~ ~~;~;:~~~
_60· ONF :e:s1m;:Tf 0U -60'
Quality;
,
A -
-
a1Jdeplhs
Fig. 1. The new release of the World Stress Map (WSM 2000). Lines show the orientation of the maximum horizontal
compression (SH); different symbols represent different data types, different symbol sizes characterize different data
qualities; different colours and fillings indicate different stress regimes (red/unfilled, normal faulting (NF); green/half-
filled, strike-slip faulting; (SS); blue/filled, thrust faulting (TF); black, unknown (D)).
country code to eliminate confusion occurring with longer subdivided into different regions, but all get
the old country code. The latter subdivided some the code 'SE'. The three-letter country code is
countries into several (tectonic) units. However, noted in the new field 'ISO' at the very beginning
this subdivision was not done consistently (some of each data record; the field 'SITE' with the old
countries like Mexico were subdivided into numer- numbering remains part of the database to guaran-
ous subunits, while other large countries were not tee the comparability with older releases. To avoid
subdivided) we decided for the option one country the millennium bug (Y2K problem) all fields con-
= one code according to international standards. taining a date, i.e. the fields 'DATE', 'REFI' to
Information about the tectonic unit can be 'REF4', and 'LAST-MOD', were extended by
given/found in the fields 'LOCALITY' or 'COM- two characters and the year is now shown as four-
MENT'. For the same reasons, the oceans are no digit number.
104 B. SPERNER ET AL.
HF, HFG, HFM, HFP (e.g. Sperner et al. 1993; Sperner 1996; Delvaux
GVA BO, BOC, BOT et al. 1997). Nevertheless, some disagreement pre-
GFI, GFM, GFS vails concerning the meaning of the determined
BS orientations, whether they represent strain rate or
DIF stress orientations; for a review see Twiss & Unruh
(1998). We do not intend to interfere with that dis-
cussion or to describe all these methods and the
(a)
related software. Instead we want to provide a use-
FMS, FMA, FMC ful tool for quality ranking.
Quality ranking for fault-slip data has so far been
defined through the following criteria:
E A
14% 6% A quality: inversion of fault-slip data for best fitting
mean deviatoric stress tensor using Quaternary age
o faults (GFI data).
18% C B quality: slip direction on fault plane, based on
44%
(b)
mean fault attitude and multiple observations of the
slip vector; maximum stress at 30° to fault (GFM
data).
Fig. 2. Distribution of the WSM 2000 data with respect C quality: attitude of fault and primary sense of
to (a) data type (see Table I for abbreviations) and (b)
slip known, no actual slip vector (GFS data).
quality (A, best, E, worst quality). Most data come from
earthquakes (63%; FMS, FMA, FMC) and borehole D quality: (a) offset core holes, (b) quarry pop-ups,
breakouts (22%; BO, BOC, BOT). The most frequent or (c) postglacial surface fault offsets.
quality is C due to the fact that most earthquake data are
Harvard CMT solutions which are assigned quality C (for Due to this quality ranking GFI data (inversion of
discussion see Zoback 1992). fault-slip data) are always assigned quality A.
However, the quality of these data is dependent on
several different criteria such as the number of data
New quality ranking schemes and the average misfit between calculated and
During the operation of the WSM database and theoretical slip direction. We use these criteria to
from discussion with other researchers, the original introduce a new quality ranking for GFI data. For
quality ranking schemes have been modified and each of these criteria 'subqualities' ranging from
improved. This is sometimes related to clarity of 'a' to 'e' are defined (Table 2). The overall quality
the quality assignment instructions and sometimes of the analysis is given by its lowest subquality.
to the use of different tools for recording of the
data. Up to now, the modification is complete for Quality criteria for GFI data
three types of stress indicators, geological indi- (a) Number of data. The number of data used for
cators (especially fault-slip data), borehole break- the calculation of the stress axes.
outs, and overcoring data. Others will follow. (b) Percentage of data. The percentage of data
relative to the total number of data measured in an
Expanded quality ranking scheme for outcrop. With more than one event recorded in an
outcrop, the quality will (in most cases) decrease
geological indicators (GFI, GFM, GFS)
reflecting the difficulty to correctly separate the
Many methods for analysing fault-slip data (e.g. data into subsets.
Allmendinger et al. 1989; Angelier 1984) and (c) Confidence number. The reliability of the
numerous computer programs have been developed results of fault-slip analysis is very sensitive to the
The overall quality is defined by the lowest subquality of any of these criteria.
WORLD STRESS MAP PROJECT 105
reliability of slip sense determination. Hardcastle poles and of the mean slip line vectors. This nor-
(1989) introduced four confidence levels (1--4) for malized length is close to 1 for parallel planes or
slip sense determination which are assigned to the parallel lineations and could be used as an
single faults during field measurements. We gave additional quality criterion. But in contrast to the
these confidence levels different weights in the fol- other quality criteria (which are all standard meas-
lowing way: ures in fault-slip analysis) the diversity cannot be
easily obtained from published data. It can only be
1, absolutely certain: 1.00 estimated from the data plots, but for an accurate
2, certain: 0.75 calculation the original data must be available in
3, uncertain: 0.50 digital form. Thus, we gave up our initial intention
4, very uncertain or unknown: 0.25 to include the diversity into the quality ranking, but
we plead for a careful handling of fault-slip data
The 'confidence number' is defined as the average
concerning this problem. Data sets which show a
of these values for all data used in the final analy-
clearly unbalanced fault plane orientation might be
sis. If no confidence levels were assigned during
downgraded by the WSM authorities.
field measurements the overall quality assigned due
In this context the quality ranking of two other
to the 'rest' of the criteria is taken and downgraded
geological indicators, i.e. GFM and GFS data (see
by one class (e.g. from quality B to C).
definition above), has to be critically reviewed.
(d) Fluctuation. The fluctuation is defined as the
Their quality assignment is justified for recently
arithmetic mean between the measured and the
active, large-scaled structures as described by
theoretical slip directions (the theoretical slip direc-
Zoback (1992), i.e. for earthquake fault scarps. But
tion is assumed to be parallel to the direction of
the fact that these data build one data class together
maximum shear stress along the fault plane).
with GFI data (fault-slip inversion; see above),
(e) Type of data. Information from other structures
which are derived from microstructures, brings the
like tension joints can give additional constraints
danger that small-scaled structures are used in the
on the calculated stress tensor. The computer pro-
same way. In this case, the GFM and GFS data are
gram TENSOR written by Delvaux (Delvaux et at.
downgraded to quality C and D, respectively
1997; Delvaux & Sperner 2003) includes these data
(Table 3); the motivation for this is given in the
into the stress analysis by using different weights
following paragraphs.
for the different types of structures:
GFM data are derived from single fault planes
Slickenside 1.00 under the assumption of an angle of 30° between
Tension/compression joint 0.50 maximum compression axes and fault plane (with
Two conjugated planes 0.50 the fault plane pole, the lineation and the com-
Movement plane + tension joint 0.50 pression axis lying in one plane). For newly formed
Shear joint 0.25 faults, e.g. in Quaternary rocks, this assumption
might be reasonable, but for reactivated faults other
The average value for all structures used in the angles are as probable as the usually taken 30° (e.g.
stress analysis gives the 'data-type number' for San Andreas Fault with c. 80°; Zoback et at. 1987).
Table 2. For pure fault-slip data sets this number This uncertainty makes it necessary to downgrade
(1.00) has no relevance. data of this type to quality C, instead of B as in
(f) Diversity of orientation of fault planes and of the old quality ranking scheme. This is additionally
lineations. Fault-slip analysis is based on an equ- justified when taking into account that data from
ation system with four unknowns (Angelier & fault-slip inversion (GFI data) with quality B are
Goguel 1979) due to the search for the orientation based on at least 15 fault-slip data with an average
of the three stress axes and for the stress ratio. Thus misfit angle less than 12°. GFM data do not reach
at least four differently oriented fault planes are this level of accuracy and thus represent a lower
necessary to reveal an unambiguous result. Unbal- quality (i.e. quality C).
anced data sets with fault planes and lineations The next lower level of quality is represented by
with similar orientations will not give clear results GFS data which are derived from fault planes with
for both the orientation of the stress axes and the
stress ratio. Data sets including only two fault Table 3. Additional constraints for the quality ranking of
plane orientations (conjugated fault sets) give bet- GFM and GFS data
ter, but still not optimum restrictions concerning
the stress axes, while the stress ratio is still unde- Data type GFM GFS
fined. Thus, the diversity of the measured data
ensures the non-ambiguity of the calculated result. Large scale (earthquake related) B C
A measure of the diversity is given by the nor- Small scale (microstructures) C D
malized length of the mean vector of the fault plane
106 B. SPERNER ET AL.
unknown slip vector, but with 'primary sense of the hole azimuth and the azimuth of the
slip known' (due to the old quality ranking greater caliper has to exceed 15°.
scheme). Usually this 'primary sense of slip' is
(b) Recommendations for breakout analysis
derived from the offset of planar structures (e.g.
bedding planes). As long as no other planar struc- (1) Use breakout identification criteria (see
ture, oblique to the first one, gives additional infor- above).
mation on the slip direction, no statement about the (2) Use visual control (for caliper data): if the
slip direction can be made. The offset of one- analysis is purely based on the statistics of
dimensional features (e.g. longish fossils) gives an Pad-l azimuth (Fig. 3a), direction A would
unambiguous indication for the slip direction, but
they are rarely found offset in nature. Thus, the
offset along a fault usually does not clearly show A
the slip direction from which to derive the orien-
tation of the principal stress axes. Consequently we
downgraded the quality assignment for this type of Pad-1 azimuth N
data (GFS data) to quality D.
be obtained as breakout azimuth. But, due to of breakouts and the total length of breakouts
cable torque, the tool may stick to one side (Zoback 1992) (Table 4). The overall quality of the
of the breakout and A may be off the true analysis is given by its lowest subquality.
breakout azimuth. Contour plots help to avoid
this source of error (Fig. 3b).
(3) Use circular statistics (e.g. Mardia 1972).
Expanded quality ranking scheme for
(4) Correct the SH azimuth according to magnetic overcoring data (OC)
declination at the time of logging. The previous quality ranking for overconng
(5) Check for key seats: a means to check for key measurements contained some unclear formu-
seat effects is to plot breakout orientation lations (e.g. 'multiple consistent measurements')
with depth including the direction of hole azi- which will be removed. For the sake of consist-
muth (Fig. 4). ency, overcoring data will be treated like borehole
(c) Quality ranking scheme for borehole break- slotter data because they face similar problems in
outs. For borehole breakouts the quality is ulti- quality ranking. (For details see section on Bore-
mately linked to the standard deviation, the number hole slotter data and Table 6.)
New methods
Orientation
Two new types of stress indicators are now
I
\ included in the WSM database: drilling-induced
\ fractures (DIF) and borehole slotter data (BS).
I Breakout Their quality rankings are described in detail
I below.
I ~aZimuth
I
Drilling-induced fractures (D/F)
I
I The availability of high resolution logging tools
I such as FormationMicroScanner (FMS), Forma-
I ~ Hole azimuth tionMicrolmager (FMI) or Borehole Televiewer
I (BHTV) enables the analysis of tensile failure
I phenomena at the borehole wall. In the WSM data-
I base tensile failure from induced hydraulic testing
\ (hydrofrac) is already included. In addition to the
\ stimulated hydrofracs, unintentional tensile failure
\ created during drilling may occur (Fig. 5a). These
\
, drilling-induced fractures (OIF) can be used for
stress determination (Wiprut et al. 1997; Fig. 5b).
I Identification criteria have been proposed, for
\ example by Brody & Zoback (1999) and Ask
\
(1998). We basically follow their criteria with
\
, some minor modifications.
\
\
\
\ Table 4. Quality ranking scheme for borehole breakouts
\
,, (BO, BOC, BOT)
(a) Amplitude
31 161
, ldii!'1
(b)
Failure due to
stress concentration
t
t
Vertical fracture traces
Fig. 5. (a) Borehole televiewer image with vertical fracture traces which are interpreted as drilling-induced fractures.
Colours correspond to the amplitude of the reflected acoustic (ultrasonic) pulse and thus to the reflection coefficient
of the borehole wall (low amplitude = rough, fractured borehole wall such as in breakout intervals). (b) Sketch of a
borehole with drilling-induced fractures parallel to the maximum horizontal compression (SH) and borehole breakouts
perpendicular to SH'
Table 6. Quality ranking scheme for borehole slotter ent to measurements in tunnels or mines since the
(BS) and overeoring (aC) data drillholes for BS and OC data usually are less deep.
In contrast to borehole slotter and overcoring data,
Subquality Number Depth of Standard
the quality ranking for geological fault-slip data
of data measurement deviation
(GFI), drilling-induced fractures (DIF), and bore-
(m) CO) hole breakouts (BO) does not contain such a depth
:::::11 :::::300 :0;12 criterion. For the latter two it is considered to be
a
b :::::8 :::::100 :0;20 unnecessary because these data result from
c :::::5 :::::30 :0;25 measurements in industrial wells at several hun-
d :::::2 :::::10 :0;40 dred metres depth. In addition, the depth condition
e <2 <10 >40 for BOs and DIFs is substituted by the conditions
of total length of BO or DIF data, respectively.
The overall quality is defined by the lowest subquality of GFI data are surface data in terms of measure-
any of these criteria. ments. However, their origin may be from greater,
but unknown, depth. To account for the missing
depth condition in the quality ranking of the GFI
WSM quality ranking. We adapted it to the already data a larger number of data is required. For
existing criteria for similar stress indicators like example, quality A can be obtained with a mini-
overcoring or breakout data. Important criteria are mum of 25 data for GFI measurements, while only
the depth of measurement, the number of data and 11 are needed for BS and OC measurements.
the standard deviation of the principal stress axes
orientation (Table 6). Borehole slotter measure-
ments normally are within the first 30 m of a bore- Application of tectonic stress data
hole, so that topographic effects or stress deflec- Numerous fields of applications exist for tectonic
tions around underground openings might influence stress data. They are not restricted to pure 'academ-
the result. Thus the distance to topographic features ic' research projects, but also include investigations
(e.g. quarry walls) and excavation walls in the case with large economic impact, e.g. in hydrocarbon or
of underground openings is important: the distance geothermal energy production. In the following we
to topographic features must be larger than three give examples for both types of application. For
times the height of the topographic feature and the the 'academic' example we selected the eastern
distance to excavation walls must be larger than Mediterranean region where numerous stress data
two times the excavation radius (Fig. 6). All are available and where geodetic measurements
measurements at smaller distances are assigned (GPS, SLR) provide the possibility to compare
quality E. both data sets. The 'economic' examples deal with
the stability of underground openings and with
Quality assignment and depth of hydrocarbon reservoir management.
measurement
Stress and velocity in the eastern
Weare aware that the quality assignment cannot
be transferred from one method to another.
Mediterranean region
Researchers may argue that the assignment of qual- Tectonic overview The Neogene to recent tectonic
ities A or B to borehole slotter (BS) or overcoring evolution of the eastern Mediterranean region is
(OC) data is restricted to measurements at depths driven by the north-south convergence between the
greater than 100 m, which is in most cases equival- African and Arabian plates, and the Eurasian plate.
Fig. 6. Minimum distance d of stress measurements from (a) topographic features (three times the height of the
topographic feature) and (b) underground openings (two times the excavation radius).
110 B. SPERNER ET AL.
The African plate moves at a velocity of 9 mm a-I western Anatolia normal faulting is the dominant
and the Arabian at 25 mm a-I relative to the Eura- stress regime with SH orientations trending NW to
sian plate (DeMets et at. 1994). An assemblage of NE indicating an approximately north-south exten-
lithospheric blocks trapped in this convergence sion (Fig. 8). In the northern part of central Anato-
zone moves independently between Africa, Arabia lia strike-slip faulting is the prevailing stress regi-
and Eurasia resulting in oblique continental colli- me.
sions and thus in the close vicinity of collision and North-south extension in the northern Aegean
subduction zones (e.g. McKenzie 1972). Subduc- Sea and western Anatolia had been interpreted to
tion occurs beneath the Hellenic Arc, while conti- be the expression of backarc extension due to sub-
nental collision already started in its lateral con- duction zone retreat of the Hellenic Arc (e.g.
tinuations towards the NW (Dinarides) and towards Muller et al. 1992). The fan-shaped arrangement
the east (Cyprean Arc) (Fig. 7). The southwestward of Sh (minimum horizontal stress; S, .L SH) might
retreat of the Hellenic Arc subduction zone causes result from the suction force acting radially out-
backarc extension in the Aegean and enables the ward (i.e. southwest- to southeastward) caused by
westward extrusion of the Anatolian block out of slab rollback as shown in the numerical models of
a zone of continental collision at the eastern end Meijer & Wortel (1996). Strike-slip movements in
of the Anatolian block (e.g. McKenzie 1970; Le this region and in northern central Anatolia are
Pichon & Angelier 1979; Royden 1993). This colli- most probably related to the westward directed lat-
sion is the result of the north-northwestward move- eral extrusion of the Anatolian block with dextral
ment of the Arabian plate which is separated from movements along the North Anatolian fault (Fig.
the African plate by the Dead Sea fault and the 7).
Red Sea rift.
Velocity data (GPS, SLR) Geodetic observations
Stress data The majority of the stress data comes were initiated in the mid-1980s, so that today
from fault-slip analysis (for a compilation see accurate data about the velocity vectors are avail-
Mercier et al. 1987) and from earthquake data (e.g. able for most of the observation sites (e.g. Noomen
Jackson & McKenzie 1988). In the Aegean and et al. 1996; Reilinger et at. 1997; Kaniuth et at.
'"
.- Strike-slip fault
Normal fault
..
D
KF
Deforming and escaping block
(between converging plates I blocks)
Kephalonia Fault
(not to scale)
Fig. 7. Tectonic map of the eastern Mediterranean region. Lateral extrusion of the Anatolian block towards the west
is triggered by continental collision of the Arabian plate with the Eurasian plate in combination with subduction zone
retreat at the Hellenic arc.
WORLD STRESS MAP PROJECT 111
40'
38' 38'
Method:
~ focal m~chanism
/./ overconnq
36'
//jI'../ hydro. fractures 36 0
/:/ geol. indicators
Regime:
ONF ess eTF 0U
Quality:
A --
34' ~ - 34'
all depths
© (2000) World Stress Map
Fig. 8. Velocity and stress data for the eastern Mediterranean region. GPS data come from Reilinger et al. (1997)
and Kaniuth et al. (1999), SLR data from Noomen et al. (1996), and stress data from the World Stress Map database
(MUller et al. 2000). For further explanations of the stress symbols see Figure 1.
1999; Fig. 8). They indicate west-directed move- taken into account when comparing stress and
ments of Anatolia and southwestward movements velocity data.
of the Aegean. The transition zone between both (1) Velocity fields reflect not only strain (i.e.
blocks (western Turkey) is characterized by west- internal deformation), but also translation and
southwestward movements. The influence of plate rotation (some people use the expression 'strain' in
boundary forces and different material properties a wider sense including translation and rotation,
on these movements have been investigated by but in this paper we use it in the more rigorous
finite element modelling. For details and references way which excludes these two processes and is
see Heidbach & Drewes (2003). Other models restricted to distance changes between the points
reconstructing the velocity vectors in the eastern of a body). Thus, first rigid body movements have
Mediterranean assume two individually moving to be removed. For large-scale velocity fields,
rigid lithospheric blocks: (1) the clockwise rotating which have to take into account the curvature of
Aegean block encompassing the southern and cen- the Earth, all rigid plate or block movements are
tral parts of the Aegean and the southern part of rotations around a Euler pole. Accordingly, Rei-
Greece (south of the Gulf of Korinth); and (2) the linger et al. (1997) calculated the internal defor-
counterclockwise rotating Anatolian block which is mation of the eastern Mediterranean from geodetic
bordered by the North and East Anatolian faults data and found that it is small in central Anatolia.
(Fig. 7; e.g. Drewes 1993; Le Pichon et al. 1995). In contrast, the plate and block boundaries are
This approach fits with palaeomagnetic data which characterized by broad deformation zones.
also show opposite rotation senses for both blocks (2) Axes of principal strain rate and stress are
(e.g. Kissel et al. 1987; Kissel & Laj 1988). In con- only in some cases parallel to each other (coaxial
trast Reilinger et al. (1997) modelled their set of deformation, e.g. pure shear); in most cases they
velocity vectors with a single Aegean-Anatolian are oriented obliquely to each other (non-coaxial
block. In general a good agreement exists, but sig- deformation, e.g. simple shear). Additionally, the
nificant discrepancies occur in western Anatolia relationship between stress and strain rate might be
and the southern Aegean. non-linear (e.g. strain hardening or softening).
(3) Stress data are compiled throughout the
Comparison of stress and velocity data For the whole crust while geodetic data exclusively reflect
eastern Mediterranean both types of data are surface movements. Decoupling between different
explained by identical processes (see above). layers might result in different orientations of stress
Nevertheless, there is no straightforward relation axes at different depths (e.g. Brereton & Muller
between them and a number of aspects have to be 1991; Jarosinski 1998). In the eastern Mediter-
112 B. SPERNER ET AL.
ranean SH orientations from the seismogenic upper vation time. This makes a comparison of the results
15 km of the crust are in good agreement with SH of different research groups difficult or even
orientations from the numerous surface data impossible. McClusky et al. (2000) did a compi-
(geological indicators; Fig. 8). In contrast, the lation of GPS data for the eastern Mediterranean
stress regime shows a depth dependence in the cen- which encompasses more observation sites and a
tral and northern Aegean: surface data indicate a longer observation period (1988-1997) compared
normal faulting regime, while data from depths of to earlier compilations by Reilinger et at. (1997).
more than 5 km show strike-slip faulting. The The differing results of these two compilations led
change from normal faulting to strike-slip faulting to different interpretations of the block movements
regime is in contradiction to the regime changes in this region. Reilinger et at. (1997) 'saw' only
observed elsewhere with depth which are caused one block, the Anatolian-Aegean block, while
by increasing overburden and thus are charac- McClusky et at. (2000) 'needed' two blocks, the
terized by a change from strike-slip or thrust fault- Anatolian and the Aegean blocks, to explain the
ing to normal faulting. One explanation could be a velocity vectors (see above).
gravitational collapse of the thicker crust with its
higher topography in the northernmost part of the Conclusions This list of 'complications' as well as
Aegean towards the central Aegean with its thinner the data from the eastern Mediterranean region
crust and its lower topography. In this case a indicate that much more extra work is necessary to
decoupling of the southward sliding uppermost understand the relationship between stress, strain
crust from the underlying rocks would be neces- and velocity, and how these parameters depend on
sary. changes in plate tectonic processes and material
(4) Both data types represent different time per- properties (e.g. change of viscosity due to
iods. While geodetic data reflect movements during enhanced heat flow) as well as on local influences
the last decade or even shorter periods, stress data by seismic activity. On a global scale the ILP pro-
come from several decades (earthquake data) or ject 'Global Strain Rate Map' under the guidance
even from several tens to hundreds of thousands of W. Holt (SUNY Stony Brook) and J. Haines
of years (geological indicators which come from (Cambridge University) and the WSM are pre-
Quaternary rocks). Deformation of the Earth's requisites for this kind of study.
crust takes place in a non-continuous way, implied,
for example, by the locally observed clustering of
Stability of underground openings
earthquakes through time (a seismically active per-
iod is followed by an inactive period) or by pro- Any underground construction causes severe modi-
gressive failure along a fault (Stein et al. 1997). fications of the initial in situ rock stress at the
The seismic cycle of strong earthquakes can be as location of the site: artificial openings create fresh
long as several hundreds of years (Jackson et at. surfaces which modify the boundary conditions at
1988). For the eastern Mediterranean region the the location of the walls (mostly zero surface
majority of the stress data comes from earthquakes stress). This leads to a spatial distortion of the
and geological indicators thus reflecting a much stress pattern with stress accumulations around the
longer time period than the geodetic measurements opening. The stress redistribution for circular holes
in Figure 8 which cover the period 1988-1994 in an anisotropically stressed rock is classically
(Reilinger et at. 1997). Nevertheless, McClusky et described by the Kirsch equations (Kirsch 1898).
at. (2000) found that the geodetic data for the Stress redistribution around tunnels and shafts has
North and East Anatolian faults are in agreement been treated analytically as well as numerically for
with slip rates for the last 4-5 Ma revealed from more complicated designs (numerous examples are
geological data. However, the data of McClusky et summarized in Amadei & Stephansson 1997).
al. (2000) do not include observations after the Since rock is less stable in tension, tensile stress
Izmit earthquake in August 1999. Earthquakes concentrations may open pre-existing fractures or
have a strong effect on the velocity field even at even fracture the rock, thus increase the weathering
distances of hundreds of kilometres or more and leading to further instability. Compressive
depending on the magnitude of the event. For the stresses in the vicinity of underground openings
M; = 8.0 earthquake near Antofagasta (north can result in different kinds of rock failure, e.g.
Chile) Klotz et at. (1999) observed a coseismic slip rock bursts or side-wall spalling. In boreholes the
of 10 ern at a distance of 300 km. stress-induced compressive failure is called bore-
(5) The processing of geodetic data has not yet hole breakout (Fig. 5b).
been standardized. Thus, the results depend on the The stability of construction sites does not
choice of the reference system and of the models depend only on the rock type but also on the orien-
included into the processing. Other critical factors tation and magnitude of the tectonic stress in com-
are the number of observation sites and the obser- bination with the design and orientation of the
WORLD STRESS MAP PROJECT 113
Fig. 9. Stability of underground openings due to their orientation relative to the principal stress axes. In all three
stress regimes, openings parallel to the intermediate stress axis (green arrows; SH in normal faulting, Sv in strike-slip
faulting, and S, in thrust faulting regime) are most endangered for rock failure with the failure occurring in the
direction of the minimum stress axes (blue arrows; S, in normal and strike-slip faulting, Sv in thrust faulting regime).
Discs show stress concentrations (yellow to red colours) around the borehole.
underground opening. In normal faulting regimes, lems in roofs and floors occur for areas of high
boreholes (shafts and mines) are most likely to fail horizontal stress. Under strike-slip conditions verti-
under compression sideways when they are drilled cal boreholes and shafts are most endangered for
parallel to the SH direction (Fig. 9). This is in failure because they experience high stress concen-
agreement with the observation that in places trations in the direction parallel to Sh'
where vertical stresses are high, problems in the
sidewalls of mines occur. Especially in areas with
high topography and steep valley slope (for
Hydrocarbon reservoir management
example Norwegian fjords) the tunnels that parallel In the future, the discovery of new gigantic hydro-
the valley (parallel to SH) show rockbursts in the carbon reservoirs will be rare, thus companies will
tunnel wall (Amadei & Stephans son 1997). In focus on the optimization of the production of
thrust faulting regimes boreholes fail at the top and existing fields. This covers exploitation of smaller
bottom if drilled parallel to Sh' Again this is in reservoirs or marginal fields and activities in the
agreement with mining observations where prob- deeper offshore areas. Tectonic stress in combi-
114 B. SPERNER ET AL.
nation with the actual fracture network controls the space. Both together form the effective per-
fluid flow anisotropy and thus the drainage pattern meability (e.g. Connolly & Cosgrove 1999). In
within the reservoir. Numerous examples of a particular, oil or gas recoveries from reservoirs
strong correlation between the preferential direc- with low intrinsic permeabilities require wide-
tion of fluid flow in a reservoir and the orientation spread networks of interconnected fractures
of SH are described by Heffer & Dowokpor (1990), (Lorenz et at. 1988; Hickman & Dunham 1992).
Heffer & Koutsabeloulis (1995), and Heffer et at. Oil recovery is enhanced by the creation of new
(1995). Thus, knowledge about the orientation of (artificial) fractures (pathways). A fracture
SH can be used for an optimized arrangement of develops away from the borehole by pumping
the production wells (Fig. 10). water or gels into the target area. It propagates per-
One distinguishes the fracture-induced per- pendicularly to the least principal stress. Thus,
meability from the intrinsic permeability of the advance knowledge of the stress orientations
rock which is connected with the available pore enables prediction of the orientations of stimulation
fractures and thus enhances the economic success
of field activities.
Stress
Orientation Outlook
,/ The WSM is designed as a secure repository of
stress data from academic research and economic
S('Sh investigations, and as a tool to work with the data.
It has a long-term perspective (continuation until
at least 2008) and thus enables oil companies, for
I
I example, to come back to hydrocarbon fields which
\
, had been considered as uneconomic earlier. The
' .................. data are readily available via the Internet so that
............... time-consuming searching in archives can be avo-
ided. Additionally, with CASMO we provide a
user-friendly tool for the creation of stress maps.
12 wells drain The growth of the database by c. 20% compared
65% of the reservoir (a) with the 1997 release (1997: 9147 data sets, 2000:
10 920 data sets) justifies the hope that the data
coverage on a global scale will further improve
during the next few years, so that some of the large
[,,, Hydrocarbon
data gaps can be closed.
\ " ' /reservoir
Stress observations are fundamental Earth
'- ' Drainage area science data which are used to relate global
'- around a well dynamic modelling of lithospheric stresses with
\
The World Stress Map project is financed by the Heidel- region, Central Asia, Part 2, Cenozoic rifting. Tectono-
berg Academy of Sciences and Humanities. We thank A. physics, 282, 1-38.
Becker and D. Nieuwland for their helpful and construc- DEMETS, C., GORDON, R. G., ARGUS, D. F. & STEIN,
tive reviews. S. 1994. Effect of recent revisions to the geomagnetic
reversal time scale on estimates of current plate
motions. Geophysical Research Letters, 21, 2191-
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