Scaling of fault attributes: A review

The present paper reviews our current understanding of fault dimensions and their scaling laws, with special focus on faults in siliciclastic rocks. The aim is to provide a comprehensive overview of recent research in order to identify strengths and challenges related to the way this topic is being addressed. We here investigate the statistical distributions of different fault attributes, e.g. fault length, displacement, damage zone width, core thickness at different scales and tectonic regimes. Biases related to sampling (resolution effect) and statistical visualization of data are discussed. The interrelationship between different faults attributes is addressed, e.g. fault displacement versus length, and fault core thickness and fault damage zone width. The results of this study show that global statistical relationships for fault attribute populations may not be valid, since the fault attributes at different scales behave differently and the compiled data on fault displacement–length exhibit breaks in the transition between faults at different scales, i.e. from small to medium scale faults at ∼1 m displacement and from medium to large scale faults at ∼1000 m displacement. This may also be the case for fault displacement-core thickness and fault displacement-damage zone width, as slight variation in the relationship can be observed between attribute populations derived from small- and medium-size faults at ∼1 m displacement. These differences may indicate the existence of characteristic length scales in fault populations, which could imply a hierarchical ordering of fault systems. The majority of data in our compiled database show no clear distinction between rocks from different lithologies and tectonic settings. Finally, the mechanical aspects of the processes of faulting with respect to the scaling relationships are discussed. Conceptual diagrams for the evolutionary processes of faulting at different scales based on the observed relationships on the plotted datasets of faults’ main attributes (fault displacement, length, core thickness and damage zone width) are proposed. ► Fault displacement–length relationship shows two breaks at D ∼ 1 m and D ∼ 1000 m. ► Fault displacement–core thickness relationship shows a change at D ∼ 1 m. ► Fault displacement-damage zone width shows a change at D ∼ 1 m.