A review of fault sealing behaviour and its evaluation in siliciclastic rocks

摘要

Faults can be either conduits or retarders for fluid flow. As the presence of faults increases the risks for hydrocarbon exploration, the sealing behaviour of a fault zone has been a focus for geological studies in the past 30 years. Due to the widespread occurrence of fault zones, either in extensional or contractional regimes, knowledge about the fault sealing behaviour is of great importance to a wide spectrum of disciplines in geosciences, for instance, structural geology, geochemistry, petroleum geology, etc. Geologists have extensively studied the sealing properties of a fault zone over the last decades, ranging from fault zone architecture, fault seal types, fault seal processes, fault rock classification, research methods and controlling factors.