Record Details

Title The Influence of Listric Faults on Formation of Fractures in the Coso Geothermal Field
Authors Monastero, Francis C.; Unruh, Jeffrey R.; Richards-Dinger, Keith
Year 2006
Conference Geothermal Resources Council Transactions
Keywords Coso; Fractures, Coso, listric faults, stress refraction
Abstract Formation of listric faults in the Coso geothermal field results from the presence of a shallow brittle-ductile transition. Rotation of strain axes as a consequence of high temperature gradients causes normal faults to change dip from relatively high angles (~60°) to low angles (10° to 20°) over a 4 km depth interval as determined from reflection seismic data and analysis of strain axes from focal mechanisms. This rotation of fault planes implies that fractures should also change orientation similarly with depth, thus influencing production and injection strategies.
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