TWO AND THREE DIMENSIONAL ANALOGUE MODELLING OF EXTENSIONAL FAULT SYSTEMS WITH APPLICATION TO THE NORTH WEST SHELF, WESTERN AUSTRALIA.

Abstract

The North West Shelf of Western Australia is an area of known extensional control with a number of inbuilt complexities related to variations in direction of extension and the existence of early fracture sets. Analogue modelling in a sandbox of modest construction and proportions can imitate the style of structures imaged by seismic on the North West Shelf. Models were constructed to simulate deformation in a sedimentary sequence above simple listric, ramp/flat and complex 3D detachment surfaces. A new 3D technique has been devised to simulate progressive deformation above complex detachment morphologies. Analysis of the structures produced has been achieved by marrying sequential plan view photographs of the model surface with serial vertical sections of the bulk of the model once the experiment has been completed and the sand stabilised. This technique also has the ability to simulate geometry and kinematics of extensional structures in a complex polyphase area. This 3D technique has proven particularly useful in the understanding of structures developed in regions where the sedimentary sequence has been subject to more than one period of extension, each with different orientations. The models provide the first understanding of the areal distribution of fault patterns and associated subsidiary troughs in areas of complex detachments. These models show the distribution of pre-rift and syn-rift sediments in extensional terranes and are valuable in the prediction of deformation in areas of poor seismic quality and for confirmation of seismic interpretation.