EVIDENCE OF FAULTING

Ideally reflection event terminate sharply as the point of reflection reaches the
fault plane and resume again in displaced positions on the other side of the fault, the
reflections having sufficiently distinetive character that the portions on opposite sides
of the fault can be recognized and the fault throw determined. In practice, diffraction
usually prolong event so that location of the fault lane is not clearly evident, although
occasionally it is possible to observe sharp terminations.

Sometime the same

reflection can be identified unequivocally on opposite sides of the fault, but in the
majority of cases we can make only tentative correlations.

The two record section in Figure 4.99 join at their north and west ends at right
angles. On the N - S section, the reflection band, which consist of four strong "legs"
(cycles) marked sigma, can be readily correlated across the normal fault, which is
down-thrown to the south by about 65 ms at 1.6 s. At a velocity of 2.300 m/s, this
represents a vertical throw of about 75 m. The event near 2.3 s (marked x) indicates a
throw of about 120 ms. At a velocity of 3.000 m/s, this represent 180 m of throw so
that the fault appears to be growing rapidly with depth. Although the evidence
suggests that the fault is a simple break in the shallow section, at greater depths there
seem to be a fault zone or a subsidiary fault (shown dashed in the figure). If the
deeper correlations across the fault are correct, the downthrown event omega at 3.5 s
is found around 2.9 s on the upthrown side, and assuming a velocity of 3.500 m/s at
this depth, we get a vertical throw of 1.000 m.
The correlation across the fault for the shallow event is based on reflection
character; for the deeper event, it is based on intervals between strong reflections,
systematic growth of throw with depth, and time ties around loops. Sometimes the
displacement of an unconformity or other recognizable feature will indicate the
amount of throw. Often, however, the throw cannot be determined clearly from the
seismic data.
The component of fault - plane di in figure 4.99a is around 53 derajat [using
Eq. (4.56). A fault that is nearly straight on a depth section (a record section whose
vertical scale is linear in depth) is concave upward on a time section (whose vertical
scale is linear in travel time for a vertically traveling wave) because of the increase in
velocity with depth. If the fault surface is actually concave upward (the usual
situation), the curvature will be accentuated on a time section.
The fault has not completely died out by the north end of the line, and hence
the fault should appear on the intersecting line (Fig. 4.99b. As picked on the E-W
section, the fault offsets the event sigma at 1.6 s by only about 30 m, which indicates
that the fault is dying out rapidly toward the east. The fault plane has nearly as much
dip in the E-W section, so the strike of the fault near the intersection of the two lines
in NE and the fault plane dips about 60 derajat to the southeast. The apparent dip on

section is always less than the true dip. Fault indications are not evident below 2.0 s
on the E-W section, so the fault appears to have died out at depth.

Several difraction can be seen along the fault trace in Figure 4.99a between
1.9 and 2.5 s, and changes in the reflection dip are seen on both sides of the fault
trace; these are common evidences of faulting. Another featur that is often observed
(but which is not clearly evident on these section) is distortion of events whose
raypaths passed through the fault plane. The effect is often accompanied by
deterioration in data quality that sometime is so great that reflection may be almost
entirely absent beneath the fault, which causes a shadow zone.

The normal fault in Figure 4.99 is the most common type of fault
encountered; it is associated with extension. The fault in Figure 4.98 is a thrust fault,
which is produced by compression. Figure 4.100 shows three successive thrusts
buried beneath the plain of the Po River. Folding associated with the faulting provides
traps for several oil fields.

Figure 4.100. Seismic profile in Po valley. Thrust faulting from the north produced a series of folds. The budrio thrust appears to
have been relatively quiet in the Middle Pliocene, the Selva thrust quiet since the Late Pliocene, and the thrust only partially seen
at the right active into the Quaternary. (From Piera, 1983). (a) Migrated Seismic

Section

Figure 4.100. (continued). (b) Interpretation of (a)