Scales of Stress Heterogeneity Near Active Faults in the Santa Barbara Channel, Southern California

Session: Crustal Stress and Strain and Implications for Fault Interaction and Slip
Type: Oral
Date: 4/28/2020
Time: 10:45 AM
Room: 240
Description: 

The Santa Barbara Channel represents the offshore portion of the Ventura Basin in Southern California. Ongoing transpression related to a regional left-step in the San Andreas Fault has led to the formation of E-W trending en-echelon fault systems that accommodate localized shortening across the basin. Recent studies have suggested that faults within the channel could be capable of a multisegment rupture and producing a M_w 7.7–8.1 tsunamigenic earthquake, which would pose a major hazard to nearby populated areas. However, dynamic rupture models producing these results do not account for stress heterogeneity. Constraints on crustal stress is one of the key ingredients needed to produce realistic computer models that allow us to determine the likelihood of a large earthquake rupture occurring and to estimate the ground motions that could result from such rupture. With only sparse information available on the stress field in this region, further borehole-derived stress constraints are essential for obtaining a more comprehensive understanding of the hazards related to the complex fault systems.

We used caliper logs from 19 wells obtained from industry to identify stress-induced borehole breakouts beneath the Holly and Gail oil platforms in the channel. Our newly developed forward modeling technique provides constraints on the orientations and relative magnitudes of the three principal stresses. At Gail, we determine a reverse faulting stress regime (S_Hmax=1.7; S_hmin=1.6; S_V=1.0) and an S_Hmax azimuth of N45°E. Our results are consistent with local structures, which reflect deeper regional scale trends and with similar studies onshore nearby. At Holly, an S_Hmax rotation from ~N36°W to ~N57°E occurs across ~100 m depth in a single well and differs from nearby results, indicating short-length scale (<10 km laterally and <1 km in depth) stress heterogeneity associated with complex changes in fault geometry. This variability in the stress field may lead to a re-evaluation of whether faults are likely to connect up to produce a large earthquake rupture in this region.

Presenting Author: Patricia Persaud

Authors