Natural fractures have long been suspected as a factor in production from shale reservoirs
because gas and oil production commonly exceeds the rates expected from low-porosity …

Mechanical stratigraphy encompasses the mechanical properties, thicknesses, and interface
properties of rock units. Although mechanical stratigraphy often relates directly to …

The failure behavior of geological materials depends heavily on confining pressure and
strain rate. Under a relatively low confining pressure, these materials tend to fail by brittle …

Mesoscale deformation in fold-thrust belts and foreland areas occurs during the interaction
of evolving stress regimes and mechanical stratigraphy, leading to a progressive …

Fine-grained low permeability sedimentary rocks, such as shale and mudrock, have drawn
attention as unconventional hydrocarbon reservoirs. Fracturing–both natural and induced–is …

Outcrops of the middle Eagle Ford Formation in south-central Texas reveal well-developed
joint networks in subhorizontal competent carbonate (chalk) beds and less well developed …

The increasing exploration and production in unconventional resource plays in the past
decade has been accompanied by a greater need for understanding the effectiveness of …

Faults have complicated shapes. Non-planarity of faults can be caused by variations in
failure modes, which in turn are dictated by mechanical stratigraphy interacting with the …

Hybrid tension-shear fracture of rock usually occurs in underground openings, rock slopes,
transtension faults, and en echelon cracks. To investigate the tension-shear strength and the …

Failure of brittle rocks under axisymmetric extensional loading, when the minimum principal
stress is tensile, results in the formation of one or more opening-mode cracks that are …