PRESSURE SOLUTION AND CEMENTATION STIMULATED BY FAULTING IN LIMESTONES

A close relationship exists between fault density and the intensity of pressure solution and cementation. The latter process is responsible for major changes in internal rock texture. A close examination, involving porosity measurements and matrix observations through scanning electron microscope, suggests that a fault, whatever its size, may stimulate the pressure-solution and cementation processes with transformation concentrated close to the fault plane. The observed mass transfer cannot be accounted for by simple percolation, but is considered to result from a mechanical effect in a closed system associated with faulting. © 1990.