Some possible effects of consolidation on growth fault geometry

An analytic solution to the one-dimensional consolidation equation is used to simulate changes in growth fault geometry through time by tracing the evolution of passive markers. The main effect of consolidation is calculated to be a uniform reduction in dip with the addition of very little curvature. Excess pore fluid pressure distributions calculated from the one-dimensional consolidation equation show that there is little variation in the degree of consolidation with depth except for near-surface boundary effects, which agrees with empirical depth-porosity curves from the literature. Although some curvature is added to the markers due to differential consolidation in the short term, the curvature is minor. Furthermore, this curvature disappears as consolidation progresses in the long term. Thus it appears that original geometry contributes more to the listric profile of growth faults than does differential consolidation.