Modeling fault systems has been an interest of structural geologists because it allows the determination of how faults evolve, and predicts their behavior so that geohazards can be more accurately predicted and the resulting damages can be minimized. Damage zones, envelopes of fractures that surround the faults, are a considerable portion of a fault system, and thus are something that has been studied and is currently being studied greatly. The fracturing within damage zones increases permeability within a rock, which allows for greater groundwater flow rates, hydrocarbon migration, ore mineralization, and geothermal energy production potential.

This study was conducted through the Keck Geology Consortium at Trinity University and Beloit College and aims to determine the relationship between structural position along a fault and fracture intensity. The study area is in the Sevier fault zone in southwestern Utah, in the transition zone in between the Basin and Range Province and the Colorado Plateau. Here, several normal faults are very well exposed, so the system can be studied extensively. My research specifically focuses on the tip of the Spencer Bench segment. I recorded fracture orientations and spacings along ground-based scanlines in the field, and used these to calculate fracture intensity and determine the clustering of fractures. Drone footage was also taken while in the field, and used to create realistic virtual models of outcrops, which can be used to get fracture spacings and perform fracture analysis.

Preliminary results show that the fracture intensity of the hanging wall damage zone of the tip zone was twice as intense as the footwall damage zone, four times as intense as the transfer zone fracturing between faults, and fractures within the hanging wall and transfer zone were much more clustered together than the fractures within the footwall damage zone. However, the fracture intensity was very similar to that of an area of a fault with much higher displacement, meaning that the majority of the damage that occurs during fault propagation occurs as it begins to grow. This supports the argument that the majority of damage zone width occurs before the majority of lengthening of the fault occurs, rather than occurring alongside propagation.