The finite element program ELFEN is used to study the effect of basement fault dip on the evolution of shear band patterns in unconsolidated sand. The material properties and boundary conditions of the model were chosen to correspond to generic sandbox experiments.

The aim of this study is to improve our knowledge of the processes that lead to clay smear during faulting of a layered sand-clay sequence in an analogue sandbox model. We carefully characterized mechanical properties of the materials used by a series of geotechnical tests. Displacement field was quantified using PIV (Particle Image Velocimetry). The model is water-saturated to allow the deformation of wet clay and sand in one experiment comprising a sand package with a horizontal layer of clay above a predefined rigid basement fault. The thickness and rigidity of the clay layer are the parameters varied in this study. The model shows a range of structures that are related to competence contrast between sand and different clay types. Results show ductile shearing of soft clay with a transition to brittle fracturing of stiff clay accompanied by the formation of rotating clay blocks in the fault zone. Localized deformation is observed through time showing (i) the propagation of one active fault migrating laterally through the sediment package, and (ii) the formation of a stable prism between two or more active faults that gets progressively smaller with minor rotation of the hanging wall fault. Continuous clay smear is observed resulting from the lateral injection of clay as well as from a reworked mixture of sand and clay.

This study focuses on clay smear processes during fault gouge evolution in sand-clay sequences at depths up to 2 km. A clay-rich fault gouge can dramatically lower the fault’s permeability, and prediction of this process is therefore relevant in groundwater modelling and hydrocarbon geology (Fulljames et al. 1997, Yielding et al 1997, van der Zee et al. 2003, 2005). We constructed an ‘underwater’ sand-