Abstract We scale properties of fractures in the Late Kimmeridgian carbonate platform of the Arabian Shelf from outcrop and subsurface strata. The platform is flat-lying undeformed except from low-relief anticlines and domes, at which the strata hosts the world's most prolific petroleum reserves. The strata exhibit stylolites and veins, besides the dominant fractures. The fractures are opening-mode, steep, and forming major sets of NW–SE and NE–SW orientations. Faults are uncommon. Fracture abundance varies significantly across the platform, but it is constrained spatially by inherent variation in mechanical stratigraphy and temporally by anticlinal growth and isotope geochemistry. In early burial stages, the platform strata were slightly deformed by bed-parallel stylolites and mutually crosscutting veins. The strata fracturing increased by the anticlinal growth in the Late Cretaceous. Fracture spacing is an average of 2 m in the horizontal-bedded outcrops in Central Arabia and 0.30 m in the equivalent subsurface in a dome in Eastern Arabia. The dome is an end member in the deformation spectrum of the platform interior, with up to c. 5° structural dip and 2% dilational strain expressed in the doming and a few major faults. This finding indicates that carbonate platforms can reach fracture oversaturation under such a subtle tectonic extension.

中文翻译：

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来自露头和地下的巨大碳酸盐平台中裂缝的新比例

摘要 我们从露头和地下地层测量了阿拉伯大陆架晚 Kimmeridgian 碳酸盐台地裂缝的性质。除了低地势背斜和圆顶外，该平台平坦未变形，地层拥有世界上最多产的石油储量。地层除主要裂缝外，还具有针纹和脉。裂缝是张开模式，陡峭，并形成了 NW-SE 和 NE-SW 方向的主要集合。故障并不常见。整个平台的裂缝丰度变化很大，但它在空间上受到机械地层固有变化的限制，在时间上受到背斜生长和同位素地球化学的限制。埋藏早期，台地地层因平行床位的针刺和相互横切的脉而发生轻微变形。晚白垩世背斜生长增加了地层压裂。阿拉伯中部水平层状露头的裂缝间距平均为 2 m，而阿拉伯东部穹顶的等效地下裂缝间距为 0.30 m。穹顶是平台内部变形谱中的一个末端构件，最高可达 c。5° 的构造倾角和 2% 的膨胀应变表现在拱顶和一些主要断层中。这一发现表明，在如此微妙的构造伸展下，碳酸盐岩台地可以达到裂缝过饱和。5° 的构造倾角和 2% 的膨胀应变表现在拱顶和一些主要断层中。这一发现表明，在如此微妙的构造伸展下，碳酸盐岩台地可以达到裂缝过饱和。5° 的构造倾角和 2% 的膨胀应变表现在拱顶和一些主要断层中。这一发现表明，在如此微妙的构造伸展下，碳酸盐岩台地可以达到裂缝过饱和。