A computerized method to estimate friction coefficient from orientation distribution of meso-scale faults

• A computerized method to determine the friction coefficient of faults is proposed.
• A parametric statistical model is applied to the orientation distribution of faults.
• Fluctuations of fluid pressure and differential stress are incorporated in the model.
• Internal friction angle was determined with several degrees of confidence interval.

The friction coefficient controls the brittle strength of the Earth’s crust for deformation recorded by faults. This study proposes a computerized method to determine the friction coefficient of meso-scale faults. The method is based on the analysis of orientation distribution of faults, and the principal stress axes and the stress ratio calculated by a stress tensor inversion technique. The method assumes that faults are activated according to the cohesionless Coulomb’s failure criterion, where the fluctuations of fluid pressure and the magnitude of differential stress are assumed to induce faulting. In this case, the orientation distribution of fault planes is described by a probability density function that is visualized as linear contours on a Mohr diagram. The parametric optimization of the function for an observed fault population yields the friction coefficient. A test using an artificial fault-slip dataset successfully determines the internal friction angle (the arctangent of the friction coefficient) with its confidence interval of several degrees estimated by the bootstrap resampling technique. An application to natural faults cutting a Pleistocene forearc basin fill yields a friction coefficient around 0.7 which is experimentally predicted by the Byerlee’s law.