The mechanics of intersecting echelon veins and pressure solution seams in limestone

• Echelon veins and pressure solution seams formed simultaneously.
• Vein overlap and pressure solution seam closing cause triangular vein shapes.
• Closing of seams increases echelon vein apertures by at least three times.
• Veins oblique to maximum compressive stress are straighter in stiffer limestone.
• Maximum compressive stress can be inferred from a single array of veins and seams.

Many studies that describe the formation of echelon vein arrays relate the causative stresses implicitly to the deformation, reliant on simple shear kinematics, such that the vein-to-array angle and the array width are the primary physical quantities. In contrast, we identify twelve physical quantities to describe echelon veins in two dimensions, including coeval, vein-intersecting, pressure solution seams. A finite element method is used to reproduce vein shapes in linear elastic and elastic-perfectly plastic model limestone. Model vein geometries are designed using values within the range of geometries measured from echelon veins at Raplee Anticline and Comb Monocline, Utah.Four physical quantities are significant for describing echelon vein shapes: vein spacing, vein-array angle, limestone elastic stiffness, and closing of orthogonal pressure solution seams. Pressure solution seam closing influences the mechanical interaction between adjacent veins, and for a range of conditions, causes a nearly linear vein opening distribution (triangular shapes) and encourages straight vein propagation, both of which approximate field measurements. Model results show that small spacing of veins with seams and large vein-array angles promote straight vein traces in limestone with stiffness typical of laboratory measurements, given the physical geologic conditions inferred from the burial history of the limestone strata.