Morphological analysis of stylolites for paleostress estimation in limestones

• We develop and test a non-destructive methodology to infer the paleostresses from the morphology of stylolites within borehole cores.
• The assessment of paleostresses from the morphology analysis is made using a recent theoretical model.
• The used theoretical model links the morphological properties of stylolites and the physical processes acting during the stylolite development.
• Analyses on sedimentary stylolites lead to the identification of several groups of stylolites that stopped growing at different stresses.
• A pilot analysis on tectonic stylolites gives stresses superior or equal to the current major horizontal stress.
• Our new methodology shows high potential for further applications to reservoirs or other geological contexts where stylolites are present.

We develop and test a methodology to infer paleostress from the morphology of stylolites within borehole cores. This non-destructive method is based on the analysis of the stylolite trace along the outer cylindrical surface of the cores. It relies on an automatic digitisation of high-resolution photographs and on the spatial Fourier spectrum analysis of the stylolite traces. We test and show, on both synthetic and natural examples, that the information from this outer cylindrical surface is equivalent to the one obtained from the destructive planar sections traditionally used. The assessment of paleostress from the stylolite morphology analysis is made using a recent theoretical model, which links the morphological properties to the physical processes acting during stylolite evolution. This model shows that two scaling regimes are to be expected for the stylolite height power spectrum, separated by a cross-over length that depends on the magnitude of the paleostress during formation. We develop a non linear fit method to automatically extract the cross-over lengths from the digitised stylolite profiles. Results on cores from boreholes drilled in the surroundings of the Andra Underground Research Laboratory located at Bure, France, show that different groups of sedimentary stylolites can be distinguished, and correspond to different estimated vertical paleostress values. For the Oxfordian formation, one group of stylolites indicates a paleostress of around 10 MPa, while another group yields 15 MPa. For the Dogger formation, two stylolites indicate a paleostress of around 10 MPa, while others appear to have stopped growing at paleostresses between 30 and 22 MPa, starting at an erosion phase that initiated in the late Cretaceous and continues today. This method has a high potential for further applications on reservoirs or other geological contexts where stylolites are present.