Appraisal of fracture sampling methods and a new workflow to characterise heterogeneous fracture networks at outcrop

We develop a workflow for fracture data collection in a region of heterogeneous fractures in a fold and thrust belt, which we believe has applicability to a wide variety of fracture networks in different tectonic settings. We use an augmented circular scanline method, along with areal sampling to collect a range of fracture attribute data, including orientation, length, aperture, spatial distribution and intensity. This augmented circular scanline method more than halves the time taken for data collection, provides accurate, unbiased data that is representative of local fracture network attributes and involves data collection of a wider range of fracture attributes than other sampling techniques alone.