Preliminary quantitative study of fault reactivation induced by open-pit mining

Research highlights► The increased tensile stresses and the decreased and shear strength of the fault plane caused the occurrence of the fault reactivation. ► The shear displacements on the fault plane decrease with the depth of the fault, ending off downward to the end of the reactivated section. ► Under the assumption of linear elasticity, the ratio of the scarp lengths in any two stages is equal to the squared ratio of the reactivated lengths. ► The preliminary research are verified and discussed based on physical experiments.