Brittle rotational faults and the associated shear heating

Brittle faulting-related shear heating is important in petroleum geosciences, tectonics and seismic studies. Temporal variation of shear heat related temperature rise for rotational and roto-translational faults are investigated in this work. For planar fault planes, devoid of gouge and any secondary faulting, temperature rise is proportional to the coefficient of friction, and rate of (angular) slip. Tectonically realistic physical parameters for rotational faults, especially prolonged faulting, can significantly increase temperature by shear heating at shallow crustal depth, capable of thermal maturity of hydrocarbons.