Roughness of stylolites: implications of 3D high resolution topography measurements.
Stylolites are natural pressure-dissolution surfaces in sedimentary rocks. We present 3D high resolution measurements at laboratory scales of their complex roughness. The topography is shown to be described by a self-affine scaling invariance. At large scales, the Hurst exponent is zeta(1) approximately 0.5 and very different from that at small scales where zeta(2) approximately 1.2. A crossover length scale at around L(c)=1 mm is well characterized. Measurements are consistent with a Langevin equation that describes the growth of a stylolitic interface as a competition between stabilizing long range elastic interactions at large scales or local surface tension effects at small scales and a destabilizing quenched material disorder.
Schmittbuhl
J
J
Laboratoire de Géologie, UMR CNRS 8538, Ecole Normale Supérieure, 24 rue Lhomond, F-75231 Paris Cédex 05, France.
Renard
F
F
Gratier
J P
JP
Toussaint
R
R
D002119:Calcium Carbonate; D005844:Geology / Q000379:methods*; D021621:Imaging, Three-Dimensional / Q000379:methods*; D015233:Models, Statistical; D010825:Physics / Q000379:methods*
D002119:Calcium Carbonate