IMAGE-D5.02: Final Report on Analogue modelling for fracturing

Magma overpressure at the time of the emplacement at shallow crustal levels may lead to deformation (i.e. forced folding, fracturing and faulting) in the country rocks both at local and regional scale (e.g. Senger et al., 2015). Fracturing during magmatic intrusion is supposed to strongly influence fluid flow and mineralization around magmatic intrusions. 

The concept at the base of our activities in the frame of task 5.2 is that fluids at the supercritical conditions could circulate very close to magma intrusions and, possibly, within the fractures associated with the magma migration and emplacement. Previous studies on magma emplacement and the evolution of caldera/resurgent domes in different tectonic contexts were mainly addressed to the analysis of the system evolution, magma depth, intrusion shape, etc., and rarely on the analysis of the brittle deformation of the overburden (e.g. Galland 2015). To get insights into these processes we resorted to analogue modeling, by reproducing in the laboratory the development of fracture/fault networks associated with the emplacement of magma at shallow crustal levels. 

This deliverable is organized in two different parts: Part I near integrally reports the contents of Preliminary Report on Analogue modelling for fracturing (IMAGE-D5.8), dealing on the analogue materials selection and test. Part II presents the results and discussion of the modeling approach we performed to get insights into the deformation processes associated to magma emplacement.