Deformation bands in the gravel layers of the Eisenstadt-Sopron Basin form as a result of heterogeneous displacement in the surrounding sediment. This is caused by gradients in the deformation intensity, which occur both parallel and perpendicular to a fault. These findings from a project funded by the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) will help scientists to reach a better understanding of both basic geological processes and the formation and structure of oil and water reservoirs. As impressively demonstrated by the Himalayas and Pacific oceanic trenches, tectonic forces can really get things moving. However, even these dramatic geological manifestations move just a few millimetres or centimetres per year. Other phenomena associated with geological forces, known as deformation bands, are also subject to movement on a similar scale. These bands arise in soft porous rocks, such as sandstone. They occur where coarse-grained rocks are displaced by the shear forces of the overlying or underlying rock horizons, or undergo a change in volume. In contrast to what is known as a fault, in which the layer of rock ruptures, in the deformation bands, sediment grains are merely fractured or reorganised. The porosity of the rock and, therefore, its permeability to fluids, changes as a result of this process. Deformation bands thus contribute to the formation and structure of oil or water reservoirs. Attaining a better understanding of their effect on the surrounding rock is the aim of a project being carried out at the Department for Geodynamics and Sedimentology at the University of Vienna.
