PERMEABILITY STRUCTURES OF FAULT ZONES CROSSCUTTING TIGHT CRETACEOUS PLATFORM CARBONATES (VAL D’AGRI, SOUTHERN ITALY)

The high-angle faults system that affects the Appeninic platform carbonates cropping out in the Val d’Agri area is composed of a main WNW oriented left-lateral strike-slip fault and several associated secondary faults: N020°±N030° trending right-lateral/transtensional, N090°±N110° trending left-lateral transtensional and N130°±N150° trending left-lateral transpressional. Even if these faults are characterized by different dimensional parameters (i.e. length and displacement) and architecture (i.e. fault core and damage zone thickness), qualitative classifications relative to the hydraulic properties of fault zones suggest that both faults (strike-slip and normal) could act as conduits for subsurface fluid flow. In this paper, with the aim of compute the relative permeability between the host-rock and fault zones as well as to evaluate the hydraulic properties of both strike-slip and normal faults, a Discrete Fracture Network (DFN) model, was constructed using the software MOVE.. The DFN model of the rock mass including two fault zones and the host-rock proves that the total permeability is higher for the fault zones and between the faults is higher for the normal fault. Directional variations of the permeability are also shown and relate on the preferential orientation of the fractures together with theirinterconnectivity and length