Microcrack porosity and in situ stress in Illinois Borehole UPH 3

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Abstract
Differential strain analysis was used to study microcracks in granite core taken from 0.7 to 1.6 km depth from Illinois Deep Hole UPH 3. The majority of the microcracks are believed to have been generated by stress relief upon removal of the core from depth. Volumetric microcrack porosity was found to vary by an order of magnitude. Low values of microcrack porosity were found in highly fractured intervals, where large, open fractures have relaxed a portion of the in situ stress. Plotting microcrack porosity against mean in situ stress reveals a strong positive correlation over a range of 25 MPa. Large, subvertical fractures may locally influence the orientation of stress relief microcracks. The direction of maximum horizontal crack strain was found to be subparallel to the strike of the nearest large fracture in 7 of 8 fine‐grained samples.