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Italian Journal of Geosciences Accepted manuscript

Hydraulic properties of fault zones in porous carbonates, examples
from central and southern Italy

EMANUELE TONDI a, ANDREA RUSTICHELLI a*, ANTONINO CILONA b, FABRIZIO
BALSAMO c, FABRIZIO STORTI c, GIUSEPPE NAPOLI d, FABRIZIO AGOSTA e, PIETRO
RENDA d, MAURIZIO GIORGIONI f

a Scuola di Scienze e Tecnologie, Università di Camerino, Italy
b Department of Geological and Environmental Sciences, Stanford University, USA
c Dipartimento di Fisica e Scienze della Terra "Macedonio Melloni", Università di Parma, Italy
d Dipartimento di Scienze della Terra e del Mare, Università di Palermo, Italy
e Dipartimento di Scienze, Università della Basilicata, Italy
f Shell Italia, E&P, Rome, Italy

*Corresponding author (e-mail: andrea.rustichelli@unicam.it; tel: +39 0737 402619; fax: +39 0737
402644)

ABSTRACT
We present the results of in situ permeability measurements performed, using a portable field
permeameter, on normal and strike-slip fault zones that crosscut high-porosity carbonate
grainstones. The measurement sites expose in the Cretaceous Orfento Formation of the Majella
Mountain (Abruzzo, Italy), and the Lower Pleistocene deposits of the Favignana Island (Sicily,
Italy). Nine small-displacement, compactive shear banding-based fault zones have been tested in the
field. The fault offset ranges between 10 and 200 centimeters.
The acquired permeability data indicate a two orders of magnitude decrease of porosity and
permeability from the host rock to the cataclastic fault cores. A clear dependence of the fluid