Relationships between joint separation and faulting: an initial numerical appraisal

The relationship between secondary jointing and faulting, and major faults was investigated using a regression analysis of average separation of joints and secondary faults versus distance from the closest major fault. The analysis was carried out on 95 granite outcrop localities in Calabria, Southern Italy. The main result of the regression analysis is expressed by: s = 0.013d(0.457) where s is the average apparent separation, and d is the distance from the closest master fault. All values are expressed in meters. The correlation coefficient was r = 0.95, and the probability of the null hypothesis was 0.00. Both data sets range over one order of magnitude, thus the result of the analysis is reliable. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.