The influence of rock heterogeneity on the scaling properties of simulated 3 and natural stylolites 4 5 6

Manuscript Click here to view linked References Abstract 22 23 Stylolites are among the most prominent deformation patterns in sedimentary rocks that 24 document localized pressure solution. Recent studies revealed that stylolite roughness is 25 characterized by two distinct scaling regimes. The main goal of the present study is to 26 decipher whether this complex scaling behavior of stylolites is caused by the composition of 27 the host rock, i.e. heterogeneities in the material, or is governed by inherent processes on 28 respective scales, namely the transition from a surface energy to an elastic energy dominated 29 regime, as theoretically predicted. For this purpose we have developed a discrete numerical 30 technique, based on a lattice spring model, to simulate the competition between stress, strain, 31 and dissolution during stylolite roughening. We varied systematically the quenched noise, 32 initially present in the material, which controls the roughening. We also changed the size, 33 amount, and dissolution rate of the heterogeneities introduced in our model and evaluated the 34 influence on the scaling exponents. Our findings demonstrate that the roughness and growth 35 exponents are independent of the exact nature of the heterogeneities. We discovered two 36 coinciding crossover phenomena in space and time that separate length and timescales for 37 which the roughening process is either balanced by surface and elastic energies. Our 38 observations are coherent with analytical predictions and with investigations quantifying 39 precisely the scaling laws in the morphology of natural stylolites. The findings presented here 40 can further be used to refine volume loss estimates from the finite strain pattern of stylolites. 41 42