Magmatic intrusions in sedimentary basins exhibit various shapes ranging from thin horizontal sheets (sills) to thick, massive intrusions (laccoliths).
The main difference leading to such diversity appears to result from distinct deformation modes of the overburden rocks: for sills, the overburden dominantly bends whereas for laccoliths, the overburden fails along faults.
The contrasting differences have tremendous implications to the structuring of sedimentary basins, and in particular to fluid flow. The conditions for overburden failure during an intrusion are currently unknown.
In this project, we propose to explore the failure criteria of igneous intrusion’s overburdens using the engineering numerical software Optum G2.
Learning outcomes: (1) use of commercial numerical software, (2) mechanical stability of rock formations, (3) team work.