Craig Magee 

Intruding magma can create space by uplift and elastic bending of the overburden, which locally fractures the deforming volume and produces dome-like forced folds. Due to their geometry and fracture network, such intrusion-induced forced folds make ideal fluid traps. As these forced folds are common in many volcanic settings and sedimentary basins, they present exploration targets for water, magmatic-related mineral and metal deposits, and CO2 storage. Here, I map fracture networks and quantify their geometry and connectivity across a range of natural and modelled intrusion-induced forced folds. I show that there is a strong relationship between forced fold length and amplitude, and all fracture networks comprise traces with variable lengths and orientations, and are more intense and denser where fold curvature is greatest. Fracture length populations are typically best described by power-law distributions, but some fit better to log-normal or exponential distributions. Connectivity of fracture networks is low and generally increases with folding, but resurfacing by eruptive products can disrupt this trend. My work supports previous analyses of forced folds and fractures, suggesting that their geometries may not be diagnostic of the fold driver. We can thus use exposed forced folds to help predict fracture characteristics of buried forced folds.