Transverse Faults. at Kennecott and Their Relation to the Main Fault Systems

FAULTING at Kennecott, with its attendant fracturing, is unusual, complex, and important. As study. and knowledge of the various fault systems have progressed, appreciation of that importance has helped in the selection of proper horizons for exploration and in the avoidance of useless crosscutting and drifting. During the study of this faulting and fracturing, a suggestion concerning the formation of the ore-bearing fissures occurred to me. Further study in the available portions of the approximately 45 miles of workings in the Kennecott mines for the purpose of checking up the the suggestion led to the hypothesis which this paper will attempt to present. Briefly, the hypothesis may be stated as follows: The formation of transverse faults that stop against a main, system is connected with changes in the strike or dip of the main fault, and such cross faults or fractures lie in the moving block of the main fault system and indicate a change in strike or dip of the main fault. It has been found that each kind of change tends to produce definite effects and that careful study of the evidence can often suggest the exact type of change.