Rock Stress and Earthquakes Xie (ed.

)
2010 Taylor & Francis Group, London, ISBN 978-0-415-60165-8

3D Mohr diagram to explain reactivation of pre-existing planes

due to changes in applied stresses
S.-S. Xu, A.F. Nieto-Samaniego & S.A. Alaniz-lvarez
Universidad Nacional Autnoma de Mxico, Centro de Geociencias, Quertaro, Qro., Mxico

ABSTRACT: In this work, we analyze the characteristics of three-dimensional Mohr diagram. Based on this
analysis, the conditions of reactivation of pre-existing planes on a Mohr diagram due to changes in applied stress
state are investigated. Our results indicate that: (1) On a three-dimensional Mohr diagram, one point, which is
an intersection of three cycles (arcs) with direction angles 1 , 2 and 3 , indicates a stress state in terms of shear
and normal stresses, which represents four non-parallel planes due to the orthorhombic symmetry of the stress
tensor. This implies that four planes may be reactivated, as long as a point on the diagram is located above the
critical slip line; (2) The reactivated planes that originally had the identical normal and shear stresses can have
two different angles of pitch; (3) If the planes represented by a point on the diagram rotate a magnitude about a
certain axis, some of them could be reactivated, whereas the others could not be reactivated; (4) Reactivation of a
pre-existing plane is dependent on not only change in the maximum differential stress (1 3 ), but also the value
of intermediate stress ( 2 ). No matter what the maximum differential stress increases or decreases or maintains
constant, a pre-existing plane may be reactivated due to changes in any principal stresses. (1) The range of the
dips of the reactivated planes is larger for the smaller values of coefficient of friction and cohesion C. Also, the
range of dip of the reactivated planes increases or decreases as the magnitudes of the principal stresses change.

INTRODUCTION

Two-dimensional Mohr diagram is widely used in

structural geology, seismology, soil mechanics, engineering geology etc (e.g. Sibson 1985, Streit & Hillis
2002). Three-dimensional Mohr diagram is also used
to explain mechanism of faulting and reactivation
of pre-existing fault (e.g. Yin & Ranalli 1992, Jolly
and Sanderson 1997, McKeagney et al. 2004). Triaxial stress state has two general conditions: (a) 1 ,
2 , and 3 have non-zero values; (b) 1 > 2 > 3 ,
and can be tensile or compressive. The measurements of in-situ stress indicate that the crustal stress is
generally in three-dimensional stress state (e.g. Hast
1969, Tsukahara et al. 1996). In this way, mechanical
behavior of crustal rocks should be explained by threedimensional Mohr diagram (e.g. Jaeger & Cook 1979).
Crustal stress state could be considered as the result
of superimposition from some sub-stress tensors. The
main regional sub-stress tensors are lithostatic, pore
fluid, and tectonic stress tensors (e.g. Fleitout 1991,
Tobin & Saffer 2009). Local sub-stress tensors can
be thermal stress tensor, stress tensor due to chemical
changes, etc.The changes of any sub-stress tensors will
alter the stress state. In this way, the pre-existing planes
could be reactivated. In this paper, we will explain this
mechanism of reactivation by using 3D Mohr diagram.

CONSTRUCTION OF A 3D MOHR DIAGRAM

According to Ramsay (1967) and Moeck et al. (2009),

the normal stress () on a plane is expressed by

where ni is direction cosine related to principal stress

ii .
Also, the total stress on the plane is calculated by

where is maximum shear stress.

On the other hand, since ni is a unit vector, we can
have

By resolving these three equations, the following

three results can be obtained

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Figure 1. Construction of a 3D Mohr diagram. Three families of concentric circles are shown at center O12 , O31 , O23
in the 1 2 , 3 1 , and 2 3 planes, respectively. The common region (grey area) of three families of concentric circles
represents the stress state on all planes in three dimensions.

at ( 1 + 3 )/2 by giving the values of n2 equal to

from 1 to 1, or direction angle 2 equal to from 0
to 360 . For these circles, the maximum diameter is
(

1 3 )/2 when n2 = 0, and the minimum diameter is
((1 3 )/2)2 (2 3 )(1 2 ) when n2 = 1.
In the same way, from equation (9) other concentric circles can be drawn on the diagram at a center (0, ( 1 + 2 )/2), given the values of n3 equal
to from 1 to 1. The minimum diameter of these
circles
is ( 1 + 2 )/2, and the maximum diameter is ((1 2 )/2)2 + (3 1 )(3 2 ). In this
way, six typical circles are drawn as shown in Figure 1. The common area for all circles is shown
as grey. This area is enclosed by three circles:

2
2 
2

2 +2 3 + 2 = 2 2 3 , 1 +2 3 + 2 =
2
2
 1 3 2


, and 1 +2 2 + 2 = 1 2 2 . These
2
three circles present the Mohr circles on three principal
planes, respectively.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE REACTIVATED

PLANES ON 3D MOHR DIAGRAM

As shown above, the applied stress on an arbitrary

plane under a stress state is dependent on the orientation of the plane. According to Mohr-Coulomb theory,
for a pre-existing plane, the critical condition to slip is

Equations (4), (5), (6) can also be written as following

forms

These three equations have the form (x a)2 + y2 =

r 2 , which is the formula for a circle centered at x = a,
y = 0. Therefore, equation (7) represents a series of
circles that are centered at (2 + 3 )/2 with the values of n1 varying from 1 to 1 or direction angel
1 equal to from 0 to 360 . The minimum diameter is ( 2
3 )/2, for which n1 = 0. The maximum
diameter is ((2 3 )/2)2 + (1 2 )(1 3 ), for
which n1 = 1. Similarly, from equation (8) we can
obtain a series of concentric circles with a center

where is the magnitude of shear stress and is normal stress on the pre-existing plane; C is the shear
strength on the pre-existing plane when is zero, and
the coefficient of friction on the pre-existing plane.
For this equation, only above half of the Mohr diagram
is used for common analysis. Equation (10) indicates
that on a reactivated plane there is not only shear stress
but also normal stress. On the Mohr diagram, above
the slip envelope, there is stress difference enough to
initiate slip for a range of pre-existing plane orientations. In this region, the states of stress are unstable for
slip. On the other hand, below the slip envelope, slip
will not occur. On the 3D Mohr diagram, four types
of reactivated planes can be distinguished (Fig. 2). On
the first type of planes, the normal stress is compressional as shown by the area with vertical black lines in
Figure 2. On second type of planes, no normal stress

Figure 2. There are four types of reactivated planes according to the normal and stress on the planes. When all principal
stresses are larger than zero, the normal stress on the planes is positive (Fig. 2a). If minimum principal stress is less than zero,
other types of reactivated planes may appear (Fig. 2b, 2c). On one type of planes, only shear stress exists (points on line AB).
On another type of planes, the normal stress is negative (grey area in figures 2b, 2c). Specially, for point G, there is only
extensional stress.

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exists and there is only shear stress. These planes are

expressed by the points on line AB in Figure 2b and
Figure 2c. For the third type of planes, the normal
stress is tensional on them. The grey area represents
this type of planes in Figures 2b, 2c. The forth type of
planes is vertical, whose strike is parallel to the maximum principal stress ( 1 ) and perpendicular to the
minimum principal stress ( 3 ). On these planes, there
is only tensional stress and there is no shear stress. For
example, the planes on G in Figure 2c are this type of
planes.
As commonly known, the function of cosine is periodic, whose value is from 1 to 1. Therefore, for
a certain value of direction cosine (ni ), two direction angles can be obtained in a period. For example,
for n1 = 0.5, two direction angels are 1 = 60 and
1 = 300 or 60 . According to equations (3), only
two values of n1 , n2 , and n3 are independent. In terms
of the theory of permutation and combination, the
planes represented by a point on the diagram are then
equal to 2 2 = 4. The four planes are with direction
angles (1 , 2 , 3 ), (1 , 2 , 3 ), (1 , 2 , 3 ), and
(1 , 2 , 3 ), where 0 i 90 . Specially, in solid
mechanics, the stress on a right octahedron is always
proposed (Pitarresi & Shames 1999). Among eight
planes, there are pairwise symmetric planes related
to origin of coordinates, their direction cosines have
opposite signs. For example, for plane (1 , 2 , 3 ),
its symmetric plane is (1 , 2 , 3 ). The pairwise
symmetric planes are parallel to each other with only
different facings or normal directions. One is downward or face-down normal, and the other is outward
or face-up normal. Based on this feature, if the shear
stress is expressed by the absolute value, a point on
the 3D Mohr diagram with the same resolved stresses
represent 4 independent planes. The normal stress on
octahedral

planes is (1 + 2 + 3 )/3 and the shear
stress is (1 2 )2 + (2 3 )2 + (3 1 )2 /3. The
direction angels are 1 = 2 = 3 = 54 45 , and the
four planes can be (54 45 , 54 45 , 54 45 ), (54 45 ,
54 45 , 54 45 ), (54 45 , 54 45 ,54 45 ), and
(54 45 , 54 45 , 54 45 ).
According to Sibson (1985), for the twodimensional case, the stress condition for reactivation
of a plane with a dip of k to 1 is

where p is pore pressure and is friction coefficient.

This indicates that only two planes represented by a
point on 2D Mohr diagram could be reactivated under
the 2D stress state. This is different from those for the
3D stress state.
The maximum shear stress vector is parallel to the
slickenlines on the fault plane (e.g. Etchecopar et al.
1981). According to Bott (1959), the pitch (R) of a set
of slickenlines can be calculated

Figure 3. Morh diagram explaining the effects of block rotation. In (a), (b), (c), effects of block rotation are shown. The
method of Allmendinger (2002) is used to calculated rotation.
(a) Planes 1 and 2 are two crosscutting planes. The attitude
of plane 1 is 135 /60 SW, and plane 2, 45 /60 SE. Points 1
and 2 are the projections of planes 1 and 2 after rotation. The
axis of rotation is 360 /0 N, and rotation angle is clockwise
30 . After rotation, plane 1 is moved to the point 1 that is
located in the slip area, and plane 2 is moved to point 2, that
is farther from the criterion line = C + than before rotation. (b) The axis of rotation is 90 /0 E, and rotation angle is
30 clockwise. After rotation, two planes are still below and
farther from the critical line of slip. (c) The axis of rotation
is 90 /0 E, and rotation angel is 30 anticlockwise. After
rotation, two planes are located above the critical slip line.

Because the values of n1 , n2 and n3 for a point on the

diagram can be either positive or negative, the value
of tanR may be positive and negative depending on the
signs of n1 , n2 and n3 . Here, the pitch of slip defied
as an angle ranging from 0 to 180 measured from
the strike to the slickenline on the plane. Therefore,
for a given value of tanR, two values of angle can
be obtained. Similarly, by using the minus sign for
value of tanR, we can obtain other two values of angle.
This indicates that the four planes may have two pitch

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Figure 4. Cases of reactivation of pre-existing planes due to changes in the principal stresses during which the maximum
differen-tial stress is not changed. 01 - Original maximum principal stress; 02 - Original intermediate principal stress; 03
Original minimum principal stress; 1 - Original maximum principal stress after change; 2 Original intermediate principal
stress after change; 3 Original minimum principal stress after change. For all cases, P1 > 0, P2 > 0, and P3 > 0.

angles of slikenlines. For example, for tanR = 2, the

pitch can be 63 , 117 . The senses of the slickenlines
can determine that the faults are normal-oblique or
inverse-oblique.

EFFECT OF BLOCK ROTATION

The axes of the Mohr circle have no geographic significance. Therefore, in order to study the effect of block
rotation, the geographic axes are assumed parallel to
the principal stress direction as shown in Figure 3. It
worth pointing out that in practice, the principal axes
are rarely parallel to the geographic north.
Both the strike and dip of a fault could be changed
during block rotation. As a result, the applied stress on
the fault plane will be changed. Here, for simplicity,
only two planes are shown in Figure 3. There are three
results of rotation if two pre-existing planes below the
slip envelope rotate. First, after rotation, one plane is
located above the slip envelope, whereas another is
still located below the slip envelope and farther to it

than before rotation (Fig. 3a). For this scenario, the two
planes do not induce interaction. Second, after rotation,
two planes are still located in the stable region of slip
and farther to the slip envelope than before rotation
(Fig. 3b). In this case, two planes cannot be initiate
slip. Third, after rotation, two planes are located in the
unstable region of slip (Fig. 3c). In this case, the two
planes become to slip and there may be a kinematic
interaction between two planes. These results imply
that if the planes represented by a point on the Mohr
diagram rotate a certain degree, not all of them can be
reactivated.

EFFECT OF CHANGES IN THE APPLIED

PRINCIPAL STRESSES

Crustal stress state could be considered as a combination of sub-stress tensors. The common known
sub-stress tensor is lithostatic stress tensor. If lithostatic stress tensor is superimposed by pore fluid or
tectonic stress tensor or any other local sub-stress

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Figure 5. Cases in which the pre-existing planes are reactivated due to changes in the principal stresses with decrease in the
maximum differential stress. The signs of 01 , 02 , 03 , 1 , 2 , and 03 have the same meaning as in Fig. 4. For all cases,
P1 > 0, P2 > 0, and P3 > 0.

tensors such as thermal stress tensor, stress tensor

due to chemical changes etc., the magnitudes of the
principal stress could be changed. As a result, according to equations (7), (8) and (9) the positions of 3D
Mohr circles can be translated along the axis on
the 3D Mohr diagram. In this way, positions of the
pre-existing planes could be changed and would be
reactivated when they are located above the critical
slip line.
Crustal stresses are quite inhomogeneous. For
example, Tsukahara et al. (1996) obtained that the
fracture zone has small differential stress (1 3 ) in
Ashio, Japan. They show that the differential stress
is large in the earthquake swarm region. But, it is
extremely small at narrow zones adjoining fracture
zones. If one of the three principal stresses is changed,
the differential stress may be altered. On the 3D Mohr
diagram, three trends of maximum differential stress
are studied. The first case is that the maximum differential stress maintains constant when a plane is moved
to the location above the critical slip line (Fig. 4).
Five sub-cases can be distinguished. The important
for these sub-cases is that change in only the intermediate principal stress can produce reactivation of

a plane (Figs. 4b, 4c), and high pore fluid pressure

always cause some plane to be reactivated (Fig. 4d).
The second case is that the maximum differential
stress decreases when a pre-existing plane initiates slip
(Fig. 5). Four sub-cases are distinguished. These cases
could be the results of combinations of high pore fluid
pressure and tectonic stress. For example, the sub-case
in Figure 5c may represent the following combination:
(a) The pore fluid stress is P1 ; (b) The tectonic stress
is tensional and is applied in the plane of 02 03 ,
whose components in the 03 and in 02 is less
than P1 .
The third case is that the maximum differential
stress increases when the stress state of a pre-existing
plane reaches critical slip condition. Only five but
not all the sub-cases are presented in Figure 6. For
example, the condition in Figure 6f is 1 = 01 + p1 ,
2 = 02 + p2 , and 3 = 03 + p3 . This condition can
be further divided into some sub-cases such as
p1 < p2 < p3 , p3 < p2 < p1, p1 < p3 < p2 , etc., where p1 ,
p2, and p3 are large than zero. The superimposed
sub-stress tensors in these cases could be more complicated than those in Figure 5. For example, the static
stress can be changed due to co-seismic dislocations.

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Figure 6. Cases of reactivation of pre-existing planes due to changes in the principal stresses during which the maximum
differential stress increases. The signs of 01 , 02 , 03 , 1 , 2 , and 3 have the same meaning as in Fig. 4. For all cases, P1 > 0,
P2 > 0, and P3 > 0.

These induced changes in static stress on neighboring

faults that may delay, advance, or trigger impending
earthquakes (e.g. King et al. 1994, Muller et al. 2006).
The above cases indicates that reactivation of a
plane is dependent on not only the maximum differential stress, but also the intermediate stress. No
matter how the maximum differential stress changes
(increases or decreases or maintains constant), a
pre-existing plane could be reactivated after certain
changes of magnitudes in principal stresses.

can also influence the range of dips of the reactivated

plane. This effect is shown in Figures 4, 5 and 6.
(1) Case where the maximum differential stress is
constant (Figs. 4b and 4c). The change of intermediate stress causes a little increase in the dips
of the reactivated planes. High pore fluid pressure generally increases the range of the dips of
the reactivated planes (Figs 4d, 4e and 4f).
(2) Case in which the maximum differential stress
decreases. In the sub-case in Figure 5b, the range
of dips of the reactivated planes increases a little.
Whereas in sub-cases in Figures 5c, 5d, 5e and 5f,
the range of dips increases evidently.
(3) Case where the differential stress increases. In any
sub-cases, the range of the dips of the reactivated
planes also increases (Fig. 6).

RANGE OF THE DIPS OF REACTIVATED

PLANES

From the diagram, a range of dips of the reactivated

planes can be evaluated. For simplicity, only the case
in the normal fault regime is analyzed. In the normal
fault regime, the direction angle related to maximum
principal stress is the dip of a reactivated plane. The
dips of reactivated planes are strong affected by the
values of and C. Smaller the values of and C,
lager the range of the dips of reactivated planes (Fig. 7).
Then, if the values of and Care small enough, the dips
can less than 45 , which is consistent with equation
(11). On the other hand, the change of applied stress

In general, the range of the dips of the reactivated

planes is dependent on the values of and C. Also, the
range of dips for the reactivated planes changes with
the principal stresses.

CONCLUSIONS

In this paper, we analyze the characteristics of the reactivated planes on three-dimensional Mohr diagram. We

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REFERENCES

Figure 7. The range of dips (1 ) of the reactivated planes

changes in the normal fault regime due to the changes in the
value of in (a) and the value of C in (b).

obtain following results. (1) On a three-dimensional

Mohr diagram, a point is determined by three Mohr
circles. This point has unique combined values of shear
and normal stresses. In real space, there are four planes
with the same shear and normal stresses if the signs of
stress are ignored. This implies that four planes may be
reactivated, if a point on the diagram is located above
the critical slip line.
(2) The reactivated planes, on which there are the
identical normal and shear stresses, can have two
different pitches of the slickenlines.
In this work, we also analyze changes in stress
state on pre-existing planes on a Mohr diagram due
to change of the applied stress. First, the effect of
block rotation is analyzed. Our results indicate that
if the magnitude of rotation about a certain axis is
the identical for the planes represented by a point on
the diagram, which one will be reactivated depends
on magnitude and direction of the block rotation. On
the other hand, reactivation of a pre-existing plane is
not only dependent on change in the maximum differential stress. Under the constant differential stress,
a pre-existing plane may also be reactivated due
to appropriate changes in the intermediate principal
stresses. Finally, three parameters such as the values of
and C, the magnitudes of the principal stresses influence the range of the dips of the reactivated planes.
High pore fluid pressure commonly increases the range
of dips of the reactivated planes.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
This work was supported by the 049049 and 089867
Conacyt projects of Mexico.

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