- journal_title：Geosphere
- Contributor：Patricia Fiore Allwardt ; Nicolas Bellahsen ; David D. Pollard
- Publisher：Geological Society of America
- Date：2007-
- Format：text/html
- Language：en
- Identifier：10.1130/GES00088.1
- journal_abbrev：Geosphere
- issn：1553-040X
- volume：3
- issue：6
- firstpage：408
We investigate the curvature-fracture relationship at Sheep Mountain anticline, Wyoming, by coupling fracture mapping with structural mapping using high-precision global positioning system data. Carrier-phase post-processing techniques of spatial data collected across patches of bedding surfaces result in a high-resolution data set. Differential geometry tools form the basis for curvature analysis, allowing for a quantitative understanding of the shapes of these surfaces. Comparison of principal curvature magnitudes with fracture measurements indicates that greater curvature correlates with greater spherical variance of fracture set orientations. Fracture intensities, however, correlate only loosely with curvature, because fracturing mechanisms other than curvature of bedding must be taken into account.