GIS-based analysis of fault patterns in urban areas: A case study of Irkutsk city, Russia

The capabilities of GIS in modeling fault patterns are explored for Irkutsk city in East Siberia with implications for ground stability. The neotectonic structure of the area is visualized in three dimension (3D) taking into account fault dips, using the ArcGIS, GlobalMapper and Paradigm Geophysical packages. The study area is divided into blocks of different size classes according to the length-based ranks of the bounding faults, which are of five classes distinguished with the equal interval method. The blocks show different deformation patterns, with different densities and strikes of crossing and bounding faults. The data are statistically processed using GIS to estimate the deformation degrees of blocks in arbitrary units per square kilometer using the attributes of rank and crossing/bounding position of faults and the size of blocks. The deformation degrees are then compared with available estimates of ground stability measured as a score of points corresponding to destabilizing factors. Although the comparison generally confirms some linkage between the deformation degree of blocks and their ground stability, the correlation is intricate and ambiguous. In order to enhance the advantages of GIS in building and analyzing 3D models of fault patterns for estimating ground stability and mitigating geological hazards, it is expected in the future to proceed from the reported initial step of visualization to more advanced analysis.