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Fracture studies commonly lack data for the length range between 10 m to 1 km. For this reason, scaling laws are required to extrapolate fracture properties, for example in discrete fracture network models. This study focused on analysis and correlation of topology, orientation and length distribution of multiscale fracture datasets to assess their scalability. The used datasets comprise UAV-derived photogrammetric models from natural outcrops and lineaments mapped using airborne LiDAR, bathymetry and aerogeophysical data, in several contrasting scales and resolutions. This study highlights challenges in acquiring uncensored and coherent brittle structural datasets from source data characterized by a large span of resolutions between the remote sensing datasets and models of the fractured outcrop. In specific, collected data was found to be potentially biased and affected by uncertainties related to both the censoring by sedimentary cover and the scale of observation. Our results revealed differences between lineament and outcrop fracture orientations, as well as difficulties in assessing topological parameters from lineament datasets. The 1:200 000 resolution was found best suited to the mapping of lineament length and resulted in a length distribution power law exponent of -1.92. For outcrop fractures that are less than 2 m long, the lognormal length distribution provided the only good fit to our data, while the longer outcrop fractures fitted relatively well with a power law exponent of -2.26. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using multiple scales of observation in studying the fractures of the bedrock increases the reliability and representativeness of the respective studies. This is because the discontinuities, i.e., the fractures, in the bedrock lack any characteristic length and instead occur within a large range of scales of approximately 10 orders of magnitude. Consequently, fracture models need to be constructed based on representative multi-scale datasets to enable valid interpolation and extrapolation of common scaling laws to all fracture sizes. In this paper, we combine a detailed bedrock fracture study from an extensive bedrock outcrop area with lineament interpretation using Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) and geophysical data. Our study offers lineament data in an intermediary length range missing from Discrete Fracture Network -modelling conducted at Olkiluoto, a nuclear spent fuel facility in Finland. In addition, this study also provides a robust multi-scale fracture and lineament dataset which has been thoroughly analysed for the purposes of understanding the uncertainties and differences in the different datasets. Our analysis further covers the topological, scale-independent, fracture network characteristics. Results of our study include the discovery of three distinct azimuth sets, N-S, NE-SW and WNW-ESE, both single scale and multi-scale power-law models for fracture and lineaments and further insight into a trend of decreasing apparent connectivity of fracture networks as the scale of observation increases. Specifically, a multi-scale power-law exponent of -1.13 is fitted to fracture and lineament lengths although we found that individually the fractures and lineaments might follow distinct powerlaws rather than a common one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using multiple scales of observation in studying the fractures of the bedrock increases the reliability and representativeness of the respective studies. This is because the discontinuities, i.e., the fractures, in the bedrock lack any characteristic length and instead occur within a large range of scales of approximately 10 orders of magnitude. Consequently, fracture models need to be constructed based on representative multi-scale datasets to enable valid interpolation and extrapolation of common scaling laws to all fracture sizes. In this paper, we combine a detailed bedrock fracture study from an extensive bedrock outcrop area with lineament interpretation using Light Detection And Ranging (LiDAR) and geophysical data. Our study offers lineament data in an intermediary length range missing from Discrete Fracture Network -modelling conducted at Olkiluoto, a nuclear spent fuel facility in Finland. In addition, this study also provides a robust multi-scale fracture and lineament dataset which has been thoroughly analysed for the purposes of understanding the uncertainties and differences in the different datasets. Our analysis further covers the topological, scale-independent, fracture network characteristics. Results of our study include the discovery of three distinct azimuth sets, N-S, NE-SW and WNW-ESE, both single scale and multi-scale power-law models for fracture and lineaments and further insight into a trend of decreasing apparent connectivity of fracture networks as the scale of observation increases. Specifically, a multi-scale power-law exponent of -1.13 is fitted to fracture and lineament lengths although we found that individually the fractures and lineaments might follow distinct power-laws rather than a common one. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Surface wave (SW) methods are ideal candidates for an effective and sustainable development of seismic exploration, but still remain under-exploited in hard rock sites. We present a successful application of active and passive surface wave tomography for the characterization of the southern continuation of the Siilinjärvi phosphate deposit (Finland). A semi-automatic workflow for the extraction of the path-average dispersion curves (DCs) from ambient seismic noise data is proposed, including identification of time windows with strong coherent SW signal, azimuth analysis and two-station method for DC picking. DCs retrieved from passive data are compared with active SW tomography results recently obtained at the site. Passive data are found to carry information at longer wavelengths, thus extending the investigation depth. Active and passive DCs are consequently inverted together to retrieve a deep pseudo-3D shear-wave velocity model for the site, with improved resolution. The seismic results are compared with the latest available geological models to both validate the proposed workflow and improve the interpretation of the geometry, extent and contacts of the mineralization. Important large-scale geological boundaries and structural discontinuities are recognized from the results, demonstrating the effectiveness and advantages of the methods for mineral exploration perspectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Archean crust in northern Fennoscandia preserves a fragmentary geological record, making direct correlation among Archean domains challenging. This study presents two new zircon U-Pb age determinations from the Archean Kukkola Gneiss Complex (KGC) that straddles the border between Finland and Sweden. The results indicate that crystallization of tonalites within the magmatic core of the complex occurred at 2711±8 Ma, somewhat earlier than previously considered. A new pulse of magmatism occurred at 2675±10 Ma as demonstrated by hornblende-tonalites cutting the 2.71 Ga rocks. The results further indicate that the first deformation event responsible for development of penetrative foliations occurred after the first magmatic event at 2.71 Ga and prior to the subsequent tectonothermal event at 2.68 Ga. These findings are in concert with the known major periods of magmatism (2.8-2.7 Ga) and deformation (2.7 Ga) within better-known Archean domains in northern Fennoscandia, and hence support their correlation with KGC. Three complementary age determinations on the Haparanda-suite granites and tonalites were conducted: the results indicate crystallization ages of 1.90-1.89 Ga, overlapping with the known age range of the suite and supporting its predominance over the 1.8 Ga Lina suite granites in the Tornio- Haparanda area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]