Structural Characterisation of Fracture Systems in Romanian Dimesnsion Stone Deposits: Insights from Scanline Analysis

Abstract

This paper presents a field-calibrated synthetic scanline analysis of the Ruschița white-marble quarry (Caraș-Severin County, Romania), exploited at the white-marble level of the Poiana Rusca massif. Three horizontal scanlines (SL1 trend 87°, SL2 167°, SL3 267°) were positioned on the East, North and West facing Main Wall, and 58 discontinuities were sampled and assigned to two joint sets identified by DIPS 8.022: Set 1 - sub-horizontal foliation/bedding (mean plane 351°/8°, pole 171°/82°, n = 29) and Set 2 - steep SW-dipping conjugate (203°/57°, pole 23°/33°, n = 29). For each (set, scanline) pair, we compute the angular-correction matrix cos δ, total spacing Xs, normal spacing Xn = Xs · cos δ and linear discontinuity intensity P10. Mean trace length is estimated by four standard estimators (Priest-Hudson 1981, weighted, curtailed with c = 3 m, Laslett). Termination indices are reported above, below and combined. The results yield an engineering-reference mean trace length of ≈4.4 m for Set 1 and ≈4.6 m for Set 2 (curtailed estimator), normal spacing of 0.18 m (Set 1, SL2) and 0.56–1.12 m (Set 2), and 24 - 33 % termination in intact rock, together indicating a moderately persistent, well-connected joint network controlling in-situ block size. A reproducible Python port of the Octave workflow is provided. The output is conditioned for direct use as input to a Discrete Fracture Network (DFN) generator within the AI-COSTSQO platform, enabling a priori block-size prediction and environmental-impact reduction at marble quarries.