The scaling relation between displacement and length of faults plays a crucial role in understanding the growth history of individual faults and their possible linkage and reactivation in future ruptures. Displacement-length relations are commonly based on empirical data. The measurement of fault geometric properties, however, is generally affected by large scattering due not only to intrinsic difficulties of making observations in natural cases (outcrop availability, seismic profiles), but also to the variety of geological factors that may affect the rupture patterns. These can be the interaction between the present-day tectonic regime and an inherited structural fabric, or that between a master fault at depth and shallow structural features. As an alternative to field observations, analogue modeling provides an opportunity to investigate the faulting processes in a controlled environment. During the last decade, the ability of scaled models to properly reproduce such geological processes has greatly improved thanks to the introduction of new materials (e.g. wet kaolin) suitable for reproducing brittle deformation in the upper crust and hi-tech monitoring systems (e.g. laser scanner, particle image velocimetry) with the ability of capturing structural details and performing accurate measurements. We use a dedicated apparatus with such properties to gain insights on the evolution of extensional faults through a suite of experiments which includes (a) setups in homogeneous material to test our ability in meeting general criteria related with fault displacement-length parameters; and (b) increasing complexities attained by inserting various pre-existing fault patterns to analyze how shallow mechanical discontinuities affect our ability to characterize a major fault at depth. Our results show that pre-existing faults can either halt or favor fault development and growth depending on their location/orientation with respect to the applied stress field and suggest the reappraisal of natural case studies under a different perspective.
