Search

The Humbly Grove Field has, for the UK, a unique development history. It was discovered as an oilfield in May 1980 and produced as an oilfield until 2000 along with small satellite fields Herriard (developed) and Hester9s Copse (not developed). Peak production of 2219 bopd was achieved during July 1986 but, by October 1988, the rate had fallen to around 1000 bopd, a rate that was more or less maintained until October 1995 after which the production fell rapidly. At this point the decision was taken to reconfigure the field as a gas storage facility. Significant renewed pressure depletion occurred between 2000 and 2005, following which first cushion and then storage gas was injected into two reservoirs: the Middle Jurassic, Great Oolite Group and the uppermost Triassic, Rhaetian Westbury Formation. Gas storage operations commenced in 2005 and the reservoirs have undergone cyclical gas injection and gas withdrawal since that date. The cyclical injection of gas and re-pressuring of the Great Oolite reservoir causes mobile oil to be swept towards dedicated oil production wells. This operates effectively as an enhanced oil recovery scheme. The co-produced liquid hydrocarbons provide a valuable secondary income stream for the field.

While sliding at seismic slip-rates of ca. 1 m/s, a natural fault undergoes an abrupt decrease of its strength called enhanced dynamic weakening. Asperity-scale (<< mm) processes related to flash heating & weakening and meso-scale (mm-cm) processes involving shear across the bulk slipping zone related to frictional melting or viscous flow of minerals, have been invoked to explain pronounced velocity-dependent weakening. Here we present a compilation of ca. 100 experiments performed with two rotary shear apparatuses, i.e. SHIVA installed in INGV (Rome, Italy) and HVR installed, at the time of experiments, in Kyoto University (Japan). Cohesive rock cylinders of basalt, gabbro, tonalite, granite and calcitic marble were sheared under a range of effective normal stresses (sn=5-40 MPa), target slip-rates (Vt=0.1-6.5 m/s) and fluid pressures (from room humidity conditions RH or Pf=0, to Pf =15 MPa). We fit the measured shear stress evolution with slip with two dynamic weakening mechanisms models, which include, depending on rock type: (1) flash heating and bulk melting (granitoid, gabbro and basalt), (2) flash heating and diffusion creep (calcitic marble), (3) flash heating and dislocation creep (calcitic marble). We provide a set of optimized parameters, specific for each mechanism, that control the dynamic weakening.Lastly, the modelling procedure allow us to estimate the slip-switch distance d0, i.e. the slip necessary for the complete transition from the asperity-scale to bulk slipping zone dynamic weakening mechanism. Our analysis shows that (1) the d0 decreases with increasing effective normal stress acting on the fault and, (2) for the same type of transition between dynamic weakening mechanisms (e.g., from flash heating to bulk melt lubrication) the d0 is a function of rock composition. The decrease of d0 with normal stress indicates that during earthquakes, bulk mechanisms dominate over asperity scale weakening mechanisms with increasing crustal depths. This study provides constitutive law parameters to be included in physically- and geologically-based dynamic earthquake rupture simulations.

The porosity and permeability of coal change with pore pressure, due to changes in effective stress and matrix swelling due to gas adsorption. Three analytical models to describe porosity and permeability change in this context have been presented in the literature, all of which are based on poroelastic theory and uniaxial strain conditions. However, each of the three models provides different results. Review articles have attributed these differences to the use of stress formulations or strain formulations. In this article, the three aforementioned porosity models are used to derive three associated expressions for the storage coefficient. A single mathematical equation for the storage coefficient in an aquifer under uniaxial strain conditions is well established. The storage coefficient represents the volume of fluid released per unit volume of a porous rock following a unit decline in pore pressure. It is shown that only one of the aforementioned three coal-bed methane porosity models leads to the correct equation for the uniaxial strain storage coefficient in the absence of gas sorption-induced strain.

Faults weaken during the propagation of earthquakes due to the onset of thermally-activated mechanisms, which vary depending on the rock type. Recent experimental work suggests that carbonate-hosted faults are lubricated by viscous flow in nano-granular aggregates having ultramylonitic textures. However, their frail nature has often hindered unbiased characterisation of the textures and deformation mechanisms operating at such extreme conditions (strain rates as high as 104), which remain so far poorly investigated and understood. We explore the formation, evolution and deformation mechanisms of coseismic ultramylonites in carbonate-hosted faults generated during high velocity (1.4 m s−1), displacement-controlled shear experiments in a rotary apparatus. Microstructures were analysed using integrated SEM and TEM imaging while detailed crystallographic fabrics were investigated using the electron back-scattered diffraction (EBSD) technique. Mechanical data show that the strength of the experimental fault decays dynamically with slip, according to a characteristic four stage evolution; each stage is associated with characteristic textures. Microstructural observations show that brittle processes dominate when the fault is strong (friction coefficients >0.6). Cataclasis, aided by twinning and crystal plasticity, operates forming an extremely comminuted shear band (mean grain size ∼200 nm). As the fault starts weakening, shear localises within a well-defined principal slip zone. Here, thermally-activated grain size sensitive (GSS) and insensitive (GSI) creep mechanisms compete with brittle processes in controlling fault strength. GSI mechanisms produce strong monoclinic crystallographic preferred orientations in the slip zone, while textures and crystallographic orientations in adjacent locations do not evolve from the previous deformation stage. By the end of the transient weakening stage, the slip zone has reached a steady state thickness (30 μm) and shows a nanogranular ultramylonitic texture. The intensity of the crystallographic preferred orientation in the coseismic ultramylonite is reduced compared to the previous stage, due to grainsize sensitive creep mechanisms becoming gradually more dominant. As the experimental fault re-strengthens, upon deceleration to arrest, the ultramylonite may be partially reworked by brittle deformation. Our findings show that the crystallographic orientations of transient microstructures are preserved in the slip zone of coseismic ultramylonites and in narrow, adjacent deactivated layers, where mirror-like surfaces are located. This shows that EBSD techniques can usefully be employed to determine the deformation mechanisms of coseismic ultramylonites and their evolution during earthquake slip in both experimental and, potentially, natural faults.

Fluids are pervasive in fault zones cutting the Earth's crust; however, the effect of fluid viscosity on fault mechanics is mainly conjectured by theoretical models. We present friction experiments performed on both dry and fluid-permeated silicate and carbonate bearing-rocks, at normal effective stresses up to 20 MPa, with a slip-rate ranging between 10 μm/s and 1 m/s. Four different fluid viscosities were tested. We show that both static and dynamic friction coefficients decrease with viscosity and that dynamic friction depends on the dimensionless Sommerfeld number (S) as predicted by the elastohydrodynamic-lubrication theory (EHD).Under favourable conditions (depending on the fluid viscosity (η), co-seismic slip-rate (V), fault geometry (L/H02) and earthquake nucleation depth (∝σeff)), EHD might be an effective weakening mechanism during natural and induced earthquakes. However, at seismic slip-rate, the slip weakening distance (Dc) increases markedly for a range of fluid viscosities expected in the Earth, potentially favouring slow-slip rather than rupture propagation for small to moderate earthquakes., The effect of fluid viscosity on fault mechanics is mainly conjectured by theoretical models. Here, the authors present experimental data from rock friction experiments, showing both static and dynamic friction coefficients to decrease with viscosity and dynamic friction to depend on the Sommerfeld number.

Recent Global Positioning System observations of major earthquakes such as the 2014 Chile megathrust show a slow preslip phase releasing a significant portion of the total moment (Ruiz et al., 2014, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1256074). Despite advances from theoretical stability analysis (Rubin & Ampuero, 2005, https://doi.org/10.1029/2005JB003686; Ruina, 1983, https://doi.org/10.1029/jb088ib12p10359) and modeling (Kaneko et al., 2017, https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL071569), it is not fully understood what controls the prevalence and the amount of slip in the nucleation process. Here we present laboratory observations of slow slip preceding dynamic rupture, where we observe a dependence of nucleation size and position on the loading rate (laboratory equivalent of tectonic loading rate). The setup is composed of two polycarbonate plates under direct shear with a 30‐cm long slip interface. The results of our laboratory experiments are in agreement with the preslip model outlined by Ellsworth and Beroza (1995, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.268.5212.851) and observed in laboratory experiments (Latour et al., 2013, https://doi.org/10.1002/grl.50974; Nielsen et al., 2010, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-246x.2009.04444.x; Ohnaka & Kuwahara, 1990, https://doi.org/10.1016/0040-1951(90)90138-X), which show a slow slip followed by an acceleration up to dynamic rupture velocity. However, further complexity arises from the effect of (1) rate of shear loading and (2) inhomogeneities on the fault surface. In particular, we show that when the loading rate is increased from 10−2 to 6 MPa/s, the nucleation length can shrink by a factor of 3, and the rupture nucleates consistently on higher shear stress areas. The nucleation lengths measured fall within the range of the theoretical limits L b and L∞ derived by Rubin and Ampuero (2005, https://doi.org/10.1029/2005JB003686) for rate‐and‐state friction laws., Key Points The nucleation length decreases with loading rate, implying that smaller‐size asperities clusters can be triggered by accelerated slipThe nucleation position localizes on high coulomb stress patches with small‐scale inhomogeneities at high loading ratesThe measured nucleation length of laboratory earthquakes falls into the range predicted by numerical and theoretical studies

Pseudotachylytes originate from the solidification of frictional melt, which transiently forms and lubricates the fault plane during an earthquake. Here we observe how the pseudotachylyte thickness a scales with the relative displacement D both at the laboratory and field scales, for measured slip varying from microns to meters, over six orders of magnitude. Considering all the data jointly, a bend appears in the scaling relationship when slip and thickness reach ∼1 mm and 100 µm, respectively, i.e. MW > 1. This bend can be attributed to the melt thickness reaching a steady‐state value due to melting dynamics under shear heating, as is suggested by the solution of a Stefan problem with a migrating boundary. Each increment of fault is heating up due to fast shearing near the rupture tip and starting cooling by thermal diffusion upon rupture. The building and sustainability of a connected melt layer depends on this energy balance. For plurimillimetric thicknesses (a > 1 mm), melt thickness growth reflects in first approximation the rate of shear heating which appears to decay in D−1/2 to D−1, likely due to melt lubrication controlled by melt + solid suspension viscosity and mobility. The pseudotachylyte thickness scales with moment M0 and magnitude MW; therefore, thickness alone may be used to estimate magnitude on fossil faults in the field in the absence of displacement markers within a reasonable error margin.

Several earthquake source parameters cannot be estimated from the analysis of seismic waves, instead, they may be derived from field surveys and experimental studies. Among these parameters, the fault strength evolution (tf (t) in MPa) and the frictional power dissipation ( Q'= tf (t) V(t) in MW m-2, with V being the slip rate) during seismic slip control the moment release rate, the temperature increase in the slip zone and therefore the activation of coseismic fault dynamic weakening mechanisms. Frictional melts (preserved as pseudotachylytes) along the slip zone can be the result of relatively high Q'. In fact, shear heating is proportional to Q': the higher Q', the higher the heat production rate and, consequently, the faster the temperature increase in the slip zone and the steeper the temperature gradient in the boundary rocks (Nielsen et al., 2010). [PR1] The tonalite rocks used in this study come from the Gole Larghe Fault zone (Southern Alps, Italy), and they are made of minerals with different individual melting temperatures. The presence of a steep temperature gradient (high Q') with closely-spaced isotherms at the boundary walls, will cause the minerals to melt uniformly near the sliding surface (i.e. independently of their melting points), resulting in a relatively smooth pseudotachylyte-wall rock boundary. On the other hand, a gentle temperature gradient (low Q') with widely-spaced isotherms will mainly melt those minerals with low melting points, generating higher micro-roughness.To consider these different scenarios, we collected samples of natural pseudotachylytes belonging to ‘wavy’ faults, together with samples of injection veins (tensile cracks with Q' -> 0). A ‘wavy’ fault presents shear cracks from compressional (high Q'), neutral, and extensional (low Q') domains along strike. We performed a series of experiments using a rotary shear apparatus (i.e., SHIVA, Di Toro et al., 2010) to produce artificial pseudotachylytes at increasing slip rates and normal stresses corresponding to values of increasing Q', ranging from 5 to 25 MW m-2. The micro-roughness is then measured from optical and scanning electron microscope images obtained both from natural and artificial samples for comparison. We found that in the experimental samples, the micro-roughness is inversely proportional to Q', as predicted by the theoretical model. Natural samples show similar trends with the higher micro-roughness present in the injection veins where Q' -> 0. This study demonstrates the robustness of the relation between and fault micro-roughness in both natural and experimental samples. However, further investigations are required to calibrate this methodology to estimate quantitatively the frictional power dissipated during natural earthquakes.

International audience; Despite the hazard posed by earthquakes, we still lack fundamental understanding of the processes that control fault lubrication behind a propagating rupture front and enhance ground acceleration. Laboratory experiments show that fault materials dramatically weaken when sheared at seismic velocities (>0.1 m s−1). Several mechanisms, triggered by shear heating, have been proposed to explain the coseismic weakening of faults, but none of these mechanisms can account for experimental and seismological evidence of weakening. Here we show that, in laboratory experiments, weakening correlates with local temperatures attained during seismic slip in simulated faults for diverse rock-forming minerals. The fault strength evolves according to a simple, material-dependent Arrhenius-type law. Microstructures support this observation by showing the development of a principal slip zone with textures typical of sub-solidus viscous flow. We show evidence that viscous deformation (at either sub- or super-solidus temperatures) is an important, widespread and quantifiable coseismic lubrication process. The operation of these highly effective fault lubrication processes means that more energy is then available for rupture propagation and the radiation of hazardous seismic waves.

Experiments that systematically explore rock friction under crustal earthquake conditions reveal that faults undergo abrupt dynamic weakening. Processes related to heating and weakening of fault surfaces have been invoked to explain pronounced velocity weakening. Both contact asperity temperature Ta and background temperature T of the slip zone evolve significantly during high-velocity slip due to heat sources (frictional work), heat sinks (e.g., latent heat of decomposition processes), and diffusion. Using carefully calibrated High-Velocity Rotary Friction experiments, we test the compatibility of thermal weakening models: (1) a model of friction based only on T in an extremely simplified, Arrhenius-like thermal dependence; (2) a flash heating model which accounts for the evolution of both V and T; (3) same but including heat sinks in the thermal balance; and (4) same but including the thermal dependence of diffusivity and heat capacity. All models reflect the experimental results but model (1) results in unrealistically low temperatures and model (2) reproduces the restrengthening phase only by modifying the parameters for each experimental condition. The presence of dissipative heat sinks in stage (3) significantly affects T and reflects on the friction, allowing a better joint fit of the initial weakening and final strength recovery across a range of experiments. Temperature is significantly altered by thermal dependence of (4). However, similar results can be obtained by (3) and (4) by adjusting the energy sinks. To compute temperature in this type of problem, we compare the efficiency of three different numerical approximations (finite difference, wavenumber summation, and discrete integral).

Recent experiments systematically explore rock friction under crustal earthquake conditions (slip velocity V ≥ 1 m/s and normal stress (5 < σ < 50 MPa), revealing that faults undergo abrupt dynamic...

This chapter describes the behaviour of faults in the laboratory. The chapter is organised from small scale to large scale experiments, introducing the reader to general and less general observations of faulting and friction, and showing how these observations are linked to faulting processes occurring in nature. The first section introduces cm-scale friction experiments on gouge materials including the concept of rate-and-state friction, i.e., how velocity affects friction in the quasi-static regime. The following section is devoted to dynamic friction, i.e., observations of friction at high velocity as well as observations of dynamic rupture. The third section discusses the evolution of discrete faults and fault zones in up to meter-scale physical analogue experiments, their dependence on material properties and their significance for the study of large-scale tectonic structures. Finally, the various microstructural features and their possible link to fault stability obtained in the quasi-static regime will be discussed.

We present a study on the paleoseismic Gole Larghe Fault Zone (GLFZ), composed of hundreds of sub-parallel faults hosted in tonalites of the Adamello Massif (Italian Southern Alps), where we collected a complete transect across the fault zone, including the background host rocks, over a thickness of >1km.Along this transect, we studied the correlation between fracture spacing (for “fracture” here we mean joints, veins, faults, shear fractures, and all other brittle structures) and position with a robust non-parametric approach. This analysis, new for fracture distribution studies, allows detecting volumes of the fault zone with clustering or a trend in spacing, versus volumes where the spatial distribution is stationary. The analysis reveals that the GLFZ can be subdivided in “stationary volumes” where fractures shows stationary statistical properties. Each one of these volumes can be completely characterized with scanline and/or scanarea surveys to obtain a complete and statistically sound estimate of all fracture parameters (spacing, intensity, density, length, height, orientation, topology, etc.).Within the GLFZ we have two main classes of structures: (i) “master” faults that are sub-parallel to the fault zone and are always characterized by pseudotachylytes and/or cataclasites, and (ii) minor “fractures” (e.g. Riedel fractures, joints, veins, etc.) that are oblique to the fault zone and interconnect the former. Out of the GLFZ we observe a background fracturing that is associated to the cooling of the Adamello tonalites under deviatoric tectonic stress (“cooling joints”).By comparing fracture statistics within and outside the fault zone, we demonstrated that master faults within the GLFZ were almost completely inherited from the “cooling joints” of the host rocks. The cooling joints just grew in length and became completely interconnected at the scale of the seismic rupture. This means that, at least in the case of the GLFZ, the large faults and fractures along which seismic ruptures were running do not add significantly to the earthquake energy budget, because they were already present in the system before the onset of seismic activity. The only fractures to be considered in this budget are the minor interconnecting fractures (e.g. Riedel fractures, joints, veins, etc.) that are coated with pseudotachylytes.These observations confirm once again the classical assumption that seismic ruptures propagate along pre-existing discontinuities and do not, in general, tend to fracture intact rocks.

Pore fluid overpressures in active fault systems can drive fluid flow and cause fault weakening and seismicity. In return, deformation accommodated by different modes of failure (e.g. brittle vs. ductile) also affects fault zone permeability and, hence, fluid flow and pore fluid pressure distribution. Current numerical simulation techniques model how fluid flow controls fault reactivation and associated seismicity. However, the control exerted by pore fluid pressure on the transition from slow aseismic fault sliding to fast seismic sliding, during the earthquake nucleation phase, is still poorly understood. Here, we model overpressured, supercritical CO2 fluid flow in natural faults, where non-linear, complex feedback between fluid flow, fluid pressure and fault deformation controls the length of the nucleation phase of an earthquake and the duration of the interseismic period. The model setup is an analogue for recent seismic source events in the Northern Apennines of Italy (e.g. M w 6.0 1997-98 Colfiorito and M w 6.5 2016 Norcia earthquakes). Our modelling results of Darcy fluid flow show that the duration of the nucleation phase can be reduced by orders of magnitude, when realistic models of fault zone architecture and pore pressure- and deformation-dependent permeability are considered. In particular, earthquake nucleation phase duration can drop from more than 10 years to a few days/minutes, while the seismic moment can decrease by a factor of 6. Notably, the moment of aseismic slip ( M 0 = 10 9 N m ) obtained during the nucleation phase modelled in our study is of the same order as the detection limit of local strain measurements using strain meters. These findings have significant implications for earthquake early warning systems, as the duration and moment of the nucleation phase will affect the likelihood of timely precursory signal detection. Interestingly, aseismic slip has been measured up to a few months before some recent large earthquakes, although in a different tectonic context than the model developed here, rekindling interest in the nucleation phase of earthquakes. In addition, our results have important implications for short and long term earthquake forecasting, as crustal fluid migration during the interseismic period may control fault strength and earthquake recurrence intervals.

Rockfalls are relatively little described from the ancient geological record, likely due to their poor preservation potential. At Clachtoll, northwest Scotland, a megaclast (100 m × 60 m × 15 m) of Neoarchean Lewisian gneiss with an estimated mass of 243 kt is associated with basal breccias of the Mesoproterozoic Stoer Group. Foliation in the megablock is misoriented by ∼90° about a subvertical axis relative to that in the underlying basement gneisses, and it is cut by fracture networks filled with Stoer Group red sandstone. Bedded clastic fissure fills on top of the megablock preserve way-up criteria consistent with passive deposition during burial. Sediment-filled fractures on the lateral flanks and base show characteristics consistent with forceful injection. Using numerical calculations, we propose that rift-related seismic shaking caused the megablock to fall no more than 15 m onto unconsolidated wet sediment. On impact, overpressure and liquefaction of the water-laden sands below the basement block were sufficient to cause hydrofracturing and upward sediment slurry injection. In addition, asymmetrically distributed structures record internal deformation of the megablock as it slowed and came to rest. The megablock is unrelated to the younger Stac Fada impact event, and represents one of the oldest known terrestrial rockfall features on Earth.

The article is part of a research project on the history of German sports medicine, from its organized beginnings in the early twentieth century until today. Through analyzing newly availab...

Recent laboratory shear-slip experiments conducted on a nominally flat frictional interface, reported the intriguing details of a two-phase nucleation of stick-slip motion that precedes the dynamic rupture propagation. This behavior was subsequently reproduced by a physics-based model incorporating laboratory-derived rate-and-state friction laws. However, applying the laboratory and theoretical results to the nucleation of crustal earthquakes remains challenging due to poorly-constrained physical and friction properties of fault-zone rocks at seismogenic depths. Here we apply the same physics-based model to simulate the nucleation process of crustal earthquakes using unique data acquired during the San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth (SAFOD) experiment and new and existing measurements of friction properties of SAFOD drill-core samples. Using this well-constrained model, we predict what the nucleation phase will look like for magnitude∼2 repeating earthquakes on segments of the San Andreas fault at a 2.8-km depth. We find that, despite up to three orders of magnitude difference in the physical and friction parameters and stress conditions, the behavior of the modeled nucleation is qualitatively similar to that of laboratory earthquakes, with the nucleation consisting of two distinct phases. Our results further suggest that precursory slow slip associated with the earthquake nucleation phase may be observable in the hours before the occurrence of the magnitude∼2 earthquakes by strain measurements close (a few hundreds meters) to the hypocenter, in a position reached by the existing borehole.

Earthquake‐radiated motions contain information that can be interpreted as source displacement and therefore related to stress drop. Except in a few notable cases, these displacements cannot be easily related to the absolute stress level or the fault strength, or attributed to a particular physical mechanism. In contrast, paleoearthquakes recorded by exhumed pseudotachylite have a known dynamic mechanism whose properties constrain the coseismic fault strength. Pseudotachylite can be used to directly address a discrepancy between seismologically measured stress drops, which are typically a few MPa, and much larger dynamic stress drops expected from thermal weakening during slip at seismic speeds in crystalline rock (Mckenzie and Brune, 1972; Sibson, 1973; Lachenbruch, 1980; Mase and Smith, 1987; Rice, 2006), and as have been observed in laboratory experiments at high slip rates (Di Toro, Hirose, Nielsen, Pennacchioni, et al. , 2006). This places pseudotachylite‐derived estimates of fault strength and inferred crustal stress within the context and bounds of naturally observed earthquake source parameters: apparent stress, stress drop, and overshoot, including consideration of fault‐surface roughness, off‐fault damage, fracture energy, and the strength excess. The analysis, which assumes stress drop is related to corner frequency as in the Madariaga (1976) source model, is restricted to earthquakes of the Gole Larghe fault zone in the Italian Alps, where the dynamic shear strength is well constrained by field and laboratory measurements. We find that radiated energy is similar to or exceeds the shear‐generated heat and that the maximum strength excess is ∼16 MPa. These events have inferred earthquake source parameters that are rare, for instance, a low percentage of the global earthquake population has stress drops as large, unless fracture energy is routinely greater than in existing models, pseudotachylite is not representative of the shear strength during the earthquake that generated it, or the strength excess is larger than we have allowed.

We present a series of high-velocity friction tests conducted on Westerly granite, using the Slow to HIgh Velocity Apparatus (SHIVA) installed at Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia Roma with acoustic emissions (AEs) monitored at high frequency (4 MHz). Both atmospheric humidity and pore fluid (water) pressure conditions were tested, under effective normal stress sigma(eff)(n) in the range 5-20 MPa and at target sliding velocities V-s in the range 0.003-3 m/s. Under atmospheric humidity two consecutive friction drops were observed. The first one is related to flash weakening, and the second one to the formation and growth of a continuous layer of melt in the slip zone. In the presence of fluid, a single drop in friction was observed. Average values of fracture energy are independent of effective normal stress and sliding velocity. However, measurements of elastic wave velocities on the sheared samples suggested that larger damage was induced for 0.1 < V-s < 0.3 m/s. This observation is supported by AEs recorded during the test, most of which were detected after the initiation of the second friction drop, once the fault surface temperature was high. Some AEs were detected up to a few seconds after the end of the experiments, indicating thermal rather than mechanical cracking. In addition, the presence of pore water delayed the onset of AEs by cooling effects and by reducing of the heat produced, supporting the link between AEs and the production and diffusion of heat during sliding. Using a thermoelastic crack model developed by Fredrich and Wong (1986), we confirm that damage may be induced by heat diffusion. Indeed, our theoretical results predict accurately the amount of shortening and shortening rate, supporting the idea that gouge production and gouge comminution are in fact largely controlled by thermal cracking. Finally, we discuss the contribution of thermal cracking in the seismic energy balance. In fact, while a dichotomy exists in the literature regarding the partitioning between fracture and heat energy, the experimental evidence reported here suggests that both contribute to fault weakening and off-fault damage.

Precursory aseismic slip lasting days to months prior to the initiation of earthquakes has been inferred from seismological observations. Similar precursory slip phenomena have also been observed in laboratory studies of shear rupture nucleation on frictional interfaces. However, the mechanisms that govern rupture nucleation, even in idealized laboratory settings, have been widely debated. Here we show that a numerical model incorporating rate-and-state friction laws and elastic continuum can reproduce the behaviors of rupture nucleation seen in laboratory experiments. In particular, we find that both in laboratory experiments and simulations with a wide range of normal stresses, the nucleation consists of two distinct phases: initial slow propagation phase and faster acceleration phase, both of which are likely aseismic processes, followed by dynamic rupture propagation that radiates seismic waves. The distance at which the rupture transitions from the initial slow phase to the acceleration phase can be roughly predicted by a theoretical estimate of critical nucleation length. Our results further show that the critical nucleation length depends on the background loading rate. In addition, our analysis suggests that critical nucleation length and breakdown power derived from the Griffith crack energy balance control the scaling of nucleating ruptures. Moreover, the background loading rate and loading configuration significantly affect the rupture propagation speed. Furthermore, if the same nucleation mechanism applies to natural faults, the migration speed of foreshocks triggered by the propagation of slow rupture within the nucleation zone would depend on the effective normal stress and hence fluid pressure in the fault zone.

We report macroscopic stick-slip events in saw-cut Westerly granite samples deformed under controlled upper crustal stress conditions in the laboratory. Experiments were conducted under triaxial loading (σ1>σ2=σ3) at confining pressures (σ3) ranging from 10 to 100 MPa. A high frequency acoustic monitoring array recorded particle acceleration during macroscopic stick-slip events allowing us to estimate rupture speed. In addition, we record the stress drop dynamically and we show that the dynamic stress drop measured locally close to the fault plane, is almost total in the breakdown zone (for normal stress > 75 MPa), while the friction f recovers to values of f > 0.4 within only a few hundred microseconds. Enhanced dynamic weakening is observed to be linked to the melting of asperities which can be well explained by flash heating theory in agreement with our post-mortem microstructural analysis. Relationships between initial state of stress, rupture velocities, stress drop and energy budget suggest that at high normal stress (leading to supershear rupture velocities), the rupture processes are more dissipative. Our observations question the current dichotomy between the fracture energy and the frictional energy in terms of rupture processes. A power law scaling of the fracture energy with final slip is observed over eight orders of magnitude in slip, from a few microns to tens of meters.

Seismological, tsunami and geodetic observations have shown that subduction zones are complex systems where the properties of earthquake rupture vary with depth as a result of different pre-stress and frictional conditions. A wealth of earthquakes of different sizes and different source features (e.g. rupture duration) can be generated in subduction zones, including tsunami earthquakes, some of which can produce extreme tsunamigenic events. Here, we offer a geological perspective principally accounting for depth-dependent frictional conditions, while adopting a simplified distribution of on-fault tectonic pre-stress. We combine a lithology-controlled, depth-dependent experimental friction law with 2D elastodynamic rupture simulations for a Tohoku-like subduction zone cross-section. Subduction zone fault rocks are dominantly incohesive and clay-rich near the surface, transitioning to cohesive and more crystalline at depth. By randomly shifting along fault dip the location of the high shear stress regions (“asperities”), moderate to great thrust earthquakes and tsunami earthquakes are produced that are quite consistent with seismological, geodetic, and tsunami observations. As an effect of depth-dependent friction in our model, slip is confined to the high stress asperity at depth; near the surface rupture is impeded by the rock-clay transition constraining slip to the clay-rich layer. However, when the high stress asperity is located in the clay-to-crystalline rock transition, great thrust earthquakes can be generated similar to the Mw 9 Tohoku (2011) earthquake.

Earthquakes occur because fault friction weakens with increasing slip and slip rates. Since the slipping zones of faults are often fluid-saturated, thermo-mechanical pressurization of pore fluids has been invoked as a mechanism responsible for frictional dynamic weakening, but experimental evidence is lacking. We performed friction experiments (normal stress 25 MPa, maximal slip-rate similar to 3 ms(-1)) on cohesive basalt and marble under (1) room-humidity and (2) immersed in liquid water (drained and undrained) conditions. In both rock types and independently of the presence of fluids, up to 80% of frictional weakening was measured in the first 5 cm of slip. Modest pressurization-related weakening appears only at later stages of slip. Thermo-mechanical pressurization weakening of cohesive rocks can be negligible during earthquakes due to the triggering of more efficient fault lubrication mechanisms (flash heating, frictional melting, etc.). (C) 2015 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Earthquake nucleation is currently explained using rate and state stability analysis, which successfully models the behavior of laboratory simulated faults with constant thickness gouge layers. However, roughness is widely observed on natural faults and its influence on earthquake nucleation is little explored. Here we conduct frictional sliding experiments with different roughness on granite samples at upper crustal conditions (30–200 MPa). We observe a wide range of behaviors, from stable sliding to stick slip, depending on the combination of roughness parameters and normal stress. Stick slip is repeatedly observed in velocity-strengthening regimes, and increases in normal stress stabilize slip; these features are not fully predicted by current stability analysis. We derive a new instability criterion that matches our observations, based on fracture energy considerations and the size of weak patches created by fault roughness.

The Eocene Heart Mountain slide of northwest Wyoming covers an area of as much as 5000 km2 and includes allochthonous Paleozoic carbonate and Eocene volcanic rocks with a run-out distance of as much as 85 km. Recent geochronologic data indicated that the emplacement of the slide event occurred at ∼48.9 Ma, using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (LA-ICPMS) extracted from U-Pb zircon ages from basal layer and injectite carbonate ultracataclasite (CUC). We now refine that age with U-Pb results from a lamprophyre diatreme that is temporally and spatially related to the CUC injectites. The ages for the lamprophyre zircons are 48.97 ± 0.36 Ma (LA-ICPMS) and 49.19 ±0.02 Ma (chemical abrasion isotope dilution thermal ionization mass spectrometry). Thus, the lamprophyre and CUC zircons are identical in age, and we interpret that the zircons in the CUC were derived from the lamprophyre during slide emplacement. Moreover, the intrusion of the lamprophyre diatreme provided the trigger mechanism for the Heart Mountain slide. Additional structural data are presented for a variety of calcite twinning strains, results from anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility for the lamprophyre and CUC injectites and alternating-field demagnetization on the lamprophyre, to help constrain slide dynamics. These data indicate that White Mountain experienced a rotation about a vertical axis and minimum of 35° of counterclockwise motion during emplacement.

The 2011 Tohoku earthquake produced an unexpected large amount of shallow slip greatly contributing to the ensuing tsunami. How frequent are such events? How can they be efficiently modelled for tsunami hazard? Stochastic slip models, which can be computed rapidly, are used to explore the natural slip variability; however, they generally do not deal specifically with shallow slip features. We study the systematic depth-dependence of slip along a thrust fault with a number of 2D dynamic simulations using stochastic shear stress distributions and a geometry based on the cross section of the Tohoku fault. We obtain a probability density for the slip distribution, which varies both with depth, earthquake size and whether the rupture breaks the surface. We propose a method to modify stochastic slip distributions according to this dynamically-derived probability distribution. This method may be efficiently applied to produce large numbers of heterogeneous slip distributions for probabilistic tsunami hazard analysis. Using numerous M9 earthquake scenarios, we demonstrate that incorporating the dynamically-derived probability distribution does enhance the conditional probability of exceedance of maximum estimated tsunami wave heights along the Japanese coast. This technique for integrating dynamic features in stochastic models can be extended to any subduction zone and faulting style.

Empirically based rate‐and‐state friction laws (RSFLs) have been proposed to model the dependence of friction forces with slip and time. The relevance of the RSFL for earthquake mechanics is that few constitutive parameters define critical conditions for fault stability (i.e., critical stiffness and frictional fault behavior). However, the RSFLs were determined from experiments conducted at subseismic slip rates (V 0.1 m/s) remains questionable on the basis of the experimental evidence of (1) large dynamic weakening and (2) activation of particular fault lubrication processes at seismic slip rates. Here we propose a modified RSFL (MFL) based on the review of a large published and unpublished data set of rock friction experiments performed with different testing machines. The MFL, valid at steady state conditions from subseismic to seismic slip rates (0.1 µm/s, Key Points We describe fault evolution over the entire seismic cycleWe describe fault stability over a wide range of experimental (and natural) conditionsWe account for the diversity of slip events observed at laboratory (and natural) scale

Recent estimates of fracture energy G (') in earthquakes show a power-law dependence with slip u which can be summarized as G (') ae u (a) where a is a positive real slightly larger than one. For cracks with sliding friction, fracture energy can be equated to G (f) : the post-failure integral of the dynamic weakening curve. If the dominant dissipative process in earthquakes is friction, G (') and G (f) should be comparable and show a similar scaling with slip. We test this hypothesis by analyzing experiments performed on various cohesive and non-cohesive rock types, under wet and dry conditions, with imposed deformation typical of seismic slip (normal stress of tens of MPa, target slip velocity > 1 m/s and fast accelerations ae 6.5 m/s(2)). The resulting fracture energy G (f) is similar to the seismological estimates, with G (f) and G (') being comparable over most of the slip range. However, G (f) appears to saturate after several meters of slip, while in most of the reported earthquake sequences, G (') appears to increase further and surpasses G (f) at large magnitudes. We analyze several possible causes of such discrepancy, in particular, additional off-fault damage in large natural earthquakes.

To determine the role of strain localization during dynamic weakening of calcite gouge at seismic slip rates, single-slide and slide–hold–slide experiments were conducted on 2–3-mm thick layers of calcite gouge at normal stresses up to 26 MPa and slip rates up to 1 m s−1. Microstructures were analyzed from short displacement ( 35 cm ) experiments stopped prior to and during the transition to dynamic weakening. In fresh calcite gouge layers, dynamic weakening occurs after a prolonged strengthening phase that becomes shorter with increasing normal stress and decreasing layer thickness. Strain is initially distributed across the full thickness of the gouge layer, but within a few millimeters displacement the strain becomes localized to a boundary-parallel, high-strain shear band c. 20 μm wide. During the strengthening phase, which lasts between 3 and 30 cm under the investigated conditions, the shear band broadens to become c. 100 μm wide at peak stress. The transition to dynamic weakening in calcite gouges is associated with the nucleation of micro-slip surfaces dispersed throughout the c. 100 μm wide shear band. Each slip surface is surrounded by aggregates of extremely fine grained and tightly packed calcite, interpreted to result from grain welding driven by local frictional heating in the shear band. By the end of dynamic weakening strain is localized to a single 2 – 3 -μm wide principal slip surface, flanked by layers of recrystallized gouge. Calcite gouge layers re-sheared following a hold period weaken nearly instantaneously, much like solid cylinders of calcite marble deformed under the same experimental conditions. This is due to reactivation of the recrystallized and cohesive principal slip surface that formed during the first slide, reducing the effective gouge layer thickness to a few microns. Our results suggest that formation of a high-strain shear band is a critical precursor to dynamic weakening in calcite gouges. Microstructures are most compatible with dynamic weakening resulting from a thermally triggered mechanism such as flash heating that requires both a high degree of strain localization and a minimum slip velocity to activate. The delayed onset of dynamic weakening in fresh calcite gouge layers, particularly at low normal stresses, may inhibit large coseismic slip at shallow crustal levels in calcite-bearing fault zones.

Faults—thin zones of highly localized shear deformation in the Earth—accommodate strain on a momentous range of dimensions (millimetres to hundreds of kilometres for major plate boundaries) and of time intervals (from fractions of seconds during earthquake slip, to years of slow, aseismic slip and millions of years of intermittent activity). Traditionally, brittle faults have been distinguished from shear zones which deform by crystal plasticity (e.g. mylonites). However such brittle/plastic distinction becomes blurred when considering (i) deep earthquakes that happen under conditions of pressure and temperature where minerals are clearly in the plastic deformation regime (a clue for seismologists over several decades) and (ii) the extreme dynamic stress drop occurring during seismic slip acceleration on faults, requiring efficient weakening mechanisms. High strain rates (more than 10 4 s −1 ) are accommodated within paper-thin layers (principal slip zone), where co-seismic frictional heating triggers non-brittle weakening mechanisms. In addition, (iii) pervasive off-fault damage is observed, introducing energy sinks which are not accounted for by traditional frictional models. These observations challenge our traditional understanding of friction (rate-and-state laws), anelastic deformation (creep and flow of crystalline materials) and the scientific consensus on fault operation. This article is part of the themed issue ‘Faulting, friction and weakening: from slow to fast motion’.