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Regarding the occurrence of seismicity on major plate-boundary fault zones, one leading hypothesis is that the processes of lithification is responsible transforming loose, unconsolidated sediment that does not host earthquake nucleation into the frictionally unstable rocks that inhabit the seismogenic zone. Previous laboratory studies comparing the frictional properties of intact rocks and powdered versions of the same rocks generally support this hypothesis. However, systematically quantifying frictional behavior as a function of lithification remains a challenge. Here, we simulate the lithification process in the laboratory by consolidating mixtures of halite and shale powders with halite-saturated brine, which we then desiccate. The desiccation allows precipitation of halite as cement, creating synthetic rocks. We quantify lithification by: (1) direct measurement of cohesion, and (2) measuring the porosity reduction of lithified samples compared to powders. We observe that powdered samples of each halite-shale proportion exhibit predominantly velocity-strengthening friction, whereas lithified samples exhibit a combination of velocity strengthening and significant velocity weakening when halite constitutes at least 30 wt% of the sample. Analysis of the individual rate-dependent friction parameters shows that the occurrence of velocity weakening is due to relatively low values of a for lithified samples. Larger velocity weakening is associated with cohesion of >∼1 MPa, and porosity reduction of >∼50 vol%. Microstructural images reveal that the shear surfaces for powders tend to exhibit small cracks not seen on the lithified sample shear surfaces. Our results suggest that lithification via cementation and porosity loss can facilitate slip instability, supporting the lithification hypothesis for seismogenic slip.

On major plate-boundary fault zones, it is generally observed that large-magnitude earthquakes tend to nucleate within a discrete depth range in the crust known as the seismogenic zone. This is generally explained by the contrast between frictionally stable, velocity strengthening sediments at shallow depths and lithified, velocity-weakening rocks at seismogenic (10’s of km) depth. Thus, it is hypothesized that diagenetic and low-grade metamorphic processes are responsible for the development of velocity-weakening frictional behavior in sediments that make up fault gouges. Previous laboratory studies comparing the frictional properties of intact rocks and powdered versions of the same rocks generally support this hypothesis, however controlling lithification in the laboratory and systematically quantifying frictional behavior as a function of lithification and remains a challenge.Here, we simulate the lithification process in the laboratory by using mixtures of halite and shale powders with halite-saturated brine, which we consolidate under 10 MPa normal stress and subsequently desiccate. The desiccation allows precipitation of halite as cement, creating synthetic rocks. We vary the proportion of salt to shale in our samples, which we use as a proxy for degree of lithification. We measure the frictional properties of our lithified samples, and equivalent powdered versions of these samples, with velocity-step tests in the range 10-7 – 3x10-5 m/s. We quantify lithification by two methods: (1) direct measurement of cohesion, and (2) measuring the porosity reduction of lithified samples compared to powders. Using these measurements, we systematically investigate the relationship between lithification and frictional slip behavior.We observe that powdered samples of every halite-shale proportion exhibits predominantly velocity-strengthening friction, whereas lithified samples exhibit a combination of velocity strengthening and significant velocity weakening when halite constitutes at least 30 wt% of the sample. Larger velocity weakening generally coincides with friction coefficients of > 0.62, cohesion of > ~1 MPa, and porosity reduction of > ~50 vol%. Although none of our lithified samples exhibit strictly velocity-weakening friction, this is consistent with the frictional behavior of pure halite under our experimental conditions. Scanning electron microscopy images do not show any clear characteristics attributable to velocity-weakening, but did reveal that the shear surfaces for powders tends to exhibit small cracks not seen in the lithified sample shear surfaces. These results suggest that lithification via cementation and porosity loss may facilitate slip instability, but that microstructural indicators are subtle.

Previous work suggests that in subduction zones, the onset of large earthquake nucleation at depths > ~ 5–10 km is likely driven by a combination of factors associated with the process of lithification. At these depths, lithification processes affect the entire fault system by modifying the mechanical properties of both the plate boundary fault zone and the wall-rock. To test the hypothesis that lithification of subduction zone sediments produces rocks capable of earthquake nucleation via diagenesis and low-grade metamorphism, we conducted friction experiments on fossil subduction zone sediments recovered from exposures in the Shimanto Belt in SW Japan. These meta-sediments represent accreted and subducted material which has experienced maximum temperatures of 125 to 225 °C, which are representative of seismogenic depths along the active Nankai subduction megathrust in the foreland of the Shimanto Belt. We find that intact Shimanto rock samples, which preserve the influence of diagenetic and metamorphic processes, exhibit the potential for unstable slip under in-situ pressure conditions. Powdered versions of the same samples tested under the same conditions exhibit only velocity-strengthening friction, thus demonstrating that destroying the lithification state also removes the potential for unstable slip. Using advanced porosity loss to quantify the lithification process, we demonstrate that increased velocity weakening correlates with increasingly advanced lithification. In combination with documented frictionally stable behavior of subduction zone sediments from shallower depths, our results provide evidence that the sediment lithification hypothesis can explain the depth-dependent onset of large earthquake nucleation along subduction zone megathrusts.

One poorly understood feature of the subduction inputs to the Nankai Trough subduction zone (SW Japan) is a stratigraphic interval with an anomalously high porosity zone (HPZ), which is up to 240 m thick and located within the clay- and volcanic ash-rich Shikoku Basin facies. To investigate the origin of their peculiar physical properties, we integrated logging-while-drilling (LWD) data, shipboard density measurements, and visual descriptions of core samples recovered from four drill sites of the Ocean Drilling Program and Integrated Ocean Drilling Program. We combined those observations with scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and laboratory consolidation tests on both HPZ samples and artificial mixtures of ash (glass shards) + smectite and vesicular pumice + smectite. LWD data indicate that the HPZ mudstones have a large proportion of dispersed volcanic ash (~ 20–30%). The consolidation tests show that the rate of porosity loss with increasing effective stress (consolidation behavior) is consistent among HPZ specimens and matches artificial mixtures containing up to 60% volcanic material. However, absolute values of porosity remain higher for HPZ samples compared to artificial mixtures, so processes in addition to the mechanical effects of volcanic clasts must be contributing. We suggest that hydration and partial dissolution turns clusters of volcanic glass into aggregates with distinct microfabric. SEM images confirm the presence of strengthened grain-to-grain contacts, which probably inhibit the collapse of the intra-aggregate pore space. The aggregates behave like grains, so that cohesive strength of the bulk sediment and rate of porosity loss remain nearly unchanged during burial. The two-step diagenetic process of dissolution and precipitation depends critically on a threshold abundance of fine-grained dispersed volcanic ash/pumice. Older units in the Shikoku Basin with only traces of dispersed ash show no such effects. HPZs should be expected in other subduction zones with similar compositional and diagenetic prerequisites.

Sediments tell a tsunami story Trying to understand where major earthquakes and tsunamis might occur requires analysis of the sediments pouring into a subduction zone. Thick sediments were expected to limit earthquake and tsunami size in the Sumatran megathrust event in 2004, but the magnitude 9.2 earthquake defied expectations. Hüpers et al. analyzed sediments recovered from the Sumatran megathrust. They found evidence of sediment dehydration, which increased fault strength and allowed for the much larger earthquake to occur. Thus, models of other subduction zones, such as the Gulf of Alaska, may underestimate the maximum earthquake magnitude and tsunami risk. Science , this issue p. 841

The Nankai Trough convergent margin has been the focus of many multi-methodological surveys including half a dozen scientific deep-sea drilling expeditions. The boreholes focused on the smectite-dominated area off Cape Ashizuri and the thermally altered, illite-dominated region off Cape Muroto. On the basis of these surveys a number of studies addressed to the stress state of the underthrust sediments and its implications for the plate boundary thrust. Although the basement temperature has been found to be up to ∼ 110 °C, none of these studies drew close attention to temperature effects on the consolidation state of the sediments. To overcome this shortcoming, we selected end member sediment lithologies from the incoming oceanic plate in the Shikoku Basin and subjected them to elevated stresses and temperatures. We here present results from a series of heated (20 °C, 100 °C, 150 °C) uniaxial consolidation experiments up to effective normal stresses of ca. 70 MPa. The main finding is a positive correlation between temperature and pore space reduction. Based on in-situ temperature information from earlier scientific drilling, our study suggests that temperature has an influence on the consolidation state of underthrust sediments along the Nankai Margin. Together with secondary consolidation, thermal consolidation serves to explain steep log-linear consolidation curves of the incoming Lower Shikoku Basin sediments. The onset of diagenesis in this realm led to the transition of smectite to illite and to a different consolidation behaviour. Estimated in-situ pore pressures based on in-situ temperature data result in up to ∼ 1 MPa smaller overpressures than those previously estimated from drilling data alone. Those values, which imply underconsolidation at drill sites near the frontal Nankai accretionary complex, are further believed to facilitate frictional sliding along the subduction thrust.

[1] The diagenetic smectite to illite transition is widely accepted to cause ubiquitous pore water freshening at convergent margins. However, experimental consolidation tests show that smectite also dehydrates partially with increasing effective stress. To shed light on this process three hydrothermal consolidation tests on a silty smectite-rich claystone were conducted with stresses (P) up to 70 MPa and at constant temperatures (T) of 20°C, 60°C and 100°C. Fluids expelled during the tests were analyzed for major and trace elements to evaluate dehydration and fluid-rock interaction with increasing PT conditions. The results document that fluid freshening starts when the effective stress exceeds 1.3 MPa. The smectite interlayer water content decreases from 27 wt-% to ∼20 wt-% during the experiments, which is equivalent to an interlayer collapse from 18.5 to ∼15.4 A. The released interlayer H20 accounts for up to 17% of the total fluid volume released from the consolidating sediment. Major and volatile element geochemistry is influenced by temperature and smectite interlayer collapse. The interlayer collapse is characterized by K and Ca uptake while is B released from smectite. Application of experimental results to the Barbados accretionary margin shows that stress dependent smectite dehydration is an important fluid source mechanism and accounts for substantial fluid freshening. Modeled smectite dehydration suggests a decrease of smectite interlayer water content from 27 wt-% at the surface down to ∼22 wt-% at 2 km depth. This leads to chlorinity values as low as 460 mM.