Search

• Elastic wave velocity of gabbro and peridotite is dependent on brittle deformation. • Crack development during deformation is different between gabbro and peridotite. • Moho reflectivity is influenced by different brittle behaviors of crust and mantle. Cracks that develop during brittle deformation easily modify rocks' physical properties; therefore, understanding of seismic properties of oceanic rocks during deformation is essential for interpretation of the seismic observations of the oceanic lithosphere. Here we measured elastic wave velocities of gabbro and peridotite during triaxial deformation experiments at room temperature, a confining pressure of 20 MPa, and a strain rate of ∼10−6 s−1. Gabbroic rocks showed significant decrease in elastic wave velocities approaching the maximum stress, which is comparable to that of typical crystalline rocks. On the other hand, peridotite showed relatively sudden and small decrease in elastic wave velocities close to the maximum stress. We inverted the observed velocities to crack density tensor based on an effective medium theory. The different changes in elastic wave velocities between gabbroic rocks and peridotites were interpreted by different characteristics of crack development, where limited number of cracks were opened in peridotite than in gabbroic rocks. The calculated reflection coefficient of the interface between the gabbro and peridotite increases from <0.1 to ∼0.25 as approaching the maximum stress. Synthetic seismograms computed from the crack-dependent velocity structures of the oceanic lithosphere indicate that the Moho reflectivity is highly sensitive to the contrast of crack-damage across the crust-mantle boundary. The existence of a heterogeneous crack-damaged zone in the oceanic lithosphere, which is likely related to intra-plate earthquakes, may result in the spatial variations of Moho reflection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To investigate the influence of hydration on brittle deformation of oceanic crustal rocks, we conducted triaxial deformation experiments on gabbroic rocks with various degrees of hydration at a confining pressure of 20 MPa and room temperature, measuring elastic wave velocity. Hydrated olivine gabbros reached a maximum differential stress of 225–350 MPa, which was considerably less than those recorded for gabbros (~450 MPa), but comparable to those for serpentinized ultramafic rocks (250–300 MPa). Elastic wave velocities of hydrated olivine gabbros did not show a marked decrease even prior to failure. This indicated that the deformation of hydrated olivine gabbro is not associated with the opening of the stress-induced cracks that are responsible for dilatancy. Microstructural observations of the samples recovered after deformation showed crack damage to be highly localized to fault zones with no trace of stress-induced crack opening, consistent with the absence of dilatancy. These data suggest that strain localization of hydrated olivine gabbro can be caused by the development of shear cracks in hydrous minerals such as serpentine and chlorite, even when they are present in only small amounts. Our results suggest that the brittle behavior of the oceanic crust may considerably change due to limited hydration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]