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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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

We performed 31 friction experiments on glassy basalts (GB) and glass-free basalts (GFB) at slip rates up to 6.5 m s−1 and normal stress up to 40 MPa (seismic conditions). Frictional weakening was associated to bulk frictional melting and lubrication. The weakening distance (Dw) was about 3 times shorter in GB than in GFB, but the steady state friction was systematically higher in GB than in GFB. The shorter Dw in GB may be explained by the thermal softening occurring at the glass transition temperature (Tg ~500°C), which is lower than the bulk melting temperature (Tm ~1250°C) of GFB. Postexperiment microanalyses suggest that the larger crystal fraction measured in GB melts results in the higher steady state friction value compared to the GFB melts. The effect of interstitial glass is to facilitate frictional instability and rupture propagation in GB with respect to GFB.

We estimate seismological fracture energies from two subsets of events selected from the seismic sequences of L’Aquila (2009), and Northridge (1994): 57 and 16 selected events, respectively, including the main shocks. Following Abercrombie and Rice (Geophys J Int 162: 406–424, 2005), we postulate that fracture energy (G) represents the post-failure integral of the dynamic weakening curve, which is described by the evolution of shear traction as a function of slip. Following a direct-wave approach, we compute mainshock-/aftershock-source spectral ratios, and analyze them using the approach proposed by Malagnini et al. (Pure Appl. Geophys., this issue, 2014) to infer corner frequencies and seismic moment. Our estimates of source parameters (including fracture energies) are based on best-fit grid-searches performed over empirical source spectral ratios. We quantify the source scaling of spectra from small and large earthquakes by using the MDAC formulation of Walter and Taylor (A revised Magnitude and Distance Amplitude Correction (MDAC2) procedure for regional seismic discriminants, 2001). The source parameters presented in this paper must be considered as point-source estimates representing averages calculated over specific ruptured portions of the fault area. In order to constrain the scaling of fracture energy with coseismic slip, we investigate two different slip-weakening functions to model the shear traction as a function of slip: (i) a power law, as suggested by Abercrombie and Rice (Geophys J Int 162: 406–424, 2005), and (ii) an exponential decay. Our results show that the exponential decay of stress on the fault allows a good fit between measured and predicted fracture energies, both for the main events and for their aftershocks, regardless of the significant differences in the energy budgets between the large (main) and small earthquakes (aftershocks). Using the power-law slip-weakening function would lead us to a very different situation: in our two investigated sequences, if the aftershock scaling is extrapolated to events with large slips, a power law (a la Abercrombie and Rice) would predict unrealistically large stress drops for large, main earthquakes. We conclude that the exponential stress evolution law has the advantage of avoiding unrealistic stress drops and unbounded fracture energies at large slip values, while still describing the abrupt shear-stress degradation observed in high-velocity laboratory experiments (e.g., Di Toro et al., Fault lubrication during earthquakes, Nature 2011).

[1] We observe the nucleation phase of in-plane ruptures in the laboratory. We show that the nucleation is composed of two distinct phases, a quasi-static and an acceleration stage, followed by dynamic propagation. We propose an empirical model which describes the rupture length evolution: The quasi-static phase is described by an exponential growth while the acceleration phase is described by an inverse power law of time. The transition from quasi-static to accelerating rupture is related to the critical nucleation length, which scales inversely with normal stress in accordance with theoretical predictions, and to a critical surfacic power, which may be an intrinsic property of the interface. Finally, we discuss these results in the frame of previous studies and propose a scaling up to natural earthquake dimensions.

Sonic Boom from Below Seismic shear waves released by an earthquake typically far outpace motion along the fault surface. Occasionally, however, earthquakes along strike-slip faults appear to propagate so that the rupture velocity is faster than shear waves, creating a sort of sonic boom along the fault surface. Passelègue et al. (p. 1208 ) were able to reproduce and measure these so-called supershear ruptures in stick-slip experiments with two pieces of granite under high applied normal stress. Much like during a sonic boom when a plane travels faster than the speed of sound, the ruptures created a shock wave in the form of a Mach cone around the rupture front.

While it is widely recognized that fluids influence fault strength and earthquake nucleation, propagation and arrest, their effects on co-seismic sliding friction are only conjectured. To shed light on these effects, 55 high velocity (>1ms-1) friction experiments were conducted at room temperature on Carrara marble samples in the presence of pore fluid (up to 15MPa pore pressure), room-humidity and "vacuum" (10-4mbar) conditions. In all the experiments, the friction coefficient evolved from a peak value of 0.6-0.8 to a steady-state value of 0.1 in about 1-1.5m of slip. However, experiments performed in the presence of pore fluid had a large and more abrupt decrease in friction at the initiation of sliding (65% after 20mm of slip), whereas experiments performed under vacuum and room humidity conditions showed initial velocity-strengthening behavior followed by a more gradual reduction in friction. This indicates that calcite-bearing rocks are more prone to slip in the presence of water. Under room-humidity conditions, CO2 was detected during the entire duration of the experiment. In the presence of pore fluid, HCO3 - and Ca2+ were detected for slips >0.1m. The lack of decarbonation products (HCO3 - and Ca2+) in pore fluid experiments for slip

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.

We report supershear ruptures observed in spontaneously nucleating laboratory microearthquakes and describe the signature of the associated Mach wavefront radiation. Transducers detect the wavefield both close and at a distance from the fault. The rupture velocities are inferred from either photoelastic high-speed imaging or using the acoustic recordings; both methods yield compatible estimates of sufficient accuracy to discriminate between sub-shear and supershear ruptures. The acoustic records allow to characterize the Mach wavefront radiated from the supershear rupture front, in particular its amplitude and decay. Velocity functions recovered by integrating high frequency accelerometer signals in the case of supershear ruptures, consist in a double-pulse function: a first pulse traveling at supershear velocity followed by a second pulse traveling at the Rayleigh wave velocity. Conversely, the sub-shear event is characterized by a single pulse. Finally, we perform numerical simulations of our experiment using a prescribed supershear rupture velocity. The synthetic waveforms obtained from these simulations, including the Mach wave amplitude and phase, yield a satisfactory fit to the experimental results.

Fault surface roughness is a principal factor influencing earthquake mechanics, and particularly rupture initiation, propagation, and arrest. However, little data currently exist on fault surfaces at seismogenic depths. Here, we investigate the roughness of slip surfaces from the seismogenic strike-slip Gole Larghe Fault Zone, exhumed from ca. 10 km depth. The fault zone exploited pre-existing joints and is hosted in granitoid rocks of the Adamello batholith (Italian Alps). Individual seismogenic slip surfaces generally show a first phase of cataclasite production, and a second phase with beautifully preserved pseudotachylytes of variable thickness. We determined the geometry of fault traces over almost five orders of magnitude using terrestrial laser-scanning (LIDAR, ca. 500 to\1 m scale), and 3D mosaics of high-resolution rectified digital photographs (10 m to ca. 1 mm scale). LIDAR scans and photomosaics were georeferenced in 3D using a Differential Global Positioning System, allowing detailed multiscale reconstruction of fault traces in Gocad . The combination of LIDAR and high-resolution photos has the advantage, compared with classical LIDARonly surveys, that the spatial resolution of rectified photographs can be very high (up to 0.2 mm/pixel in this study), allowing for detailed outcrop characterization. Fourier power spectrum analysis of the fault traces revealed a self-affine behaviour over 3–5 orders of magnitude, with Hurst exponents ranging between 0.6 and 0.8. Parameters from Fourier analysis have been used to reconstruct synthetic 3D fault surfaces with an equivalent roughness by means of 2D Fourier synthesis. Roughness of pre-existing joints is in a typical range for this kind of structure. Roughness of faults at small scale (1 m to 1 mm) shows a clear genetic relationship with the roughness of precursor joints, and some anisotropy in the selfaffine Hurst exponent. Roughness of faults at scales larger than net slip ([1–10 m) is not anisotropic and less evolved than at smaller scales. These observations are consistent with an evolution of roughness, due to fault surface processes, that takes place only at scales smaller or comparable to the observed net slip. Differences in roughness evolution between shallow and deeper faults, the latter showing evidences of seismic activity, are interpreted as the result of different weakening versus induration processes, which also result in localization versus delocalization of deformation in the fault zone. From a methodological point of view, the technique used here is advantageous over direct measurements of exposed fault surfaces in that it preserves, in cross-section, all of the structures which contribute to fault roughness, and removes any subjectivity introduced by the need to distinguish roughness of original slip surfaces from roughness induced by secondary weathering processes. Moreover, offsets can be measured by means of suitable markers and fault rocks are preserved, hence their thickness, composition and structural features can be characterised, providing an integrated dataset which sheds new light on mechanisms of roughness evolution with slip and concomitant fault rock production.

Recent studies on seismological data indicate that earthquake magnitude scales with either the dominant period or the peak amplitude in the seismogram's first few seconds. At first sight, this may indicate that the earthquake's final size is some- how related to the way rupture starts. One working hypothesis is that strong radiation from the initial phase of rupture is indicative of a triggering asperity releasing a con- sistent amount of elastic energy, with the potential to drive the fracture to large extents. We tested this concept with a number of numerical simulations, but within the models investigated, scaling was found only for ruptures extending up to about four times the size of the initial asperity; at larger distances the correlation was lost. Alternatively, a careful kinematic analysis of the earthquake source radiation shows that the initial signal recorded at any station does not necessarily correspond to the rupture initiation but may represent an extended portion of the radiating source. Using the concept of isochrones, we show that the apparent scaling may be explained by a simple kinematic model respecting causality, up to a given magnitude threshold where the scaling re- lation saturates. The saturation level is in agreement with that observed in some, but not all, of the real seismicity catalogs. Online Material: Additional synthetic kinematic catalogs.

We investigate the complex propagation of seismic waves beneath the Campi Flegrei caldera, Italy, using multichannel recordings of artificial explosions. The sources consisted of air gun explosions shot in the Gulf of Pozzuoli at offsets ranging between 3 and 7 km. A multichannel recording device was deployed in the Solfatara crater and consisted of ten vertical-component and two three-component short-period seismometers with a maximum aperture of about 150 m. The zero-lag correlation (zlc) technique was adopted to estimate horizontal slowness and backazimuth of coherent waves crossing the array. For sources located in the northern sector of the Gulf, with maximum offset 5 km, ray parameters and backazimuths are in agreement with those predicted for the 1D velocity model used for routine locations. For sources at offsets larger than ∼5 km, the zlc curves depict prominent maxima associated with a secondary phase propagating with a lower velocity than the first-arrival P wave. Using finite-difference synthetic seismograms generated for a 2D realistic velocity model, we explain these late arrivals in terms of a lateral velocity variation located at depths of about 1 km. Such discontinuity would correspond to a positive Vp anomaly imaged by a recent 3D tomographic study, and interpreted as the submerged southern rim of Campi Flegrei caldera collapsed during the explosive eruption of 12 ky b.p. The small spacing among adjacent shot points allowed simultaneous wave-field decomposition at the source and receiver arrays. Using a modified version of the double-beam method, we retrieve the independent variation of horizontal slowness at both the source and receiver regions. For both cases, we found azimuthal deviations as large as 50° with respect to the great circle path. At the source region, these discrepancies may be interpreted in terms of ray bending at the interface of the aforementioned positive anomaly. At the receiver array, the observed anomalies may be attributed to either velocity variations marking the Solfatara crater rim, or to a near-receiver, low-velocity body whose position would coincide with negative gravimetric anomalies and a high Vp / Vs ratio region inferred by independent geophysical and seismological studies.

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’.

Fluid-rock interactions can control earthquake nucleation and the evolution of earthquake sequences. Experimental studies of fault frictional properties in the presence of fluid can provide unique insights into these interactions. We report the first results from experiments performed on cohesive silicate-bearing rocks (microgabbro) in the presence of pressurized pore fluids (H2O, drained conditions) at realistic seismic deformation conditions. The experimental data are compared with those recently obtained from carbonate-bearing rocks (Carrara marble). Contrary to theoretical arguments, and consistent with the interpretation of some field observations, we show that frictional melting of a microgabbro develops in the presence of water. In microgabbro, the initial weakening mechanism (flash melting of the asperities) is delayed in the presence of water; conversely, in calcite marble the weakening mechanism (brittle failure of the asperities) is favored. This opposite behavior highlights the importance of host-rock composition in controlling dynamic (frictional) weakening in the presence of water: cohesive carbonate-bearing rocks are more prone to slip in the presence of water, whereas the presence of water might delay or inhibit the rupture nucleation and propagation in cohesive silicate-bearing rocks. © 2013 Geological Society of America.

The Longmenshan fault that ruptured during the 2008 Mw 7.9 Wenchuan (China) earthquake was drilled to a depth of 1200 m, and fault rocks including those in the 2008 earthquake slip zone were recovered at a depth of 575–595 m. We report laboratory strength measurements and microstructural observations from samples of slip zone fault rocks at deformation conditions expected for coseismic slip at borehole depths. Results indicate that the Longmenshan fault at this locality is extremely weak at seismic slip rates. In situ synchrotron X-ray diffraction analysis indicates that graphite was formed along localized slip zones in the experimental products, similar to the occurrence of graphite in the natural principal slip zone of the 2008 Wenchuan rupture. We surmise that graphitization occurred due to frictional heating of carbonaceous minerals. Because graphitization was associated with strong dynamic weakening in the experiments, we further infer that the Longmenshan fault was extremely weak at borehole depths during the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, and that enrichment of graphite along localized slip zones could be used as an indicator of transient frictional heating during seismic slip in the upper crust.

Dynamic models of earthquake rupture and slip are a powerful method by which to investigate the physics of earthquakes. Owing to both conceptual and computational constraints, dynamic earthquake models have largely been limited to cases with geometrical symmetry, such as faults in unbounded media or vertical faults. However, there are both observational and theoretical reasons to believe that nonvertical dip-slip faults behave differently from faults with more symmetrical geometries. Previous observations have shown greater ground motion from thrust/reverse faults than normal faults and higher ground motion on hanging walls than on footwalls. In the present work, two-dimensional dynamic simulations of thrust/reverse and normal earthquakes show precisely these effects and also elucidate their causes. For typical nonvertical dip-slip faults the breakdown of symmetry with respect to the free surface allows radiated seismic waves to reflect off the free surface and to hit the fault again, altering the stress field on the fault. This process can lead to time-dependent normal stress and a feedback between the friction/rupture processes and seismic radiation. This interaction leads to thrust/reverse faults producing much higher fault and ground motion than normal faults with the same geometry and stress magnitudes. The asymmetric geometry also directly leads to higher motion on the hanging walls of such faults than on the footwalls. Simulations show that these effects occur for a variety of dip angles but only for faults that either intersect or closely approach the free surface. The results emphasize the strong effect that the free surface can have on the dynamics of fault rupture and slip.

SUMMARY It has recently been shown that rather small perturbations in eiective stress due to £uid injection or withdrawal may trigger microseismic events. Such events, typically in the magnitude range below magnitude 4 ML, have similar characteristics to normal tectonic earthquakes, with double-couple focal mechanisms implying a dominant shear motion at the source. In this paper we examine the nature of this mechanical £uid^rock interaction for the case of £uid injection in a hydrocarbon reservoir. Our model is based on the combination of a model of seismicity in dry rocks and a model of pore £uid pressure diiusion. The former involves a ¢nite diierence approximation of the equation of motion, and the latter follows a lattice Boltzmann approach. They are coupled via the concept of eiective stress, applied both to the Mohr^Coulomb rupture criterion and to the volumetric elastic deformations, which in turn perturb the pore pressure. The simplifying assumptions are that the £uid and solid phases have the same bulk moduli and that strain compatibility conditions are not included. 2-D plane-strain simulations of £uid injections in an anisotropically pre-stressed elastic brittle medium illustrate the capabilities of the model: spontaneous inception and growth of shear fractures, in both the near and far ¢elds, and explicit calculation of their seismic radiation, which feeds back into pore pressure perturbations. They also show that, as expected, the amount and rate of stress drop during the brittle rupture control the size and spatial density of the resulting fractures. Our model should prove to be relevant at least in two cases: as a simulation tool in the investigation of correlations between injection and producer wells which are thought to be of geomechanical origin in certain oil ¢elds, and as a forward model in the inversion of focal mechanisms of pore-pressure-induced shear events.

We present a quantitative framework for evaluating the influence of non-planar fault geometry on repeated seismic ruptures. We model quasistatic ruptures on a non-planar fault trace imbedded in a two-dimensional elastic medium under in-plane strain. Because of the presence of fault segments that are not parallel to the regional shear stress (i.e. bends), the apparent strength at a given point on the fault is not fixed, but fluctuates with normal stress. Compressional features behave as increasingly strong barriers to fracture unless the stored normal stress is released in order to unlock the fault. Since slip on the fault itself cannot get rid of the normal stress, this is achieved through the action of off-fault morphological features such as secondary faulting, folding and vertical motions, that we introduce parametrically in the form of an aseismic relaxation. The apparent strength of a fault bend will stabilize in a narrow interval of values after repeated ruptures, characterized by a non-dimensional “hardness” parameter, whereby the relaxation rate is scaled by the tectonic loading rate. On a fault structure having several small, widely separated bends, three families of events can be identified whose frequency and magnitude depend on the hardness (relaxation) parameter and the geometry: small events that cluster in the tension zones of the bends, intermediate size ruptures involving a single interbend segment, and large ruptures that break through bends and link on or more interbend segments. Large multi-segment events are most likely to occur for low values of the hardness, i.e., fast relaxation and slow loading rate. Regions with compressional features act as barriers that stop most ruptures; stress is stored at these sites until they themselves break and initiate motion on the smoother, long reaches of the fault.

Dynamic rupture of reverse and normal fault intersecting the surface are investigated. In the case of a normal fault nucleating at depth and propagating upwards, coupling of rupture-radiated stress and free boundary conditions at the surface may induce a shallow secondary nucleation anticipating up to a few seconds the arrival of the main rupture front. Indeed, the free surface induces normal stress fluctuations modifying the fault frictional strength. No significant effect on rupture velocity is observed in the case of reverse faulting. These incidences are explained by a stress analysis and illustrated by some numerical simulations in the case of dynamic normal faulting in a homogeneous half-space. The described effects could explain some observations of high frequency radiation close to the surface in documented shallow earthquakes like in Kalamata, 1986 [Bouin, 1994].

Melt produced by friction during earthquakes may act either as a coseismic fault lubricant or as a viscous brake. Here we estimate the dynamic shear resistance (τf) in the presence of friction-induced melts from both exhumed faults and high-velocity (1.28 meters per second) frictional experiments. Exhumed faults within granitoids (tonalites) indicate low τfat 10 kilometers in depth. Friction experiments on tonalite samples show that τfdepends weakly on normal stress. Extrapolation of experimental data yields τfvalues consistent with the field estimates and well below the Byerlee strength. We conclude that friction-induced melts can lubricate faults at intermediate crustal depths.

Earthquakes occur along faults in response to plate tectonic movements, but paradoxically, are not widely recognized in the geological record, severely limiting our knowledge of earthquake physics and hampering accurate assessments of seismic hazard. Light-reflective (so-called mirror like) fault surfaces are widely observed geological features, especially in carbonate-bearing rocks of the shallow crust. Here we report on the occurrence of mirror-like fault surfaces cutting dolostone gouges in the Italian Alps. Using friction experiments, we demonstrate that the mirror-like surfaces develop only at seismic slip rates (∼1 m/s) and for applied normal stresses and sliding displacements consistent with those estimated on the natural faults. Under these experimental conditions, the frictional power density dissipated in the samples is comparable to that estimated for natural earthquakes (1–10 MW/m 2 ). Our results indicate that mirror-like surfaces in dolostone gouges are a signature of seismic faulting, and can be used to estimate power dissipation during ancient earthquake ruptures.

We have constructed a dynamical model of seismicity, wherein a fault is embedded in an infinite, continuous, elastic medium. Therefore the influence of the energy dissipated in seismic wave radiation oil the sequential history of model earthquakes is fully taken into account. In this model, the drop in friction at rupture takes place gradually, thus introducing a relaxation dimension. As an example, we consider a finite homogeneous fault that is terminated by infinitely strong barriers at the ends. The features of the seismicity are dominated by the stresses that are reflected from the unbreakable barriers. There is a strong dependence of the patterns of seismicity on the ratio of the relaxation dimension to the distance between the barriers at the ends. For large values of this parameter, we find that periodicity begins after a short transient interval and a dominance of the statistical distributions by large events that break completely through the fault from end to end. For small values of this parameter, smaller-scale seismicity is interspersed with the large events, and no periodicity is observed within the time spanned by the computations. We conclude that major unquenched heterogeneities, such as those found at barriers, which we suppose arise in nature due to the nonuniform geometry of faults, are vital ingredients for generating complex seismic histories as well as giving rise to the complex features of individual earthquake source-time functions in models of seismicity as a dynamical process.

Tectonic pseudotachylytes, i.e. quenched friction-induced silicate melts, record coseismic slip along faults and are mainly reported from the brittle crust in association with cataclasites. In this study, we document the occurrence of recrystallization of quartz to ultrafine-grained (grain size 1–2 μm) aggregates along microshear zones (50–150 μm thick) in the host rock adjacent to pseudotachylytes from two different faults within quartzite (Schneeberg Normal Fault Zone, Eastern Alps), and tonalite (Adamello fault, Southern Alps) in the brittle crust. The transition from the host quartz to microshear zone interior includes: (i) formation of high dislocation densities; (ii) fine (0.3–0.5 μm) polygonization to subgrains defined by disordered to well-ordered dislocation walls; (iii) development of a mosaic aggregate of dislocation-free new grains. The crystallographic preferred orientation (CPO) of quartz towards the microshear zone shows a progressive misorientation from the host grain, by subgrain rotation recrystallization, to a nearly random CPO possibly related to grain boundary sliding. These ultrafine aggregates appear to be typically associated with pseudotachylytes in nature. We refer the crystal plastic deformation of quartz accompanied by dramatic grain size refinement to the coseismic stages of fault slip due to high differential stress and temperature transients induced by frictional heating. Microshear zones localized on precursory fractures developed during the stages of earthquake rupture propagation and the very initial stages of fault slip. Thermal models indicate that the process of recrystallization, including recovery processes, occurred in a time lapse of a few tens of seconds.

[1] With the advent of high-velocity shear apparatus, several experimental studies have been performed in recent years, improving our understanding of the evolution of fault strength during seismic slip. However, these experiments were conducted under relatively low normal stress (

S.N. and G.D.T. were supported by a European Research Council Starting Grant Project (acronym USEMS) and by a Progetti di Eccellenza Fondazione Cassa di Risparmio di Padova e Rovigo. We are grateful to Nick Beeler (and to an anonymous referee) for their constructive reviews and their help to improve the clarity of the manuscript.

Kevin Mayeda was supported under Weston Geophysical subcontract No. GC19762NGD and AFRL contract No. FA8718-06-C-0024. Work by L. Malagnini was performed under the auspices of the Dipartimento della Protezione Civile, under contract S3 – INGV-DPC (2007-2009), project: “Valutazione rapida dei parametri e degli effetti dei forti terremoti in Italia e nel Mediterraneo”.

We acknowledge Takehiro Hirose for providing sample HVR 687. Stefan Nielsen was granted by the MIUR project FUMO, and Giulio Di Toro and Stefan Nielsen were granted by the European Research Council Starting Grant Project 205175 (USEMS) and CA.RI.PA.RO. We thank Leonardo Tauro for thin section preparation, Luca Peruzzo, Steven Smith and Piergiorgio Scarlato for SEM facilities and Toshi Shimamoto for his constant support. Finally, we are grateful to Nick Beeler and Chris Marone for their constructive reviews.

[1] We report systematic spatial variations in fault rocks along nonplanar strike-slip faults cross-cutting the Lake Edison Granodiorite, Sierra Nevada, California (Sierran wavy fault) and Lobbia outcrops of the Adamello Batholith in the Italian Alps (Lobbia wavy fault). In the case of the Sierran fault, pseudotachylyte formed at contractional fault bends, where it is found as thin (1–2 mm) fault-parallel veins. Epidote and chlorite developed in the same seismic context as the pseudotachylyte and are especially abundant in extensional fault bends. We argue that the presence of fluids, as illustrated by this example, does not necessarily preclude the development of frictional melt. In the case of the Lobbia fault, pseudotachylyte thickness varies along the length of the fault, but the pseudotachylyte veins thicken and pool in extensional bends. We conduct a quantitative analysis of fault roughness, microcrack distribution, stress, and friction along the Lobbia fault. Numerical modeling results show that opening in extensional bends and localized thermal weakening in contractional bends counteract resistance encountered by fault waviness, resulting in an overall weaker fault than suggested by the corresponding static friction coefficient. The models also predict static stress redistribution around bends in the faults which is consistent with distribution of microcracks, indicating significant elastic and inelastic strain energy is dissipated into the wall rocks due to nonplanar fault geometry. Together these observations suggest that damage and energy dissipation occurs along the entire nonplanar fault during slip, rather than being confined to the region close to the dynamically propagating crack tip.

Despite considerable effort over the past several decades, the mechanics of earthquake rupture remains largely unknown. Moderate- to large-magnitude earthquakes nucleate at 7–15 km depth and most information is retrieved from seismology, but information related to the physico-chemical processes active during rupture propagation is below the resolution of this method. An alternative approach includes the investigation of exhumed faults, such as those described here from the Adamello Massif (Italian Alps), and the use of rock deformation apparatus capable of reproducing earthquake deformation conditions in the laboratory. The analysis of field and microstructural/mineralogical/geochemical data retrieved from the large glacier-polished exposures of the Adamello (Gole Larghe Fault) provides information on earthquake source parameters, including the coseismic slip, the rupture directivity and velocity, the dynamic friction and earthquake energy budgets. Some of this information (e.g., the evolution of the friction coefficient with slip) can be tested in the laboratory with the recently installed Slow to HIgh Velocity Apparatus (SHIVA). SHIVA uses two brushless engines (max power 280 kW) and an air actuator in a rotary shear configuration (nominally infinite displacement) to slide solid or hollow rock cylinders (40/50 mm int/ext diameter) at: (1) slip rates ranging from 10 μm s−1 up to 9 m s−1; (2) accelerations up to 80 m s−2; and (3) normal stresses up to 50 MPa. In comparison to existing high-speed friction machines, this apparatus extends the range of sliding velocities, normal stresses and sample size. In particular, SHIVA has been specifically designed to reproduce slip velocities and accelerations that occur during earthquakes. The characterization of rock frictional behavior under these conditions, plus the comparison with natural fault products, is expected to provide important insights into the mechanics of earthquakes.