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Mirror-like surfaces (MSs) are ultra-polished fault surfaces that reflect visible light thanks to their low surface roughness (nm-scale). These ultra-polished surfaces are often found in seismogenic fault zones cutting limestones and dolostones (e.g., Siman-Tov et al., 2013; Fondriest et al., 2013; Ohl et al., 2020). Both natural and experimentally-produced fault-related MSs were described in spatial association with ultrafine matrix (grain size

We present a novel apparatus designed to investigate the mechanical and chemical processes active during the nucleation and the subsequent propagation of a seismic rupture. The earthquake is experimentally represented by the sudden frictional sliding of two blocks caused by either: i) the passage of a rupture front from a nearby seismogenic source at prescribed slip velocity, or ii) by the sudden release of strain energy cumulated during the slow (tectonic) loading stage preceding the nucleation of seismic rupture. M.E.E.R.A. (Mechanics of Earthquake and Extended Rupture Apparatus) is a biaxial horizontal machine installed at the laboratories of the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia of Rome (Italy) thanks to a grant funded by the Italian Dipartimento di Protezione Civile. MEERA works on two blocks sized 320x80x50 mm3 put in frictional contact under a normal load up to 30 MPa. Blocks can be either rocks or analogue materials. The normal load and the shear stress are supplied by 6 hydraulic piston cylinders. One piston applies the tangential force up to 150 kN and up to 40 mm/s of slip rate. The other 5 cylinders modulate the normal force on the 320 x 50 mm2 contact surface. The 6 pistons are mounted on a rigid stainless-steel vessel that can be closed by a top built in plexiglass, which enables the environmental chamber for fluid confinement. The plexiglass top resists up to 6 MPa of fluid pressure exerted and controlled by using two ISCO pumps. MEERA is designed following the outline described in McLaskey and Yamashita (2017) and introduces three novelties: the control in displacement and displacement rate of the tangential piston up to 1kS/s; the environmental chamber; the rigid stainless-steel frame. MEERA is designed to study how the tectonic loading of a frictional interface composed of natural rocks determine the stress state and shear stress evolution governing seismogenic processes. To this end, the simulated fault in MEERA is equipped with acoustic sensors, strain gauges, optical fibers and high velocity cameras to measure and constrain rupture nucleation processes and earthquake source parameters, including directivity and rupture velocity, the dynamics of seismic ruptures and the earthquake energy budget at different scales. We aim at comparing the laboratory observations and the signals collected by MEERA with those collected by the newly developed on-fault observatory of the ERC FEAR project in the Bedretto Underground Laboratory for Geosciences and Geoenergies (BULGG, Swiss Alps) to provide novel insights in earthquake mechanics.

Faults can be reactivated by fluid injection and pore pressure increase in the rock volumes surrounding the fault zone. Induced earthquakes represent only one of the possible responses of active faults to pore pressure perturbations, since other strain transients characterize the spectrum of fault-slip behavior. A series of fluid injection experiments, designed and undertaken in the framework of the ERC Fault Activation and Earthquake Ruptures (FEAR) project, will be conducted in the Bedretto Underground Laboratory for Geosciences and Geoenergies (BULGG, Switzerland) to understand fault reactivation processes on a target well-identified fault zone. Small and accessible faults are to be instrumented to monitor deformation and seismicity during both fluid injection and fault reactivation.The mineralogical, microstructural, and hydraulic properties of the target fault zone are investigated to characterize the fault-slip behavior. Characterization of the frictional response is achieved through a suite of laboratory rock-deformation experiments using both double-direct and rotary experimental apparatuses. Fault stimulation by fluid pressurization was also simulated in laboratory by using an injection protocol reliable for the in-situ hydraulic stimulation and consisting of stepwise pore fluid pressure increase. Experiments undertaken at low velocity with the double-direct apparatus (BRAVA) suggest that the selected fault, composed of mixed phyllosilicate-granular materials, is frictionally stable but yet can be dynamically reactivated by hydraulic stimulation.Experiments were also performed on the fault gouge from the target fault with the rotary experimental apparatus (SHIVA). First, we apply half of the stresses measured at depth in the underground laboratory to accomplish the operating capability of the apparatus: 12 MPa normal stress, 7.5 MPa confining pressure and 1.5 MPa pore fluid pressure. Second, we imposed a slip rate of 10-5 m/s for 0.01 m to have an equally compacted and textured layer. Third, we applied a shear stress so that an equivalent slip tendency of 0.35 is achieved (ca. 2.7 MPa), and kept it constant. We then increased stepwise the pore fluid pressure by 0.1 MPa every 150 s. This allows the spontaneous nucleation of slip events. After fault reactivation, the maximum slip velocity was set to 0.1 m/s. The fluid injection sequence results in a first reactivation (R1). Thanks to the nominally infinite slip available in SHIVA we run a second injection sequence up to a reactivation (R2).Our experiments show two different styles of reactivation between R1 and R2. R1 reactivation is abrupt, with slip rate accelerating up to 0.1 m/s. Instead, R2 has a stage in which slip rate oscillates (0.5-3 mm/s) just before the last step of pore pressure increase leads to acceleration to 0.1 m/s. This would suggest a role for the shear fabric developed during the first reactivation, in which extensive grain size reduction might have led to stiffening of the fault, responsible of the oscillatory slip. This frictional behavior suggests the importance of considering the effect of texture development during multiple cycles of seismic slip. The generalization of our data and observations will contribute to shed light on the mechanics of faults and induced earthquakes by fluid pressure increase.

Geological observations reveal that earthquakes nucleate, propagate, and arrest in complex fault zones whose structural heterogeneity depends on the tectonic loading, geometry, lithology, rheology, presence of fluids, and strain localization processes. These fault zones can host a wide range of fault slip behaviors (e.g., creep, aseismic- and slow-slip events, afterslip, and earthquakes). This implies that the environment in which earthquakes occur is diverse, and that different physical and chemical processes can be involved during the coseismic dynamic rupture.Earthquakes are generated by rupture propagation and slip within fault cores and dissipate the stored elastic and gravitational strain energy in fracture and frictional processes in the fault zone (from microscale - less than a millimeter - to macroscale - centimeters to kilometers) and in radiated seismic waves. Understanding this energy partitioning is fundamental in earthquake mechanics to describe dynamic fault weakening and causative rupture processes operating over different spatial and temporal scales.The energy dissipated in earthquake rupture propagation is commonly called fracture energy (G) or breakdown work (Wb). Here we discuss these two parameters, and we review fracture energy estimates from seismological, modeling, geological, and experimental studies and show that fracture energy scales with fault slip and earthquake size. Our analysis confirms that seismological estimates of fracture energy and breakdown work are comparable and scale with seismic slip. The inferred scaling laws show modest deviations explained in terms of epistemic uncertainties. The original collection of fracture energy estimates from laboratory experiments confirms the scaling with slip over a slip range of more than 10 decades. Fracture energy associated with breaking of intact rocks is larger than for precut specimens and might suggest differences between the role of fracture and friction, or a different size of the rupture front zone. It is important to recall that fault products after deformation in the laboratory correspond to fault products observed in nature, and acoustic emissions recorded in the laboratory can be processed as seismic waves on a natural fault. We conclude that although material-dependent constant fracture energies are important at the microscale for fracturing grains of the fault zone, they are negligible with respect to the macroscale processes governing rupture propagation on natural faults.In this study we discuss the scaling of fracture energy and breakdown work with slip, and we propose different interpretations relying on different processes characterizing complex fault zones. Our results suggest that, for earthquake ruptures in natural faults, the estimates of G and Wb are consistent with a macroscale description of the causative processes.Reconciling observations and results from laboratory experiments and numerical modeling with geological observations can be done, provided that we accept the evidence that earthquakes can occur in a variety of geological settings and fault zone structures governed by different physical and chemical processes.

Fault zones consist of one or more fault cores sandwiched by a damage zone surrounded by less deformed wall rocks. Most of the deformation is accommodated in the fault core through slip along one or more principal slipping zones. The thickness of fault cores (mm to m) and individual slipping zones (µm to dm) increases with fault slip displacement. In particular, small-displacement or immature faults have such thin slip zones that resemble bare rock surfaces. When exhumed from

Rock Mechanics and Rock Engineering, 54 (4), ISSN:1434-453X, ISSN:0723-2632

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.

During earthquakes, seismic slip along faults is localized in < 1 cm-thick principal slipping zones. In such thin slipping zones, frictional heating induces a temperature increase which activates deformation processes and chemical reactions resulting in dramatic decrease of the fault strength (i.e., enhanced dynamic weakening) and, in a negative feedback loop, in the decrease of the frictional heating itself.In the laboratory, temperature measurements in slipping zones are extremely challenging, especially at the fast slip rates and large slip displacements typical of natural earthquakes. Recently, we measured the temperature evolution in the slipping zone of simulated earthquakes at high acquisition rates (∼ kHz) and spatial resolutions (<< 1 mm2). To this end, we used optical fibres, which convey IR radiation from the hot rubbing surfaces to a two color pyrometer, equipped with photodetectors which convert the radiation into electric signals. The measured signals were calibrated into temperature and then synchronized with the mechanical data (e.g., slip rate, friction coefficient, shear stress) to relate the dynamic fault strength to the temperature evolution and eventually constrain the deformation processes and associated chemical reactions activated during seismic slip.Here, we reproduce earthquake slip via rotary shear experiments performed on solid cylinders (= bare rock surfaces) and on gouge layers both made of 99.9% calcite. The applied effective normal stress is 20 MPa. Bare rock surfaces are slid for 20 m with a trapezoidal velocity function with a target slip rate of 6 m/s. Instead, the gouge layers are sheared imposing a trapezoidal (1 m/s target slip rate for 1 m displacement) and Yoffe (3.5 m/s peak slip rate, and 1.5 m displacement) velocity function. The temperature measured within the slipping zone, which in some experiments increases up to 1000 °C after few milliseconds from slip initiation, allow us to investigate the deformation mechanisms responsible for fault dynamic weakening over temporal (milliseconds) and spatial (contact areas << 1 mm2) scales which are impossible to detect with traditional techniques (i.e., thermocouples or thermal cameras).Importantly, thanks to FE numerical simulations, these in-situ temperature measurements allow us to quantify the partitioning of the dissipated energy and power between frictional heating (temperature increase) and wear processes (e.g., grain comminution), to probe the effectiveness of other energy sinks (e.g., endothermic reactions, phase changes) that would buffer the temperature increase, and to determine the role of strain localization in controlling the temperature increase. The generalization of our experimental data and observations will contribute to shed light on the mechanics of carbonate-hosted earthquakes, a main hazard in the Mediterranean and other areas worldwide.

SUMMARY During reservoir stimulations, the injection of fluids with variable viscosities can trigger seismicity. Several fault lubrication mechanisms have been invoked to explain the dynamic stress drop occurring during those seismic events. Here, we perform a parametric analysis of the elastohydrodynamic fault lubrication mechanism to assess its efficiency during fluid-induced earthquakes. The efficiency of the mechanism is measured with the dimensionless Sommerfeld number S. Accordingly, we analysed eight well-documented cases of induced seismicity associated with the injection of fluids whose viscosities range from 1 mPa s (water) to 100 mPa s (proppant). We collected information related to the in situ stress field, fault orientation and geometry, moment of magnitude and static stress drop of the events. These parameters allow us to analyse the variation in the Sommerfeld number. Our results show that the estimated dynamic friction on the fault during the event is compatible with the fault weakening predicted by the elastohydrodynamic lubrication theory, particularly for highly viscous fluids.

The elastic strain energy release rate and seismic waves emitted during earthquakes are controlled by the on-fault temporal evolution of the shear stress during rupture propagation. High velocity friction experiments highlighted that shear stress on the fault surface evolves rapidly during seismic slip pulses. This temporal evolution of shear stress is controlled by both fault weakening at seismic slip initiation and re-strengthening rate towards the end of slip. While numerous studies focused on fault weakening, less attention was given to co-seismic re-strengthening processes. Here we performed 53 friction experiments (normal stress ≤30 MPa, slip-rate ≤6.5 m s −1 ) imposing constant slip acceleration and deceleration (7.8 m s −2 ), on cohesive Carrara marble (99% calcite) and micro-gabbro (silicate-built rock) under dry, vacuum and water pressurized conditions. Microstructural observations showed that micro-gabbro accommodated seismic slip by bulk melting of the sliding surfaces, whereas Carrara marble by coupled decarbonation and grain-size dependent crystal plastic processes. Under room humidity conditions and low imposed power density (i.e., product of normal stress per slip rate), re-strengthening rate during the deceleration stage was up to ∼ 17 times faster in marble than in micrograbbro. In the latter, the re-strengthening rate increased slightly with the power density. The presence of water enhanced further this trend. On the contrary, in marbles the re-strengthening rate decreased drastically with power density and in the presence of water. Our experimental observations highlighted the first order importance of the mineralogy and rheology of the slip zone materials and, to a second order, of the presence of water in controlling co-seismic re-strengthening of faults during seismic slip deceleration.

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.

High‐viscosity fluids are often used during hydraulic fracking operations in geo‐reservoirs. Here, we performed dedicated experiments to study the influence of fluid viscosity on fault reactivation and associated induced earthquakes. Experiments were conducted in the rotary‐shear machine SHIVA on experimental fault of Westerly Granite saturated by fluids with increasing viscosity (at room temperature) from 0.1 mPa.s (water) to 1.2 Pa.s (99% glycerol). Fault reactivation was triggered at constant effective normal‐stress by increasing the shear stress acting on the fault. Our results showed that independent of the viscosity, fault reactivation followed a Coulomb‐failure criterion. Instead, fluid viscosity affected the fault weakening mechanism: flash‐heating was the dominant weakening mechanism in room‐humidity and water‐saturated conditions, whereas the presence of more viscous fluids favored the activation of elasto‐hydrodynamic lubrication. Independent of the weakening mechanism, the breakdown work Wb dissipated during seismic faulting increased with slip U following a power law (Wb ∝ U 1.25) in agreement with seismological estimates of natural and induced earthquakes.