Coseismic fluid–rock interactions at high temperatures in the Chelungpu fault

Chemical and isotopic variations in crushed material along the Chelungpu fault in Taiwan are suggestive of interactions at high temperatures with coseismically generated aqueous fluids. High fluid pressures along the fault zone during the magnitude 7.6 Chi-Chi earthquake in 1999 could have reduced friction and fault strength. Aqueous fluids are thought to have an essential role in faulting and the dynamic propagation of earthquake rupture. Fluid overpressure can affect earthquake nucleation1,2 and in a process termed thermal pressurization, pore fluid pressure produced by frictional heating can reduce the effective normal stress acting on the fault surface3,4,5. This may lead to a marked reduction in fault strength during slip. However, the coseismic presence of fluids within slip zones and the role of fluids in dynamic fault weakening is still a matter of debate. Here we present compositions of major and trace elements as well as isotope ratios of core samples representing relatively undamaged as well as very fine-grained deformed material from three active zones of the Chelungpu fault, Taiwan. Depth profiles across the most intensely sheared bands that range in thickness from 2–15 cm exhibit sharp compositional peaks of fluid-mobile elements and of strontium isotopes. We suggest that high-temperature fluids (>350 ∘C) derived from heating of sediment pore fluids during the earthquake interacted with material within the fault zone and mobilized the elements. The coseismic presence of high-temperature fluids under conditions of low hydraulic diffusivity6 within the fault zone is favourable for thermal pressurization. This effect may have caused a dynamic decrease of friction along the Chelungpu fault during the 1999 magnitude 7.6 Chi-Chi earthquake.