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Poromechanics of stick-slip frictional sliding and strength recovery on tectonic faults

Journal Article · · Journal of Geophysical Research. Solid Earth
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/2015JB011983· OSTI ID:1374341
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4]
  1. Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States); La Sapienza Univ., Rome (Italy)
  2. Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Rome Italy
  3. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
  4. Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States); La Sapienza Univ., Rome (Italy); National Inst. of Geophysics and Vulcanology, Rome (Italy)
+ Show Author Affiliations

Pore fluids influence many aspects of tectonic faulting including frictional strength aseismic creep and effective stress during the seismic cycle. But, the role of pore fluid pressure during earthquake nucleation and dynamic rupture remains poorly understood. Here we report on the evolution of pore fluid pressure and porosity during laboratory stick-slip events as an analog for the seismic cycle. We sheared layers of simulated fault gouge consisting of glass beads in a double-direct shear configuration under true triaxial stresses using drained and undrained fluid conditions and effective normal stress of 5–10 MPa. Shear stress was applied via a constant displacement rate, which we varied in velocity step tests from 0.1 to 30 µm/s. Here, we observe net pore pressure increases, or compaction, during dynamic failure and pore pressure decreases, or dilation, during the interseismic period, depending on fluid boundary conditions. In some cases, a brief period of dilation is attendant with the onset of dynamic stick slip. Our data show that time-dependent strengthening and dynamic stress drop increase with effective normal stress and vary with fluid conditions. For undrained conditions, dilation and preseismic slip are directly related to pore fluid depressurization; they increase with effective normal stress and recurrence time. Microstructural observations confirm the role of water-activated contact growth and shear-driven elastoplastic processes at grain junctions. These results indicate that physicochemical processes acting at grain junctions together with fluid pressure changes dictate stick-slip stress drop and interseismic creep rates and thus play a key role in earthquake nucleation and rupture propagation.

Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-06NA25396
OSTI ID:
1374341
Alternate ID(s):
OSTI ID: 1402306
Report Number(s):
LA-UR--16-22578
Journal Information:
Journal of Geophysical Research. Solid Earth, Journal Name: Journal of Geophysical Research. Solid Earth Journal Issue: 10 Vol. 120; ISSN 2169-9313
Publisher:
American Geophysical UnionCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Cited By (9)

Spatial and temporal variations in creep rate along the El Pilar fault at the Caribbean‐South American plate boundary (Venezuela), from InSAR journal November 2016
On the micromechanics of slip events in sheared, fluid-saturated fault gouge: Stick-Slip Dynamics in Saturated Gouge journal June 2017
On the role of fluids in stick-slip dynamics of saturated granular fault gouge using a coupled computational fluid dynamics-discrete element approach: STICK-SLIP IN SATURATED FAULT GOUGE journal May 2017
Potential Energy as Metric for Understanding Stick–Slip Dynamics in Sheared Granular Fault Gouge: A Coupled CFD–DEM Study journal April 2018
On the role of pore pressure in dynamic instabilities of saturated model granular materials journal June 2019
Delayed Weakening and Reactivation of Rate‐and‐State Faults Driven by Pressure Changes Due to Fluid Injection journal November 2019
The Physics of Changing Tectonic Regimes: Implications for the Temporal Evolution of Mantle Convection and the Thermal History of Venus journal January 2020
Strength of shear bands in fluid-saturated rocks: a nonlinear effect of competition between dilation and fluid flow journal January 2018
Two sides of a fault: Grain-scale analysis of pore pressure control on fault slip journal February 2018

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