Transient evolution of permeability and friction in a slowly slipping fault activated by fluid pressurization

Cappa, Frédéric; Guglielmi, Yves; De Barros, Louis

doi:10.1038/s41467-022-30798-3

Title: Transient evolution of permeability and friction in a slowly slipping fault activated by fluid pressurization

Journal Article · 01 June 2022 · Nature Communications

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-022-30798-3 · OSTI ID:1896693

^[1]; Guglielmi, Yves ^[2];

^[3]

Universite Cote d'Azur, Nice (France); Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) (France); Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, Nice (France); Géoazur, Sophia Antipolis (France); Institut Universitaire de France, Paris (France)
Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
Universite Cote d'Azur, Nice (France); Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) (France); Observatoire de la Côte d’Azur, Nice (France); Géoazur, Sophia Antipolis (France)

The mechanisms of permeability and friction evolution in a natural fault are investigated in situ. During three fluid injection experiments at different places in a fault zone, we measured simultaneously the fluid pressure, fault displacements and seismic activity. Changes in fault permeability and friction are then estimated concurrently. Results show that fault permeability increases up to 1.58 order of magnitude as a result of reducing effective normal stress and cumulative dilatant slip, and 19-to-60.8% of the enhancement occurs without seismic emissions. When modeling the fault displacement, we found that a rate-and-state friction and a permeability dependent on both slip and slip velocity together reasonably fit the fault-parallel and fault-normal displacements. This leads to the conclusion that the transient evolution of fault permeability and friction caused by a pressure perturbation exerts a potentially dominant control on fault stability during fluid flow.

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Research Organization:: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Science (SC), Biological and Environmental Research (BER); French National Research Agency (ANR)

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231

OSTI ID:: 1896693

Journal Information:: Nature Communications, Vol. 13, Issue 1; ISSN 2041-1723

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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