Low strength of deep San Andreas fault gouge from SAFOD core

The San Andreas fault accommodates 28-34 mm?yr(-1) of right lateral motion of the Pacific crustal plate northwestward past the North American plate. In California, the fault is composed of two distinct locked segments that have produced great earthquakes in historical times, separated by a 150-km-long creeping zone. The San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth (SAFOD) is a scientific borehole located northwest of Parkfield, California, near the southern end of the creeping zone. Core was recovered from across the actively deforming San Andreas fault at a vertical depth of 2.7 km (ref. 1). Here we report laboratory strength measurements of these fault core materials at in situ conditions, demonstrating that at this locality and this depth the San Andreas fault is profoundly weak (coefficient of friction, 0.15) owing to the presence of the smectite clay mineral saponite, which is one of the weakest phyllosilicates known. This Mg-rich clay is the low-temperature product of metasomatic reactions between the quartzofeldspathic wall rocks and serpentinite blocks in the fault. These findings provide strong evidence that deformation of the mechanically unusual creeping portions of the San Andreas fault system is controlled by the presence of weak minerals rather than by high fluid pressure or other proposed mechanisms. The combination of these measurements of fault core strength with borehole observations yields a self-consistent picture of the stress state of the San Andreas fault at the SAFOD site, in which the fault is intrinsically weak in an otherwise strong crust.     

Correlation between deep fluids, tremor and creep along the central San Andreas fault

The seismicity pattern along the San Andreas fault near Parkfield and Cholame, California, varies distinctly over a length of only fifty kilometres. Within the brittle crust, the presence of frictionally weak minerals, fault-weakening high fluid pressures and chemical weakening are considered possible causes of an anomalously weak fault northwest of Parkfield. Non-volcanic tremor from lower-crustal and upper-mantle depths is most pronounced about thirty kilometres southeast of Parkfield and is thought to be associated with high pore-fluid pressures at depth. Here we present geophysical evidence of fluids migrating into the creeping section of the San Andreas fault that seem to originate in the region of the uppermost mantle that also stimulates tremor, and evidence that along-strike variations in tremor activity and amplitude are related to strength variations in the lower crust and upper mantle. Interconnected fluids can explain a deep zone of anomalously low electrical resistivity that has been imaged by magnetotelluric data southwest of the Parkfield-Cholame segment. Near Cholame, where fluids seem to be trapped below a high-resistivity cap, tremor concentrates adjacent to the inferred fluids within a mechanically strong zone of high resistivity. By contrast, subvertical zones of low resistivity breach the entire crust near the drill hole of the San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth, northwest of Parkfield, and imply pathways for deep fluids into the eastern fault block, coincident with a mechanically weak crust and the lower tremor amplitudes in the lower crust. Fluid influx to the fault system is consistent with hypotheses of fault-weakening high fluid pressures in the brittle crust.     

Interseismic strain accumulation and the earthquake potential on the southern San Andreas fault system

The San Andreas fault in California is a mature continental transform fault that accommodates a significant fraction of motion between the North American and Pacific plates. The two most recent great earthquakes on this fault ruptured its northern and central sections in 1906 and 1857, respectively. The southern section of the fault, however, has not produced a great earthquake in historic times (for at least 250 years). Assuming the average slip rate of a few centimetres per year, typical of the rest of the San Andreas fault, the minimum amount of slip deficit accrued on the southern section is of the order of 7-10 metres, comparable to the maximum co-seismic offset ever documented on the fault. Here I present high-resolution measurements of interseismic deformation across the southern San Andreas fault system using a well-populated catalogue of space-borne synthetic aperture radar data. The data reveal a nearly equal partitioning of deformation between the southern San Andreas and San Jacinto faults, with a pronounced asymmetry in strain accumulation with respect to the geologically mapped fault traces. The observed strain rates confirm that the southern section of the San Andreas fault may be approaching the end of the interseismic phase of the earthquake cycle.     

Slip on 'weak' faults by the rotation of regional stress in the fracture damage zone

Slip on unfavourably oriented faults with respect to a remotely applied stress is well documented and implies that faults such as the San Andreas fault and low-angle normal faults are weak when compared to laboratory-measured frictional strength. If high pore pressure within fault zones is the cause of such weakness, then stress reorientation within or close to a fault is necessary to allow sufficient fault weakening without the occurrence of hydrofracture. From field observations of a major tectonic fault, and using laboratory experiments and numerical modelling, here we show that stress rotation occurs within the fractured damage zone surrounding faults. In particular, we find that stress rotation is considerable for unfavourably oriented 'weak' faults. In the 'weak' fault case, the damage-induced change in elastic properties provides the necessary stress rotation to allow high pore pressure faulting without inducing hydrofracture.     

Serpentinization of peridotites from the southern Mariana forearc

A detailed petrologic and mineralogic study was carried out on serpentinized peridotites dredged from the southern landward slopes of the Mariana Trench, in order to reveal the serpentinization process of these unusual rocks and to identify the sole presence of the mineral lizardite. The constituent minerals of these southern Mariana forearc peridotites are olivine, amphibole and spinel, as well as serpentine, chlorite and talc. Compared with serpentinite seamounts, the serpentinized peridotites from the southern Mariana forearc are characterized by the absence of magnetite and brucite, and the common presence of talc; besides, the serpentine mineral variety is simplex, only lizardite. Combining mineral chemistry and mineral phase relationships, we conclude that (1) the absence of magnetite in the serpentinized peridotites is due to incomplete serpentinization, other than magnetite, the iron end-member in olivine forms Fe-rich brucite and Fe-rich serpentine; (2) brucite is not stable with high silica activity, reacting with later SiO₂-rich fluid and then forming lizardite, leading to a lack of brucite in these serpentinized peridotites; (3) the occurrence of talc is the result of later SiO₂-rich fluid reactions with lizardite; and (4) the reason for the sole occurrence of lizardite is that the temperature condition of our study area was not high enough for the formation of antigorite (which is stable at >500 °C). Despite the broad overlap of lizardite and chrysotile in growth temperature, differences in the modes of occurrence of lizardite and chrysotile, such as the scarcity of H₂O, low porosity and permeability, as well as the actual situation of initial serpentinization in the study area, result in the absolute prevalence of lizardite over chrysotile in the area.     

Implications for prediction and hazard assessment from the 2004 Parkfield earthquake

Obtaining high-quality measurements close to a large earthquake is not easy: one has to be in the right place at the right time with the right instruments. Such a convergence happened, for the first time, when the 28 September 2004 Parkfield, California, earthquake occurred on the San Andreas fault in the middle of a dense network of instruments designed to record it. The resulting data reveal aspects of the earthquake process never before seen. Here we show what these data, when combined with data from earlier Parkfield earthquakes, tell us about earthquake physics and earthquake prediction. The 2004 Parkfield earthquake, with its lack of obvious precursors, demonstrates that reliable short-term earthquake prediction still is not achievable. To reduce the societal impact of earthquakes now, we should focus on developing the next generation of models that can provide better predictions of the strength and location of damaging ground shaking.     

Migration of seismic scatterers associated with the 1993 Parkfield aseismic transient event

The time-varying deformation field within a fault zone, particularly at depths where earthquakes occur, is important for understanding fault behaviour and its relation to earthquake occurrence. But detection of this temporal variation has been extremely difficult, although laboratory studies have long suggested that certain structural changes, such as the properties of crustal fractures, should be seismically detectable. Here we present evidence that such structural changes are indeed observable. In particular, we find a systematic temporal variation in the seismograms of repeat microearthquakes that occurred on the Parkfield segment of the San Andreas fault over the decade 1987-97. Our analysis reveals a change of the order of 10 m in the location of scatterers which plausibly lie within the fault zone at a depth of approximately 3 km. The motion of the scatterers is coincident, in space and time, with the onset of a well documented aseismic transient (deformation event). We speculate that this structural change is the result of a stress-induced redistribution of fluids in fluid-filled fractures caused by the transient event.     

A periodic shear-heating mechanism for intermediate-depth earthquakes in the mantle

Intermediate-depth earthquakes, at depths of 50-300 km in subduction zones, occur below the brittle-ductile transition, where high pressures render frictional failure unlikely. Their location approximately coincides with 600 to 800 degrees C isotherms in thermal models, suggesting a thermally activated mechanism for their origin. Some earthquakes may occur by frictional failure owing to high pore pressure that might result from metamorphic dehydration. Because some intermediate-depth earthquakes occur approximately 30 to 50 km below the palaeo-sea floor, however, the hydrous minerals required for the dehydration mechanism may not be present. Here we present an alternative mechanism to explain such earthquakes, involving the onset of highly localized viscous creep in pre-existing, fine-grained shear zones. Our numerical model uses olivine flow laws for a fine-grained, viscous shear zone in a coarse-grained, elastic half space, with initial temperatures from 600-800 degrees C and background strain rates of 10(-12) to 10(-15) s(-1). When shear heating becomes important, strain rate and temperature increase rapidly to over 1 s(-1) and 1,400 degrees C. The stress then drops dramatically, followed by low strain rates and cooling. Continued far-field deformation produces a quasi-periodic series of such instabilities.     

Effects of tectonic stress field and Poisson’s ratio on stress state within the San Andreas Fault zone

We used a mechanics conceptual model to provide another perspective to understand the mechanical environment of the San Andreas Fault(SAF),and a possible mechanism that the principal stress state in the SAF is not only affected by remote tectonic stress but also by Poisson’s ratio.For a strike-slip fault like the SAF,we found that in the fault zone with Poisson’s ratio of[0.25,effective friction coefficient and the stress ratio(minimum principal stress/maximum principal stress)are less than 0.1and 0.8–1.0,respectively,corresponding to remote tectonic stress ratio of 0.36–1.0,and that the higher the Poisson’s ratio,the greater the principal stress rotates.For hydrostatic pore pressure and a received tectonic stress ratio of 0.5around the SAF,the model predicts that the SAF has a very high Poisson’s ratio(*0.45),which accommodates extremely low effective friction coefficient(0.09)and large stress ratio(0.84)or smaller shear stress(17 MPa).     

Particle size and energetics of gouge from earthquake rupture zones

Grain size reduction and gouge formation are found to be ubiquitous in brittle faults at all scales, and most slip along mature faults is observed to have been localized within gouge zones. This fine-grain gouge is thought to control earthquake instability, and thus understanding its properties is central to an understanding of the earthquake process. Here we show that gouge from the San Andreas fault, California, with approximately 160 km slip, and the rupture zone of a recent earthquake in a South African mine with only approximately 0.4 m slip, display similar characteristics, in that ultrafine grains approach the nanometre scale, gouge surface areas approach 80 m2 g(-1), and grain size distribution is non-fractal. These observations challenge the common perception that gouge texture is fractal and that gouge surface energy is a negligible contributor to the earthquake energy budget. We propose that the observed fine-grain gouge is not related to quasi-static cumulative slip, but is instead formed by dynamic rock pulverization during the propagation of a single earthquake.     

Frictional ageing from interfacial bonding and the origins of rate and state friction

Earthquakes have long been recognized as being the result of stick-slip frictional instabilities. Over the past few decades, laboratory studies of rock friction have elucidated many aspects of tectonic fault zone processes and earthquake phenomena. Typically, the static friction of rocks grows logarithmically with time when they are held in stationary contact, but the mechanism responsible for this strengthening is not understood. This time-dependent increase of frictional strength, or frictional ageing, is one manifestation of the 'evolution effect' in rate and state friction theory. A prevailing view is that the time dependence of rock friction results from increases in contact area caused by creep of contacting asperities. Here we present the results of atomic force microscopy experiments that instead show that frictional ageing arises from the formation of interfacial chemical bonds, and the large magnitude of ageing at the nanometre scale is quantitatively consistent with what is required to explain observations in macroscopic rock friction experiments. The relative magnitude of the evolution effect compared with that of the 'direct effect'--the dependence of friction on instantaneous changes in slip velocity--determine whether unstable slip, leading to earthquakes, is possible. Understanding the mechanism underlying the evolution effect would enable us to formulate physically based frictional constitutive laws, rather than the current empirically based 'laws', allowing more confident extrapolation to natural faults.     

Preseismic velocity changes observed from active source monitoring at the Parkfield SAFOD drill site

Measuring stress changes within seismically active fault zones has been a long-sought goal of seismology. One approach is to exploit the stress dependence of seismic wave velocity, and we have investigated this in an active source cross-well experiment at the San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth (SAFOD) drill site. Here we show that stress changes are indeed measurable using this technique. Over a two-month period, we observed an excellent anti-correlation between changes in the time required for a shear wave to travel through the rock along a fixed pathway (a few microseconds) and variations in barometric pressure. We also observed two large excursions in the travel-time data that are coincident with two earthquakes that are among those predicted to produce the largest coseismic stress changes at SAFOD. The two excursions started approximately 10 and 2 hours before the events, respectively, suggesting that they may be related to pre-rupture stress induced changes in crack properties, as observed in early laboratory studies.     

'Melt welt' mechanism of extreme weakening of gabbro at seismic slip rates

Laboratory studies of frictional properties of rocks at slip velocities approaching the seismic range (～0.1-1?m?s(-1)), and at moderate normal stresses (1-10?MPa), have revealed a complex evolution of the dynamic shear strength, with at least two phases of weakening separated by strengthening at the onset of wholesale melting. The second post-melting weakening phase is governed by viscous properties of the melt layer and is reasonably well understood. The initial phase of extreme weakening, however, remains a subject of much debate. Here we show that the initial weakening of gabbro is associated with the formation of hotspots and macroscopic streaks of melt ('melt welts'), which partially unload the rest of the slip interface. Melt welts begin to form when the average rate of frictional heating exceeds 0.1-0.4?MW?m(-2), while the average temperature of the shear zone is well below the solidus (250-450?°C). Similar heterogeneities in stress and temperature are likely to occur on natural fault surfaces during rapid slip, and to be important for earthquake rupture dynamics.     

Intermediate-depth earthquake faulting by dehydration embrittlement with negative volume change

Earthquakes are observed to occur in subduction zones to depths of approximately 680 km, even though unassisted brittle failure is inhibited at depths greater than about 50 km, owing to the high pressures and temperatures. It is thought that such earthquakes (particularly those at intermediate depths of 50-300 km) may instead be triggered by embrittlement accompanying dehydration of hydrous minerals, principally serpentine. A problem with failure by serpentine dehydration is that the volume change accompanying dehydration becomes negative at pressures of 2-4 GPa (60-120 km depth), above which brittle fracture mechanics predicts that the instability should be quenched. Here we show that dehydration of antigorite serpentinite under stress results in faults delineated by ultrafine-grained solid reaction products formed during dehydration. This phenomenon was observed under all conditions tested (pressures of 1-6 GPa; temperatures of 650-820 degrees C), independent of the sign of the volume change of reaction. Although this result contradicts expectations from fracture mechanics, it can be explained by separation of fluid from solid residue before and during faulting, a hypothesis supported by our observations. These observations confirm that dehydration embrittlement is a viable mechanism for nucleating earthquakes independent of depth, as long as there are hydrous minerals breaking down under a differential stress.     

敦密断裂带(黑龙江段)构造控矿规律

以敦密断裂带地质组构和物性等特征为基础,研究该断裂带在黑龙江境内构造活动规律,分析其东部含煤盆地的控制特点,研究表明:J3～K1及E2含煤盆地是古老的东西向构造与敦密断裂带的复合部位所控制的沉积盆地,依此理论发现了新的镜泊含煤盆地.     

龙门山断裂带深部构造变形的粘弹性模拟分析

根据龙门山断裂带地区的构造特征,建立该地区二维有限元模型.在考虑到深部构造发生粘弹性蠕动的条件下,利用粘弹性接触的有限元方法模拟计算上、下地壳和上地幔的滑动情况.模拟结果表明,龙门山断裂带及周围是应力集中区域,且随着时间的推移应力集中程度加剧.模拟还表明龙门山断裂带断层深处滑动速率比地表的滑动速率大,平均为3倍左右.因此,在龙门山断裂带地表滑动速率较小的情况下,速率较大的断层深部物质在滑动过程中则会产生能量高度的积聚,当能量积累超过极限强度,断层产生滑动,从而引发了地震.     

桥面板徐变对曲线组合梁桥剪力钉受力性能的影响

钢-混组合梁桥中桥面板与钢主梁通过剪力键连接,混凝土板徐变效应会对剪力键内力产生影响。为探究这种影响,以某座钢-混组合曲线梁桥为背景,使用ANSYS建立精细化实体有限元模型,按金属蠕变原理模拟混凝土板徐变效应,在考虑施工阶段的基础上研究混凝土板徐变效应下剪力钉的力学行为。研究表明：钢纵梁处剪力钉横桥向徐变内力约为顺桥向2.0倍,但徐变内力变化趋势均相同即每跨跨中向两侧支点逐渐递增,徐变内力极值均出现在支点湿接缝附近剪力钉上。钢横梁剪力钉横桥向、顺桥向内徐变内力均由横截面中线向两侧逐渐增加,但受“弯扭耦合”影响,横梁内、外侧剪力钉徐变内力相反。徐变影响下全桥剪力钉顺桥向徐变滑移分布较横桥向更加均匀,绝大多数剪力钉顺桥向徐变滑移量仅为横桥向的30%～50%。混凝土板徐变效应对剪力钉内力影响随时间的增加而减弱,内力影响最大是成桥初期3个月;增加混凝土板预制龄期可显著降低成桥时剪力钉的徐变内力,推荐采用龄期为180 d的桥面板,并计入10年徐变效应可满足工程要求。     

四川丹巴杨柳坪铜镍铂族元素硫化物矿床成因初探

四川丹巴杨柳坪铜镍铂族元素硫化物矿床的含矿岩体围绕杨柳坪穹状构造分布,侵位于泥盆系大理岩、炭质板岩中.自下至上岩体由蛇纹岩相、滑石岩相、次闪石岩相和蚀变辉长岩相组成.似层状浸染状矿体分布于岩体底部蛇纹岩相内,透镜状块状矿体则分布于底部及底板围岩中,后者与前者在空间上有密切的依存关系.矿石中主要硫化物矿物为磁黄铁矿、镍黄铁矿和黄铜矿;块状矿石中还发现辉砷钴矿,以及砷铂矿、碲锑钯矿等铂族元素矿物.野外关系表明杨柳坪含矿镁铁-超镁铁岩体为火山通道相浅成岩体.含矿岩体和大石包玄武岩的地球化学特征表明两者为同源岩浆产物,与其它地区峨眉山玄武岩地球化学特点的相似性,表明它们也是峨眉地幔柱活动的产物.当玄武岩浆上升到浅成岩浆房中时,随着岩浆分离结晶作用的进行,硫化物从玄武岩浆中熔离出来并向下聚集是主要成矿作用.     

露天煤矿边坡中软弱夹层的蠕动变形特性分析

软弱夹层非线性蠕动变形特征分析,明确了其力学强度的变化、本构关系的非线性特征·根据老化理论提出了软弱夹层的一般流变方程,确定由等速蠕变向加速蠕变过渡的临界应变量作为破坏时刻的破坏应变量,从而建立长期抗剪强度与应力作用时间变化的关系,对于非稳定蠕动变形,等速蠕变阶段的应变速率与剪应力超过长期极限强度的程度有关,对软弱夹层抗剪强度随时间降低的特性研究为蠕动边坡动态稳定性理论分析提供了依据     

Sinistral shear and extension of the northern section of Lijiang Basin in northwest Yunnan in quaternary

The northern section of Lijiang Basin (NSLB) has the features of a zigzag fault, a kind of “tracing extension” in the shape. Fault slip is characterized by both extension and sinistral shear. Average sinistral-shear and extensional displacements are respectively 1950 and 1730 m. This kind of movement began in middle Pleistocene, which is about 800 ka ago. Average sinistral and extensional slip-rates can be acquired, which are 2.44 and 2.16 mm/a. Geological evidence at different segments of the NSLB demonstrates results of geomorphic analysis, and is consistent with our knowledge about the zigzag fault. Realization of sinistral shear and extension of the NSLB provides direct evidence for the model of clockwise rotation of northwest Sichuan active block and the understanding of dynamic features of the Red River fault zone.