ALBERT

Description: We measured the magnetic susceptibility of the core from the first borehole of the Wenchuan Earthquake (May 12, 2008, Mw7.9) Fault Scientific Drilling Project (WFSD-1) at 1-cm intervals. The correlations between magnetic susceptibility anomalies and fault rock occurrence are shown by a few fault zones in the WFSD-1 core. The values for the mass and ferromagnetic material magnetic susceptibility for the sample at 589.25-m depth are higher than those for the other samples. All the thermomagnetic curves display a rapid increase in slope after 380[degree sign]C, and a marked peak occurs at about 510[degree sign]C in the heating curves. The cooling curves are clearly higher than the heating curves. The saturation magnetization (Ms) shows a significant peak at a depth of 589.25 m, as do the mass magnetic susceptibility and the ferrimagnetic magnetic susceptibility. The mechanism principally responsible for the high magnetic susceptibility at a depth of 589.25 m might be the production of new magnetite from iron-bearing silicates (e.g., chlorite) or clays caused by frictional heating during seismic slip. Therefore, we suggest that the presence of high magnetic susceptibility fault gouges in the same country rock can be considered as an indicator of earthquakes or seismic signatures.

Description: This paper establishes a reference data set of carbonaceous materials (CMs) from the active fault zone of the Longmen Shan fault belt that ruptured in the 2008 Mw7.9 Wenchuan earthquake and presents an application of these data for studies of both other exhumed carbonaceous-rich fault zones and deep-drilling cores. The CMs distributed in the active fault zone are found as narrow veins and located along the slip surfaces. Microstructural observation shows that the carbonaceous material veins (CMVs) are located along slip surfaces in the fault gouge zones. Some CMVs have a cataclastic fabric, and their branches intrude into voids around the slip surfaces. Raman spectra of the CMVs show a wide (full width at half maximum 〉200 cm −1 ) D-peak at ~1345 cm −1 (defect peak), which is much lower than the O-peak at ~1595 cm −1 (ordered peak), indicating a metamorphic temperature of zeolite facies or lower than 250 °C. In addition, the stable carbon isotopic compositions (δ 13 C values) of the CMVs, ranging from −23.4 to −26.4‰, are very similar to that of the kerogen collected from the Late Triassic Xujiahe Formation in Sichuan Basin. Given the data at which it may be formed, the Xujiahe Formation is the most likely origin of CMs for the CMVs, and it seems that some CMVs in the fault zone were crushed and intruded into the voids during coseismic events, possibly driven by an enhanced pore fluid pressure. Since graphitization is suggested as an indicator of transient frictional heating in this area, our study providing a reference data set of CMs would help future CM-rich fault-zone research to retrieve seismic signatures presumably occurring in the Longmen Shan fault zone belt.