ALBERT

Beschreibung: Due to the strong interest in geochemical CO2-fluid-rock interaction in the context of geological storage of CO2 a growing number of research groups have used a variety of different experimental ways to identify important geochemical dissolution or precipitation reactions and – if possible – quantify the rates and extent of mineral or rock alteration. In this inter-laboratory comparison the gas-fluid-mineral reactions of three samples of rock-forming minerals have been investigated by 11 experimental labs. The reported results point to robust identification of the major processes in the experiments by most groups. The dissolution rates derived from the changes in composition of the aqueous phase are consistent overall, but the variation could be reduced by using similar corrections for changing parameters in the reaction cells over time. The comparison of experimental setups and procedures as well as of data corrections identified potential improvements for future gas-fluid-rock studies.

Beschreibung: The late Eocene through earliest Oligocene (40-32 Ma) spans a major transition from greenhouse to icehouse climate, with net cooling and expansion of Antarctic glaciation shortly after the Eocene/Oligocene (E/O) boundary. We investigated the response of the oceanic biosphere to these changes by reconstructing barite and CaCO3 accumulation rates in sediments from the equatorial and North Pacific Ocean. These data allow us to evaluate temporal and geographical variability in export production and CaCO3 preservation. Barite accumulation rates were on average higher in the warmer late Eocene than in the colder early Oligocene, but cool periods within the Eocene were characterized by peaks in both barite and CaCO3 accumulation in the equatorial region. We infer that climatic changes not only affected deep ocean ventilation and chemistry, but also had profound effects on surface water characteristics influencing export productivity. The ratio of CaCO3 to barite accumulation rates, representing the ratio of particulate inorganic C accumulation to Corg export, increased dramatically at the E/O boundary. This suggests that long-term drawdown of atmospheric CO2 due to organic carbon deposition to the seafloor decreased, potentially offsetting decreasing pCO2 levels and associated cooling. The relatively larger increase in CaCO3 accumulation compared to export production at the E/O suggests that the permanent deepening of the calcite compensation depth (CCD) at that time stems primarily from changes in deep water chemistry and not from increased carbonate production.

Beschreibung: We estimate the static stress drop on small exhumed strike-slip faults in the Lake Edison granodiorite of the central Sierra Nevada (California). The subvertical strike-slip faults were exhumed from 4 to 15 km depth and were chosen because they are exposed in outcrop along their entire tip-to-tip lengths of 8–12 m. Slip nucleated on joints and accumulated by crystal-plastic shearing (forming quartz mylonites from early quartz vein filling in joints) and successive brittle faulting (forming epidote-bearing cataclasites). The occurrence of thin, 300 mm wide, pseudotachylytes along some small faults throughout the study area suggests that some, if not all, of the brittle slip on the study area faults may have been seismic. We suggest that the contribution of brittle, cataclastic slip to the total slip along the studied cataclasite-bearing small faults may be estimated by the length of epidote-filled, rhombohedral dilatational jogs (rhombochasms) distributed quasi-periodically along the length of the faults. The interpretation that slip recorded by rhombochasms occurred in single events is based on evidence that (1) epidote crystals are randomly oriented and undeformed within the rhombochasm; (2) cataclasite in principal slip zones does not include clasts of previous cataclasite, and (3) rhombochasm lengths vary systematically along the length of the faults with slip maximum occurring near the fault center, tapering to the fault tips. We thereby constrain both the rupture length and slip. On the basis of these measurements, we calculate stress drops ranging over 90–250 MPa, i.e., one to two orders of magnitude larger than typical seismological estimates for earthquakes, but similar in magnitude to seismological estimates of small (〈M2) earthquakes from the San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth (SAFOD). The slip events described in the present study occurred along small, deep-seated faults, and, given the calculated stress drops and observations that brittle faults exploited joints sealed by quartz-bearing mylonite, we conclude that these were ‘‘strong’’ faults.

Beschreibung: Published

Beschreibung: B02402

Beschreibung: 3.1. Fisica dei terremoti

Beschreibung: JCR Journal

Beschreibung: reserved

Beschreibung: Under extreme conditions like those encountered during earthquake slip, frictional melt is likely to occur. It has been observed on ancient faults that the melt is mostly extruded toward local extensional jogs or lateral tension cracks. In the case of laboratory experiments with a rotary shear apparatus, melt is extruded from the sample borders. When this happens, a thin and irregular melt layer is formed whereby the normal load is still in part supported by contact asperities under an incipient yield condition (as in dry friction models), but also, in the interstices between asperities, by the pressure of the viscous fluid wetting the interface. In addition, roughness of the surface is dynamically reshaped by the melting process of an inhomogeneous material (polymineralic rock). In particular, we argue that the roughness of the melting surface decreases with melting rate and temperature gradient perpendicular to the fault. Taking into account the above conditions, we obtain an expression for the average melt layer thickness and viscous pressure that may be used in estimates of friction in the presence of melt. We argue that the ratio of melt thickness to roughness depends on sliding velocity; such a ratio may be used as a gauge of slip-rate during fossil earthquakes on faults bearing pseudotachylite (solidified melt). Finally, we derive an improved analytical solution for friction in the presence of melt including the effect of roughness evolution.

Beschreibung: We acknowledge Takehiro Hirose for providing sample HVR 687. Stefan Nielsen was granted by the MIUR project FUMO, and Giulio Di Toro and Stefan Nielsen were granted by the European Research Council Starting Grant Project 205175 (USEMS) and CA.RI.PA.RO. We thank Leonardo Tauro for thin section preparation, Luca Peruzzo, Steven Smith and Piergiorgio Scarlato for SEM facilities and Toshi Shimamoto for his constant support. Finally, we are grateful to Nick Beeler and Chris Marone for their constructive reviews.

Beschreibung: Published

Beschreibung: 299–310

Beschreibung: 3.1. Fisica dei terremoti

Beschreibung: JCR Journal

Beschreibung: open

Beschreibung: We report systematic spatial variations of fault rocks along non-planar strike-slip faults 11 cross-cutting the Lake Edison Granodiorite, Sierra Nevada, California (Sierran wavy fault) and 12 Lobbia outcrops of the Adamello Batholith in the Italian Alps (Lobbia wavy fault). In the case of 13 the Sierran fault, pseudotachylyte formed at contractional fault bends, where it is found as thin 14 (1-2 mm) fault-parallel veins. Epidote and chlorite developed in the same seismic context as the 15 pseudotachylyte and are especially abundant in extensional fault bends. We argue that the 16 presence of fluids, as illustrated by this example, does not necessarily preclude the development 17 of frictional melt. In the case of the Lobbia fault, pseudotachylyte thickness varies along the 18 length of the fault, but the pseudotachylyte veins thicken and pool in extensional bends. We 19 conduct a quantitative analysis of fault roughness, microcrack distribution, stress, and friction 20 along the Lobbia fault. 21 Numerical modeling results show that opening in extensional bends and localized thermal 22 weakening in contractional bends counteract resistance encountered by fault waviness, resulting 23 in an overall weaker fault than suggested by the corresponding static friction coefficient. The 24 models also predict static stress redistribution around bends in the faults which are consistent 25 with distributions of microcracks, indicating significant elastic and inelastic strain energy is 26 dissipated into the wall rocks due to non-planar fault geometry. Together these observations suggest that damage and energy dissipation occurs along the entire non-planar fault during slip, 28 rather than being confined to the region close to the dynamically propagating crack tip.

Beschreibung: Published

Beschreibung: 3.1. Fisica dei terremoti

Beschreibung: JCR Journal

Beschreibung: open

Beschreibung: Abstract—Fault surface roughness is a principal factor influencing earthquake mechanics, and particularly rupture initiation, propagation, and arrest. However, little data currently exist on fault surfaces at seismogenic depths. Here, we investigate the roughness of slip surfaces from the seismogenic strike-slip Gole Larghe Fault Zone, exhumed from ca. 10 km depth. The fault zone exploited pre-existing joints and is hosted in granitoid rocks of the Adamello batholith (Italian Alps). Individual seismogenic slip surfaces generally show a first phase of cataclasite production, and a second phase with beautifully preserved pseudotachylytes of variable thickness. We determined the geometry of fault traces over almost five orders of magnitude using terrestrial laser-scanning (LIDAR, ca. 500 to\1 m scale), and 3D mosaics of high-resolution rectified digital photographs (10 m to ca. 1 mm scale). LIDAR scans and photomosaics were georeferenced in 3D using a Differential Global Positioning System, allowing detailed multiscale reconstruction of fault traces in Gocad . The combination of LIDAR and high-resolution photos has the advantage, compared with classical LIDARonly surveys, that the spatial resolution of rectified photographs can be very high (up to 0.2 mm/pixel in this study), allowing for detailed outcrop characterization. Fourier power spectrum analysis of the fault traces revealed a self-affine behaviour over 3–5 orders of magnitude, with Hurst exponents ranging between 0.6 and 0.8. Parameters from Fourier analysis have been used to reconstruct synthetic 3D fault surfaces with an equivalent roughness by means of 2D Fourier synthesis. Roughness of pre-existing joints is in a typical range for this kind of structure. Roughness of faults at small scale (1 m to 1 mm) shows a clear genetic relationship with the roughness of precursor joints, and some anisotropy in the selfaffine Hurst exponent. Roughness of faults at scales larger than net slip ([1–10 m) is not anisotropic and less evolved than at smaller scales. These observations are consistent with an evolution of roughness, due to fault surface processes, that takes place only at scales smaller or comparable to the observed net slip. Differences in roughness evolution between shallow and deeper faults, the latter showing evidences of seismic activity, are interpreted as the result of different weakening versus induration processes, which also result in localization versus delocalization of deformation in the fault zone. From a methodological point of view, the technique used here is advantageous over direct measurements of exposed fault surfaces in that it preserves, in cross-section, all of the structures which contribute to fault roughness, and removes any subjectivity introduced by the need to distinguish roughness of original slip surfaces from roughness induced by secondary weathering processes. Moreover, offsets can be measured by means of suitable markers and fault rocks are preserved, hence their thickness, composition and structural features can be characterised, providing an integrated dataset which sheds new light on mechanisms of roughness evolution with slip and concomitant fault rock production.

Beschreibung: USEMS project, European Research Council

Beschreibung: Published

Beschreibung: 2345-2363

Beschreibung: 3.1. Fisica dei terremoti

Beschreibung: JCR Journal

Beschreibung: reserved