Fault gouge graphitization as evidence of past seismic slip

Li Wei Kuo, Fabio Di Felice, Elena Spagnuolo, Giulio Di Toro, Sheng Rong Song, Stefano Aretusini, Haibing Li, John Suppe, Jialiang Si, Cheng Yen Wen

研究成果: 雜誌貢獻期刊論文同行評審

52 引文 斯高帕斯(Scopus)

摘要

One moderate- to large-magnitude earthquake (M > 6) nucleates in Earth's crust every three days n average, but the geological record of ancient fault slip at meters-per-second seismic velocities (as opposed to subseismic slow-slip creep) remains debated because of the lack of established fault-zone evidence of seismic slip. Here we show that the irreversible temperature-dependent transformation of carbonaceous material (CM, a constituent of many fault gouges) into graphite is a reliable tracer of seismic fault slip. We sheared CM-bearing fault rocks in the laboratory at just above subseismic and at seismic velocities under both water-rich and water-deficient conditions and modeled the temperature evolution with slip. By means of micro-Raman spectroscopy and focused-ion beam transmission electron microscopy, we detected graphite grains similar to those found in the principal slip zone of the A.D. 2008 Wenchuan (Mw 7.9) earthquake (southeast Tibet) only in experiments conducted at seismic velocities. The experimental evidence presented here suggests that high-temperature pulses associated with seismic slip induce graphitization of CM. Importantly, the occurrence of graphitized fault-zone CM may allow us to ascertain the seismogenic potential of faults in areas worldwide with incomplete historical earthquake catalogues.

原文???core.languages.en_GB???
頁(從 - 到)979-982
頁數4
期刊Geology
45
發行號11
DOIs
出版狀態已出版 - 1 11月 2017

指紋

深入研究「Fault gouge graphitization as evidence of past seismic slip」主題。共同形成了獨特的指紋。

引用此