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- Alpine Fault (1)
- Authigenic mineral formation (1)
- Brittle deformation (1)
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- Fault-rock microstructures (1)
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Institute
Rock deformation at depths in the Earth’s crust is often localized in high temperature shear zones occurring at different scales in a variety of lithologies. The presence of material heterogeneities is known to trigger shear zone development, but the mechanisms controlling initiation and evolution of localization are not fully understood. To investigate the effect of loading conditions on shear zone nucleation along heterogeneities, we performed torsion experiments under constant twist rate (CTR) and constant torque (CT) conditions in a Paterson-type deformation apparatus. The sample assemblage consisted of cylindrical Carrara marble specimens containing a thin plate of Solnhofen limestone perpendicular to the cylinder’s longitudinal axis. Under experimental conditions (900 °C, 400 MPa confining pressure), samples were plastically deformed and limestone is about 9 times weaker than marble, acting as a weak inclusion in a strong matrix. CTR experiments were performed at maximum bulk shear strain rates of ~ 2*10-4s-1, yielding peak shear stresses of ~ 20 MPa. CT tests were conducted at shear stresses of ~ 20 MPa resulting in bulk shear strain rates of 1-4*10-4s-1. Experiments were terminated at maximum bulk shear strains of ~ 0.3 and 1.0.Strain was localized within the Carrara marble in front of the inclusion in an area of strongly deformed grains and intense grain size reduction. Locally, evidences for coexisting brittle deformation are also observed regardless of the imposed loading conditions. The local shear strain at the inclusion tipis up to 30 times higher than the strain in the adjacent host rock, rapidly dropping to 5times higher at larger distance from the inclusion. At both investigated bulk strains, the evolution of microstructural and textural parameters is independent of loading conditions. Ourresults suggest that loading conditions do not significantly affect material heterogeneity-induced strain localization during its nucleation and transient stages.
We investigate the source characteristics of picoseismicity (M-w < -2) recorded during a hydraulic fracturing in situ experiment performed in the underground Aspo Hard Rock Laboratory, Sweden. The experiment consisted of six stimulations driven by three different water injection schemes and was performed inside a 28-m-long, horizontal borehole located at 410-m depth. The fracturing processes were monitored with a variety of seismic networks including broadband seismometers, geophones, high-frequency accelerometers, and acoustic emission sensors thereby covering a wide frequency band between 0.01 and 100,000Hz. Here we study the high-frequency signals with dominant frequencies exceeding 1000 Hz. The combined seismic network allowed for detection and detailed analysis of 196 small-scale seismic events with moment magnitudes M-W < -3.5 (source sizes of decimeter scale) that occurred solely during the stimulations and shortly after. The double-difference relocated hypocenter catalog as well as source parameters were used to study the physical characteristics of the induced seismicity and then compared to the stimulation parameters. We observe a spatiotemporal migration of the picoseismic events away and toward the injection intervals in direct correlation with changes in the hydraulic energy (product of fluid injection pressure and injection rate). We find that the total radiated seismic energy is extremely low with respect to the product of injected fluid volume and pressure (hydraulic energy). The radiated seismic energy correlates well with the hydraulic energy rate. The obtained fault plane solutions for particularly well-characterized events signify the reactivation of preexisting rock defects under influence of increased pore fluid pressure on fault plane orientations in good correspondence with the local stress field orientation.
The Alpine Fault is capable of generating large (MW > 8) earthquakes and is the main geohazard on South Island, NZ, and late in its 250–291-year seismic cycle. To minimize its hazard potential, it is indispensable to identify and understand the processes influencing the geomechanical behavior and strength-evolution of the fault. High-resolution microstructural, mineralogical and geochemical analyses of the Alpine Fault's core demonstrate wall rock fragmentation, assisted by mineral dissolution, and cementation resulting in the formation of a fine-grained principal slip zone (PSZ). A complex network of anastomosing and mutually cross-cutting calcite veins implies that faulting occurred during episodes of dilation, slip and sealing. Fluid-assisted dilatancy leads to a significant volume increase accommodated by vein formation in the fault core. Undeformed euhedral chlorite crystals and calcite veins that have cut footwall gravels demonstrate that these processes occurred very close to the Earth's surface. Microstructural evidence indicates that cataclastic processes dominate the deformation and we suggest that powder lubrication and grain rolling, particularly influenced by abundant nanoparticles, play a key role in the fault core's velocity-weakening behavior rather than frictional sliding. This is further supported by the absence of smectite, which is reasonable given recently measured geothermal gradients of more than 120 °C km−1 and the impermeable nature of the PSZ, which both limit the growth of this phase and restrict its stability to shallow depths. Our observations demonstrate that high-temperature fluids can influence authigenic mineral formation and thus control the fault's geomechanical behavior and the cyclic evolution of its strength.