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Sutherland R, Townend J, Toy V, et al. Extreme hydrothermal conditions at an active plate-bounding fault. Nature. 2017;546(7656):137-140doi: 10.1038/nature22355.
Sutherland, R., Townend, J., Toy, V., Upton, P., Coussens, J., Allen, M., Baratin, L. M., Barth, N., Becroft, L., Boese, C., Boles, A., Boulton, C., Broderick, N. G. R., Janku-Capova, L., Carpenter, B. M., Célérier, B., Chamberlain, C., Cooper, A., Coutts, A., Cox, S., Craw, L., Doan, M. L., Eccles, J., Faulkner, D., Grieve, J., Grochowski, J., Gulley, A., Hartog, A., Howarth, J., Jacobs, K., Jeppson, T., Kato, N., Keys, S., Kirilova, M., Kometani, Y., Langridge, R., Lin, W., Little, T., Lukacs, A., Mallyon, D., Mariani, E., Massiot, C., Mathewson, L., Melosh, B., Menzies, C., Moore, J., Morales, L., Morgan, C., Mori, H., Niemeijer, A., Nishikawa, O., Prior, D., Sauer, K., Savage, M., Schleicher, A., Schmitt, D. R., Shigematsu, N., Taylor-Offord, S., Teagle, D., Tobin, H., Valdez, R., Weaver, K., Wiersberg, T., Williams, J., Woodman, N., & Zimmer, M. (2017). Extreme hydrothermal conditions at an active plate-bounding fault. Nature, 546(7656), 137-140. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature22355
Sutherland, Rupert, et al. "Extreme hydrothermal conditions at an active plate-bounding fault." Nature vol. 546,7656 (2017): 137-140. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/nature22355
Sutherland R, Townend J, Toy V, Upton P, Coussens J, Allen M, Baratin LM, Barth N, Becroft L, Boese C, Boles A, Boulton C, Broderick NGR, Janku-Capova L, Carpenter BM, Célérier B, Chamberlain C, Cooper A, Coutts A, Cox S, Craw L, Doan ML, Eccles J, Faulkner D, Grieve J, Grochowski J, Gulley A, Hartog A, Howarth J, Jacobs K, Jeppson T, Kato N, Keys S, Kirilova M, Kometani Y, Langridge R, Lin W, Little T, Lukacs A, Mallyon D, Mariani E, Massiot C, Mathewson L, Melosh B, Menzies C, Moore J, Morales L, Morgan C, Mori H, Niemeijer A, Nishikawa O, Prior D, Sauer K, Savage M, Schleicher A, Schmitt DR, Shigematsu N, Taylor-Offord S, Teagle D, Tobin H, Valdez R, Weaver K, Wiersberg T, Williams J, Woodman N, Zimmer M. Extreme hydrothermal conditions at an active plate-bounding fault. Nature. 2017 Jun 01;546(7656):137-140. doi: 10.1038/nature22355. Epub 2017 May 17. PMID: 28514440.
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Nature. 2017 Jun 01;546(7656):137-140. doi: 10.1038/nature22355. Epub 2017 May 17.

Extreme hydrothermal conditions at an active plate-bounding fault.

Nature

Rupert Sutherland, John Townend, Virginia Toy, Phaedra Upton, Jamie Coussens, Michael Allen, Laura-May Baratin, Nicolas Barth, Leeza Becroft, Carolin Boese, Austin Boles, Carolyn Boulton, Neil G R Broderick, Lucie Janku-Capova, Brett M Carpenter, Bernard Célérier, Calum Chamberlain, Alan Cooper, Ashley Coutts, Simon Cox, Lisa Craw, Mai-Linh Doan, Jennifer Eccles, Dan Faulkner, Jason Grieve, Julia Grochowski, Anton Gulley, Arthur Hartog, Jamie Howarth, Katrina Jacobs, Tamara Jeppson, Naoki Kato, Steven Keys, Martina Kirilova, Yusuke Kometani, Rob Langridge, Weiren Lin, Timothy Little, Adrienn Lukacs, Deirdre Mallyon, Elisabetta Mariani, Cécile Massiot, Loren Mathewson, Ben Melosh, Catriona Menzies, Jo Moore, Luiz Morales, Chance Morgan, Hiroshi Mori, Andre Niemeijer, Osamu Nishikawa, David Prior, Katrina Sauer, Martha Savage, Anja Schleicher, Douglas R Schmitt, Norio Shigematsu, Sam Taylor-Offord, Damon Teagle, Harold Tobin, Robert Valdez, Konrad Weaver, Thomas Wiersberg, Jack Williams, Nick Woodman, Martin Zimmer

Affiliations

  1. GNS Science, PO Box 30368, Lower Hutt, New Zealand.
  2. SGEES, Victoria University of Wellington, PO Box 600, Wellington, New Zealand.
  3. Department of Geology, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand.
  4. Department of Ocean and Earth Science, University of Southampton, Southampton SO14 3ZH, UK.
  5. School of Environmental Sciences, University of Liverpool, Liverpool L69 3GP, UK.
  6. Department of Earth Sciences, University of California, Riverside, California 92521, USA.
  7. Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan 48109, USA.
  8. University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1142, New Zealand.
  9. School of Geology and Geophysics, University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma 73019, USA.
  10. CNRS, Université de Montpellier, 34095 Montpellier, France.
  11. GNS Science, Private Bag 1930, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand.
  12. Université Grenoble-Alpes, Université Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, IRD, IFSTTAR, ISTerre, F-38000 Grenoble, France.
  13. Schlumberger Fiber-Optic Technology Centre, Romsey, Hampshire SO51 9DL, UK.
  14. Department of Geoscience, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA.
  15. Department of Earth and Space Science, Osaka University, Osaka 565-0871, Japan.
  16. Department of Geosphere Sciences, Yamaguchi University, Yamaguchi 753-8511, Japan.
  17. Graduate School of Engineering, Kyoto University, Kyoto 615-8540, Japan.
  18. Kochi Institute for Core Sample Research, Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, Kochi 783-8502, Japan.
  19. Department of Physics, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2R3, Canada.
  20. Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, McGill University, Montreal, Quebec H3A 0G4, Canada.
  21. Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Macquarie University, Sydney, New South Wales 2109, Australia.
  22. ScopeM, ETH, 8093 Zürich, Switzerland.
  23. Department of Geology, Shinshu University, Matsumoto, Asahi 3-1-1, Japan.
  24. Faculty of Geosciences, HPT Laboratory, Utrecht University, 3584 CD Utrecht, The Netherlands.
  25. Department of Earth Science and Technology, Akita University, Akita City 010-8502, Japan.
  26. GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Telegrafenberg, 14473 Potsdam, Germany.
  27. Geological Survey of Japan, AIST, Tsukuba, Japan.
  28. Department of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA.

PMID: 28514440 DOI: 10.1038/nature22355

Abstract

Temperature and fluid pressure conditions control rock deformation and mineralization on geological faults, and hence the distribution of earthquakes. Typical intraplate continental crust has hydrostatic fluid pressure and a near-surface thermal gradient of 31 ± 15 degrees Celsius per kilometre. At temperatures above 300-450 degrees Celsius, usually found at depths greater than 10-15 kilometres, the intra-crystalline plasticity of quartz and feldspar relieves stress by aseismic creep and earthquakes are infrequent. Hydrothermal conditions control the stability of mineral phases and hence frictional-mechanical processes associated with earthquake rupture cycles, but there are few temperature and fluid pressure data from active plate-bounding faults. Here we report results from a borehole drilled into the upper part of the Alpine Fault, which is late in its cycle of stress accumulation and expected to rupture in a magnitude 8 earthquake in the coming decades. The borehole (depth 893 metres) revealed a pore fluid pressure gradient exceeding 9 ± 1 per cent above hydrostatic levels and an average geothermal gradient of 125 ± 55 degrees Celsius per kilometre within the hanging wall of the fault. These extreme hydrothermal conditions result from rapid fault movement, which transports rock and heat from depth, and topographically driven fluid movement that concentrates heat into valleys. Shear heating may occur within the fault but is not required to explain our observations. Our data and models show that highly anomalous fluid pressure and temperature gradients in the upper part of the seismogenic zone can be created by positive feedbacks between processes of fault slip, rock fracturing and alteration, and landscape development at plate-bounding faults.

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