Display options
Cite
Verberne BA, Chen J, Niemeijer AR, et al. Microscale cavitation as a mechanism for nucleating earthquakes at the base of the seismogenic zone. Nat Commun. 2017;8(1):1645doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-01843-3.
Verberne, B. A., Chen, J., Niemeijer, A. R., de Bresser, J. H. P., Pennock, G. M., Drury, M. R., & Spiers, C. J. (2017). Microscale cavitation as a mechanism for nucleating earthquakes at the base of the seismogenic zone. Nature communications, 8(1), 1645. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-01843-3
Verberne, Berend A, et al. "Microscale cavitation as a mechanism for nucleating earthquakes at the base of the seismogenic zone." Nature communications vol. 8,1 (2017): 1645. doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-017-01843-3
Verberne BA, Chen J, Niemeijer AR, de Bresser JHP, Pennock GM, Drury MR, Spiers CJ. Microscale cavitation as a mechanism for nucleating earthquakes at the base of the seismogenic zone. Nat Commun. 2017 Nov 21;8(1):1645. doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-01843-3. PMID: 29158513; PMCID: PMC5696358.
Copy Download .nbib Format: NLM
Share it on

Nat Commun. 2017 Nov 21;8(1):1645. doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-01843-3.

Microscale cavitation as a mechanism for nucleating earthquakes at the base of the seismogenic zone.

Nature communications

Berend A Verberne, Jianye Chen, André R Niemeijer, Johannes H P de Bresser, Gillian M Pennock, Martyn R Drury, Christopher J Spiers

Affiliations

  1. Department of Earth Sciences, Utrecht University, Budapestlaan 4, 3584 CD, Utrecht, The Netherlands. [email protected].
  2. Department of Earth Sciences, Utrecht University, Budapestlaan 4, 3584 CD, Utrecht, The Netherlands.

PMID: 29158513 PMCID: PMC5696358 DOI: 10.1038/s41467-017-01843-3

Abstract

Major earthquakes frequently nucleate near the base of the seismogenic zone, close to the brittle-ductile transition. Fault zone rupture at greater depths is inhibited by ductile flow of rock. However, the microphysical mechanisms responsible for the transition from ductile flow to seismogenic brittle/frictional behaviour at shallower depths remain unclear. Here we show that the flow-to-friction transition in experimentally simulated calcite faults is characterized by a transition from dislocation and diffusion creep to dilatant deformation, involving incompletely accommodated grain boundary sliding. With increasing shear rate or decreasing temperature, dislocation and diffusion creep become too slow to accommodate the imposed shear strain rate, leading to intergranular cavitation, weakening, strain localization, and a switch from stable flow to runaway fault rupture. The observed shear instability, triggered by the onset of microscale cavitation, provides a key mechanism for bringing about the brittle-ductile transition and for nucleating earthquakes at the base of the seismogenic zone.

References

  1. Nature. 2017 Mar 16;543(7645):416-419 - PubMed
  2. Science. 2014 Dec 12;346(6215):1342-4 - PubMed
  3. Nature. 2009 Jun 18;459(7249):974-7 - PubMed
  4. Science. 1986 Feb 14;231(4739):711-4 - PubMed
  5. Science. 2016 Oct 7;354(6308):88-92 - PubMed
  6. Nature. 2011 Mar 24;471(7339):494-8 - PubMed

Publication Types