Frictional melting mechanisms of rocks during earthquake fault slip

Rapid slip, at rates in the order of 1 m/s or more, may induce frictional melting in rocks during earthquakes. The short-lived melting has been thought to be a disequilibrium process, for decades. We conducted frictional melting experiments on acidic, basic, and ultrabasic silicate rocks at a slip rate of 1.3 m/s. The experiments and microstructural observations reveal that all minerals in the rocks are melted at temperatures below their known melting temperatures (Tm); e.g., quartz is melted at ~ 1000-1200 °C, not ~ 1720 °C, while olivine at ~ 1300 °C, rather than ~ 1700 °C. The low-temperature melting is incompatible with the conventional disequilibrium melting, and may be caused predominantly by grain size reduction and phase boundary reactions during the early and later stages of slip, respectively. The newly estimated Tm and the melting mechanisms should be considered for understanding the mechanics of earthquakes, landslides, and caldera collapses.

Intermittent lab earthquakes in dynamically weakening fault gouge

Large and destructive earthquakes on mature faults in Earth's crust occur as slip in a layer of a fine granular material-fault gouge-produced by comminution during sliding^1,2. A range of insights into the frictional resistance of faults-one of the main factors controlling earthquake nucleation, dynamic propagation and arrest, and hence the destructive ground shaking of earthquakes^2,3-has been obtained in experiments with spatially uniform slip imposed in small samples^2,4-21. However, how various features of gouge friction combine to determine spontaneous progression of earthquakes is difficult to study in the lab owing to substantial challenges with sample sizes and adequate imaging²². Here, using lab experiments, we show that spontaneously propagating dynamic ruptures navigate a fault region with fine rock gouge through complex, intermittent slip processes with dramatic friction evolution. These include repeated arrest of rupture propagation caused by friction strengthening at lower slip rates and dynamic earthquake re-nucleation enabled by pronounced rapid friction weakening at higher slip rates consistent with flash heating^8,12,23. The spontaneous repeated weakening and strengthening of friction in fine rock gouge highlights the fundamental dependence of friction on slip rate and associated processes, such as shear heating, localization and delocalization of shear, and dilation and compaction of the shear layer^6,7,9-21. Our findings expand experimental support^9,11 of the concept that co-seismic weakening may enable earthquake rupture to break through stable fault regions^24,25, with substantial implications for seismic hazard.

Repeating caldera collapse events constrain fault friction at the kilometer scale

Fault friction is central to understanding earthquakes, yet laboratory rock mechanics experiments are restricted to, at most, meter scale. Questions thus remain as to the applicability of measured frictional properties to faulting in situ. In particular, the slip-weakening distance [Formula: see text] strongly influences precursory slip during earthquake nucleation, but scales with fault roughness and is challenging to extrapolate to nature. The 2018 eruption of K̄ılauea volcano, Hawaii, caused 62 repeatable collapse events in which the summit caldera dropped several meters, accompanied by [Formula: see text] 4.7 to 5.4 very long period (VLP) earthquakes. Collapses were exceptionally well recorded by global positioning system (GPS) and tilt instruments and represent unique natural kilometer-scale friction experiments. We model a piston collapsing into a magma reservoir. Pressure at the piston base and shear stress on its margin, governed by rate and state friction, balance its weight. Downward motion of the piston compresses the underlying magma, driving flow to the eruption. Monte Carlo estimation of unknowns validates laboratory friction parameters at the kilometer scale, including the magnitude of steady-state velocity weakening. The absence of accelerating precollapse deformation constrains [Formula: see text] to be [Formula: see text] mm, potentially much less. These results support the use of laboratory friction laws and parameters for modeling earthquakes. We identify initial conditions and material and magma-system parameters that lead to episodic caldera collapse, revealing that small differences in eruptive vent elevation can lead to major differences in eruption volume and duration. Most historical basaltic caldera collapses were, at least partly, episodic, implying that the conditions for stick-slip derived here are commonly met in nature.

Seismic Slip-Pulse Experiments Simulate Induced Earthquake Rupture in the Groningen Gas Field

Rock materials show dramatic dynamic weakening in large-displacement (m), high-velocity (∼1 m/s) friction experiments, providing a mechanism for the generation of large, natural earthquakes. However, whether such weakening occurs during induced M3-4 earthquakes (dm displacements) is unknown. We performed rotary-shear experiments on simulated fault gouges prepared from the source-, reservoir- and caprock formations present in the seismogenic Groningen gas field (Netherlands). Water-saturated gouges were subjected to a slip pulse reaching a peak circumferential velocity of 1.2-1.7 m/s and total displacements of 13-20 cm, at 2.5-20 MPa normal stress. The results show 22%-81% dynamic weakening within 5-12 cm of slip, depending on normal stress and gouge composition. At 20 MPa normal stress, dynamic weakening from peak friction coefficients of 0.4-0.9 to 0.19-0.27 was observed, probably through thermal pressurization. We infer that similar effects play a key role during induced seismic slip on faults in the Groningen and other reservoir systems.

Fast and Localized Temperature Measurements During Simulated Earthquakes in Carbonate Rocks

The understanding of earthquake physics is hindered by the poor knowledge of fault strength and temperature evolution during seismic slip. Experiments reproducing seismic velocity (∼1 m/s) allow us to measure both the evolution of fault strength and the associated temperature increase due to frictional heating. However, temperature measurements were performed with techniques having insufficient spatial and temporal resolution. Here we conduct high velocity friction experiments on Carrara marble rock samples sheared at 20 MPa normal stress, velocity of 0.3 and 6 m/s, and 20 m of total displacement. We measured the temperature evolution of the fault surface at the acquisition rate of 1 kHz and over a spatial resolution of ∼40 µm with an optical fiber conveying the infrared radiation to a two-color pyrometer. Temperatures up to 1,250°C and low coseismic fault shear strength are compatible with the activation of grain size dependent viscous creep.

Dynamics and Properties of the Cohesive Zone in Rapid Fracture and Friction

The cohesive zone is the elusive region in which material fracture takes place. Here, the putatively singular stresses at a crack's tip are regularized. We present experiments, performed on PMMA, in which we visualize the cohesive zone of frictional ruptures as they propagate. Identical to shear cracks, these ruptures range from slow velocities to nearly the limiting speeds of cracks. We reveal that the cohesive zone is a dynamic quantity; its spatial form undergoes a sharp transition between distinct phases at a critical velocity. The structure of these phases provides an important window into material properties under the extreme conditions that occur during fracture.

Illuminating the physics of dynamic friction through laboratory earthquakes on thrust faults

Large, destructive earthquakes often propagate along thrust faults including megathrusts. The asymmetric interaction of thrust earthquake ruptures with the free surface leads to sudden variations in fault-normal stress, which affect fault friction. Here, we present full-field experimental measurements of displacements, particle velocities, and stresses that characterize the rupture interaction with the free surface, including the large normal stress reductions. We take advantage of these measurements to investigate the dependence of dynamic friction on transient changes in normal stress, demonstrate that the shear frictional resistance exhibits a significant lag in response to such normal stress variations, and identify a predictive frictional formulation that captures this effect. Properly accounting for this delay is important for simulations of fault slip, ground motion, and associated tsunami excitation.

Friction of sea ice

Static and kinetic friction play a fundamental role in sea-ice mechanics. The coefficient of static friction increases with hold time under normal load and is modelled in terms of creep and fracture of asperities in contact. The coefficient of kinetic friction exhibits velocity strengthening at lower speeds and velocity weakening at intermediate speeds. Strengthening is modelled in terms of asperity creep and hardness; weakening is modelled in terms of a progressive increase in the true area of contact wetted by meltwater produced through frictional heating. The concept is introduced of contact size distribution in which the smallest contacts melt first, leading to the onset of weakening; the largest melt last, leading to a third regime of kinetic friction and again to strengthening where hydrodynamics governs. Neither the static nor the kinetic coefficient is significantly affected by the presence of sea water. The paper closes with a few implications for sea-ice mechanics. The paper is based largely upon a critical review of the literature, but includes a more quantitative, physics-based analysis of velocity strengthening and a new analysis of velocity weakening that incorporates parameters that describe the (proposed) fractal character of the sliding interface.This article is part of the theme issue 'Modelling of sea-ice phenomena'.

Frictional Instabilities and Carbonation of Basalts Triggered by Injection of Pressurized H2O- and CO2- Rich Fluids

The safe application of geological carbon storage depends also on the seismic hazard associated with fluid injection. In this regard, we performed friction experiments using a rotary shear apparatus on precut basalts with variable degree of hydrothermal alteration by injecting distilled H2O, pure CO2, and H2O + CO2 fluid mixtures under temperature, fluid pressure, and stress conditions relevant for large-scale subsurface CO2 storage reservoirs. In all experiments, seismic slip was preceded by short-lived slip bursts. Seismic slip occurred at equivalent fluid pressures and normal stresses regardless of the fluid injected and degree of alteration of basalts. Injection of fluids caused also carbonation reactions and crystallization of new dolomite grains in the basalt-hosted faults sheared in H2O + CO2 fluid mixtures. Fast mineral carbonation in the experiments might be explained by shear heating during seismic slip, evidencing the high chemical reactivity of basalts to H2O + CO2 mixtures.

Heating, weakening and shear localization in earthquake rupture

Field and borehole observations of active earthquake fault zones show that shear is often localized to principal deforming zones of order 0.1-10 mm width. This paper addresses how frictional heating in rapid slip weakens faults dramatically, relative to their static frictional strength, and promotes such intense localization. Pronounced weakening occurs even on dry rock-on-rock surfaces, due to flash heating effects, at slip rates above approximately 0.1 m s^-1 (earthquake slip rates are typically of the order of 1 m s^-1). But weakening in rapid shear is also predicted theoretically in thick fault gouge in the presence of fluids (whether native ground fluids or volatiles such as H₂O or CO₂ released by thermal decomposition reactions), and the predicted localizations are compatible with such narrow shear zones as have been observed. The underlying concepts show how fault zone materials with high static friction coefficients, approximately 0.6-0.8, can undergo strongly localized shear at effective dynamic friction coefficients of the order of 0.1, thus fitting observational constraints, e.g. of earthquakes producing negligible surface heat outflow and, for shallow events, only rarely creating extensive melt. The results to be summarized include those of collaborative research published with Nicolas Brantut (University College London), Eric Dunham (Stanford University), Nadia Lapusta (Caltech), Hiroyuki Noda (JAMSTEC, Japan), John D. Platt (Carnegie Institution for Science, now at *gramLabs), Alan Rempel (Oregon State University) and John W. Rudnicki (Northwestern University).This article is part of the themed issue 'Faulting, friction and weakening: from slow to fast motion'.

Understanding dynamic friction through spontaneously evolving laboratory earthquakes

Friction plays a key role in how ruptures unzip faults in the Earth's crust and release waves that cause destructive shaking. Yet dynamic friction evolution is one of the biggest uncertainties in earthquake science. Here we report on novel measurements of evolving local friction during spontaneously developing mini-earthquakes in the laboratory, enabled by our ultrahigh speed full-field imaging technique. The technique captures the evolution of displacements, velocities and stresses of dynamic ruptures, whose rupture speed range from sub-Rayleigh to supershear. The observed friction has complex evolution, featuring initial velocity strengthening followed by substantial velocity weakening. Our measurements are consistent with rate-and-state friction formulations supplemented with flash heating but not with widely used slip-weakening friction laws. This study develops a new approach for measuring local evolution of dynamic friction and has important implications for understanding earthquake hazard since laws governing frictional resistance of faults are vital ingredients in physically-based predictive models of the earthquake source.

An empirically based steady state friction law and implications for fault stability

Empirically based rate-and-state friction laws (RSFLs) have been proposed to model the dependence of friction forces with slip and time. The relevance of the RSFL for earthquake mechanics is that few constitutive parameters define critical conditions for fault stability (i.e., critical stiffness and frictional fault behavior). However, the RSFLs were determined from experiments conducted at subseismic slip rates (V < 1 cm/s), and their extrapolation to earthquake deformation conditions (V > 0.1 m/s) remains questionable on the basis of the experimental evidence of (1) large dynamic weakening and (2) activation of particular fault lubrication processes at seismic slip rates. Here we propose a modified RSFL (MFL) based on the review of a large published and unpublished data set of rock friction experiments performed with different testing machines. The MFL, valid at steady state conditions from subseismic to seismic slip rates (0.1 µm/s < V < 3 m/s), describes the initiation of a substantial velocity weakening in the 1-20 cm/s range resulting in a critical stiffness increase that creates a peak of potential instability in that velocity regime. The MFL leads to a new definition of fault frictional stability with implications for slip event styles and relevance for models of seismic rupture nucleation, propagation, and arrest.

Fast-moving dislocations trigger flash weakening in carbonate-bearing faults during earthquakes

Rupture fronts can cause fault displacement, reaching speeds up to several ms⁻¹ within a few milliseconds, at any distance away from the earthquake nucleation area. In the case of silicate-bearing rocks the abrupt slip acceleration results in melting at asperity contacts causing a large reduction in fault frictional strength (i.e., flash weakening). Flash weakening is also observed in experiments performed in carbonate-bearing rocks but evidence for melting is lacking. To unravel the micro-physical mechanisms associated with flash weakening in carbonates, experiments were conducted on pre-cut Carrara marble cylinders using a rotary shear apparatus at conditions relevant to earthquakes propagation. In the first 5 mm of slip the shear stress was reduced up to 30% and CO₂ was released. Focused ion beam, scanning and transmission electron microscopy investigations of the slipping zones reveal the presence of calcite nanograins and amorphous carbon. We interpret the CO₂ release, the formation of nanograins and amorphous carbon to be the result of a shock-like stress release associated with the migration of fast-moving dislocations. Amorphous carbon, given its low friction coefficient, is responsible for flash weakening and promotes the propagation of the seismic rupture in carbonate-bearing fault patches.

Dynamic weakening of serpentinite gouges and bare surfaces at seismic slip rates

To investigate differences in the frictional behavior between initially bare rock surfaces of serpentinite and powdered serpentinite ("gouge") at subseismic to seismic slip rates, we conducted single-velocity step and multiple-velocity step friction experiments on an antigorite-rich and lizardite-rich serpentinite at slip rates (V) from 0.003 m/s to 6.5 m/s, sliding displacements up to 1.6 m, and normal stresses (σn ) up to 22 MPa for gouge and 97 MPa for bare surfaces. Nominal steady state friction values (μnss) in gouge at V = 1 m/s are larger than in bare surfaces for all σn tested and demonstrate a strong σn dependence; μnss decreased from 0.51 at 4.0 MPa to 0.39 at 22.4 MPa. Conversely, μnss values for bare surfaces remained ∼0.1 with increasing σn and V. Additionally, the velocity at the onset of frictional weakening and the amount of slip prior to weakening were orders of magnitude larger in gouge than in bare surfaces. Extrapolation of the normal stress dependence for μnss suggests that the behavior of antigorite gouge approaches that of bare surfaces at σn ≥ 60 MPa. X-ray diffraction revealed dehydration reaction products in samples that frictionally weakened. Microstructural analysis revealed highly localized slip zones with melt-like textures in some cases gouge experiments and in all bare surfaces experiments for V ≥ 1 m/s. One-dimensional thermal modeling indicates that flash heating causes frictional weakening in both bare surfaces and gouge. Friction values for gouge decrease at higher velocities and after longer displacements than bare surfaces because strain is more distributed.

KEY POINTS

Gouge friction approaches that of bare surfaces at high normal stressDehydration reactions and bulk melting in serpentinite in < 1 m of slipFlash heating causes dynamic frictional weakening in gouge and bare surfaces.

Tribo-induced melting transition at a sliding asperity contact

Observation of a tribo-induced transition from solid to liquidlike behavior is reported for a scanning tunneling microscope tip in sliding contact with an indium electrode of a quartz crystal microbalance (QCM). In particular, at a sufficiently high asperity sliding speed (about 1 m/s) and/or sample temperature, a change in the contact mechanics is observed that is consistent with melting in terms of both the QCM response and an energy analysis. The results confirm that the surface, rather than bulk, melting point temperature is the more relevant quantity for tribological considerations.

Binding site models of friction due to the formation and rupture of bonds: state-function formalism, force-velocity relations, response to slip velocity transients, and slip stability

We present a model describing friction due to the thermally activated formation and rupture of molecular bonds between two surfaces, with long molecules on one surface attaching to discrete or continuous binding sites on the other. The physical assumptions underlying this model are formalized using a continuum approximation resulting in a class of master-equation-like partial differential equations that is a generalization of a friction model due to Persson [Phys. Rev. B 51, 13568 (1995)] and is identical to the equations used to describe muscle contraction, first proposed by A. F. Huxley. We examine the properties of this friction model in the continuous binding site limit noting that this model is capable of producing both monotonically increasing and an increasing-decreasing force dependence on slip velocity. When monotonically increasing, the force dependence on velocity is (asymptotically) logarithmic. The model produces a transient increase in friction in response to a sudden velocity increase, whether or not the steady-state friction force is a decreasing or increasing function of steady slip velocity. The model also exhibits both stable steady slip and stick-slip-like oscillatory behavior, in the presence of compliance in the loading machine, even when the steady-state friction force is a decreasing function of steady-state slip velocity.

Recent advances in the understanding of fault zone internal structure: a review

It is increasingly apparent that faults are typically not discrete planes but zones of deformed rock with a complex internal structure and three-dimensional geometry. In the last decade this has led to renewed interest in the consequences of this complexity for modelling the impact of fault zones on fluid flow and mechanical behaviour of the Earth's crust. A number of processes operate during the development of fault zones, both internally and in the surrounding host rock, which may encourage or inhibit continuing fault zone growth. The complexity of the evolution of a faulted system requires changes in the rheological properties of both the fault zone and the surrounding host rock volume, both of which impact on how the fault zone evolves with increasing displacement. Models of the permeability structure of fault zones emphasize the presence of two types of fault rock components: fractured conduits parallel to the fault and granular core zone barriers to flow. New data presented in this paper on porosity–permeability relationships of fault rocks during laboratory deformation tests support recently advancing concepts which have extended these models to show that poro-mechanical approaches (e.g., critical state soil mechanics, fracture dilatancy) may be applied to predict the fluid flow behaviour of complex fault zones during the active life of the fault. Predicting the three-dimensional heterogeneity of fault zone internal structure is important in the hydrocarbon industry for evaluating the retention capacity of faults in exploration contexts and the hydraulic behaviour in production contexts. Across-fault reservoir juxtaposition or non-juxtaposition, a key property in predicting retention or across-fault leakage, is strongly controlled by the three-dimensional complexity of the fault zone. Although algorithms such as shale gouge ratio greatly help predict capillary threshold pressures, quantification of the statistical variation in fault zone composition will allow estimations of uncertainty in fault retention capacity and hence prospect reserve estimations. Permeability structure in the fault zone is an important issue because bulk fluid flow rates through or along a fault zone are dependent on permeability variations, anisotropy and tortuosity of flow paths. A possible way forward is to compare numerical flow models using statistical variations of permeability in a complex fault zone in a given sandstone/shale context with field-scale estimates of fault zone permeability. Fault zone internal structure is equally important in understanding the seismogenic behaviour of faults. Both geometric and compositional complexities can control the nucleation, propagation and arrest of earthquakes. The presence and complex distribution of different fault zone materials of contrasting velocity-weakening and velocity-strengthening properties is an important factor in controlling earthquake nucleation and whether a fault slips seismogenically or creeps steadily, as illustrated by recent studies of the San Andreas Fault. A synthesis of laboratory experiments presented in this paper shows that fault zone materials which become stronger with increasing slip rate, typically then get weaker as slip rate continues to increase to seismogenic slip rates. Thus the probability that a nucleating rupture can propagate sufficiently to generate a large earthquake depends upon its success in propagating fast enough through these materials in order to give them the required velocity kick. This propagation success is hence controlled by the relative and absolute size distributions of velocity-weakening and velocity-strengthening rocks within the fault zone. Statistical characterisation of the distribution of such contrasting properties within complex fault zones may allow for better predictive models of rupture propagation in the future and provide an additional approach to earthquake size forecasting and early warnings.