Multiscale off-fault brecciation records coseismic energy budget of principal fault zone

Breccia and pulverized rock are typical textures in off-fault damage adjacent to a main seismogenic zone. Previously, by estimating the energy required to advance the rupture in this zone using particle size distribution at sub-millimeter/micrometer scales, we could constrain the energy budget during coseismic events. However, whether microscopic estimation is sufficient to capture surface energy fragmentation during an earthquake and the effect of measurement scale variation on calculation of co-seismic energy partitioning remained unclear. Here, we investigated the mechanism of coseismic off-fault damage based on field and microstructural observations of a well-exposed breccia body in Ichinokawa, Japan. We used in situ clast measurements coupled with thin-section analysis of breccia clasts to estimate the energy budget of the damage zone adjacent to the principal slip zone of the Median Tectonic Line (MTL). The total surface energy density and corresponding surface energy per unit fault for a width of ~ 500 m of the dynamical damage zone were estimated. The moment magnitude estimated based on surface energy was 5.8-8.3 Mw. In Ichinokawa, off-fault fragmentation is initiated by coseismic activity and is followed by fluid activity. Under dynamic fragmentation conditions, the scale is important to calculate the surface energy.

A Dynamic Coupled Elastoplastic Damage Model for Rock-like Materials Considering Tension-Compression Damage and Pressure-Dependent Behavior

A dynamic coupled elastoplastic damage model for rock-like materials is proposed. The model takes unified strength theory as the strength criterion. To characterize the different damage between compression and tension, two damage variables both in compression and in tension are introduced into the model. The former is represented by the generalized shear plastic strain and volumetric plastic strain and the latter is expressed with the generalized shear plastic strain. Furthermore, the model takes the strain rate effect into account to reflect the strength enhancement under dynamic loading. Because of the difference in plastic hardening between compression and tension, a modified hardening function is adopted. At the same time, the volume strain from HJC model is modified to be consistent with one of continuum mechanics. The developed model is numerically implemented into LS-DYNA with a semi-implicit algorithm through a user-defined material interface (UMAT). The reliability and accuracy of the developed model are verified by the simulation of four basic experiments with different loading conditions. The proposed model was found to be applicable to different mechanical behaviors of rock-like materials under static and dynamic loading conditions.

Experimental constraints on dynamic fragmentation as a dissipative process during seismic slip

Various fault damage fabrics, from gouge in the principal slip zone to fragmented and pulverized rocks in the fault damage zone, have been attributed to brittle deformation at high strain rates during earthquake rupture. Past experimental work has shown that there exists a critical threshold in stress-strain rate space through which rock failure transitions from failure along a few discrete fracture planes to intense fragmentation. We present new experimental results on Arkansas Novaculite (AN) and Westerly Granite (WG) in which we quantify fracture surface area produced by dynamic fragmentation under uniaxial compressive loading and examine the controls of pre-existing mineral anisotropy on dissipative processes at the microscale. Tests on AN produced substantially greater new fracture surface area (approx. 6.0 m² g^-1) than those on WG (0.07 m² g^-1). Estimates of the portion of energy dissipated into brittle fracture were significant for WG (approx. 5%), but appeared substantial in AN (10% to as much as 40%). The results have important implications for the partitioning of dissipated energy under extreme loading conditions expected during earthquakes and the scaling of high-speed laboratory rock mechanics experiments to natural fault zones.This article is part of the themed issue 'Faulting, friction and weakening: from slow to fast motion'.

From slow to fast faulting: recent challenges in earthquake fault mechanics

Faults-thin zones of highly localized shear deformation in the Earth-accommodate strain on a momentous range of dimensions (millimetres to hundreds of kilometres for major plate boundaries) and of time intervals (from fractions of seconds during earthquake slip, to years of slow, aseismic slip and millions of years of intermittent activity). Traditionally, brittle faults have been distinguished from shear zones which deform by crystal plasticity (e.g. mylonites). However such brittle/plastic distinction becomes blurred when considering (i) deep earthquakes that happen under conditions of pressure and temperature where minerals are clearly in the plastic deformation regime (a clue for seismologists over several decades) and (ii) the extreme dynamic stress drop occurring during seismic slip acceleration on faults, requiring efficient weakening mechanisms. High strain rates (more than 10⁴ s^-1) are accommodated within paper-thin layers (principal slip zone), where co-seismic frictional heating triggers non-brittle weakening mechanisms. In addition, (iii) pervasive off-fault damage is observed, introducing energy sinks which are not accounted for by traditional frictional models. These observations challenge our traditional understanding of friction (rate-and-state laws), anelastic deformation (creep and flow of crystalline materials) and the scientific consensus on fault operation.This article is part of the themed issue 'Faulting, friction and weakening: from slow to fast motion'.

Observation of microscopic damage accumulation in brittle solids subjected to dynamic compressive loading

Dynamic failure of brittle materials is a fundamental physical problem that has significantly impacts to many science and engineering disciplines. As the first and the most important step towards the full understanding of this problem, one has to observe dynamic damage accumulation in brittle solids. In this work, we proposed a methodology to do that and demonstrated it by studying the dynamic compressive damage evolution of a granitic rock loaded with a modified split Hopkinson pressure bar system. To ensure consistency of the experimental results, we used cylindrical rock samples fabricated from the same rock core and subjected them to identical incident loading pulse. Using a special soft recovery technique, we stopped the dynamic loading on the samples at different strain levels, ranging from 0.3% to 1.4%. Therefore, we were able to recover intact samples loaded all the way to the post-peak deformation stage. The recovered samples were subsequently examined with X-ray micro-CT scanning machine. Three dimensional microcrack network induced by the dynamic loading was observed and the evolution of microcracks as a function of the dynamic loading strain was obtained.