Amorphous materials are frequently observed in natural and experimentally produced fault rocks. Their common occurrence suggests that amorphous materials are of importance to fault zone dynamics. ...However, little is known about the physico-chemical impact of amorphous materials on fault rheology. Here we present deformation experiments on mafic fault rock, where amorphous material forms due to intense mechanical wear during the experiments. The experiments are run at temperatures from 300 to 600 °C, confining pressures of 0.5 or 1.0 GPa, and at constant displacement rates of (d˙ax) 2 ·10−7, 2 ·10−8 or 2 ·10−9 ms−1, resulting in bulk strain rates (γ˙) of ≈3 ·10−4, 3 ·10−5 and 3 ·10−6 s−1. At these conditions, the mafic rock material undergoes intense brittle deformation and cataclastic flow, but sample strength significantly decreases with increasing temperatures – a feature commonly attributed to viscous deformation processes. Microstructural analyses show that after an initial stage of homogeneous cataclastic flow, strain localizes into narrow (2–10 μm wide) ultra-cataclastic bands that evolve into amorphous shear bands. With the data presented in this research paper, we argue that the temperature sensitivity recorded in the mechanical data is caused by viscous deformation of the amorphous material. We suggest that with the formation of amorphous materials during brittle deformation, fault rheology becomes significantly temperature-sensitive. This has important implications for our understanding of fault strength and weakening due to the presence of amorphous materials. In addition, weak material along faults will lead to stress concentrations that may trigger seismic rupture.
•Amorphous material causes temperature dependent fault rheology.•Amorphisation occurs due to mechanical wear and not via melting.•Plagioclase is a key phase as it is highly susceptible to amorphisation.
Abstract
Catastrophic failure in brittle, porous materials initiates when smaller-scale fractures localise along an emergent fault zone in a transition from stable crack growth to dynamic rupture. ...Due to the rapid nature of this critical transition, the precise micro-mechanisms involved are poorly understood and difficult to image directly. Here, we observe these micro-mechanisms directly by controlling the microcracking rate to slow down the transition in a unique rock deformation experiment that combines acoustic monitoring (sound) with contemporaneous in-situ x-ray imaging (vision) of the microstructure. We find seismic amplitude is not always correlated with local imaged strain; large local strain often occurs with small acoustic emissions, and vice versa. Local strain is predominantly aseismic, explained in part by grain/crack rotation along an emergent shear zone, and the shear fracture energy calculated from local dilation and shear strain on the fault is half of that inferred from the bulk deformation.
Rock deformation experiments are performed on fault gouge fabricated from ‘Maryland Diabase’ rock powder to investigate the transition from dominant brittle to dominant viscous behaviour. At the ...imposed strain rates of γ˙=3·10−5−3·10−6 s−1, the transition is observed in the temperature range of (600 °C < T < 800 °C) at confining pressures of (0.5 GPa ≤ Pc ≤ 1.5 GPa). The transition thereby takes place by a switch from brittle fracturing and cataclastic flow to viscous dissolution-precipitation creep and grain boundary sliding. Mineral reactions and resulting grain size refinement by nucleation are observed to be critical processes for the switch to viscous deformation, i.e., grain size sensitive creep. In the transitional regime, the mechanical response of the sample is a mixed-mode between brittle and viscous rheology and microstructures associated with both brittle and viscous deformation are observed. As grain size reduction by reaction and nucleation is a time dependent process, the brittle-viscous transition is not only a function of T but to a large extent also of microstructural evolution.
•Transition from brittle cataclastic flow to viscous dissolution-precipitation creep.•The brittle-viscous transition shows mixed-mode rheology.•Grain size sensitive creep enabled by mineral reactions and nucleation.•Microstructural evolution can control the brittle-viscous transition.
It is widely observed that mafic rocks are able to accommodate high strains by viscous flow. Yet, a number of questions concerning the exact nature of the involved deformation mechanisms continue to ...be debated. In this contribution, rock deformation experiments on four different water-added plagioclase–pyroxene mixtures are presented: (i) plagioclase(An60–70)–clinopyroxene–orthopyroxene, (ii) plagioclase(An60)–diopside, (iii) plagioclase(An60)–enstatite, and (iv) plagioclase(An01)–enstatite. Samples were deformed in general shear at strain rates of 3×10−5 to 3×10−6 s−1, 800 °C, and confining pressure of 1.0 or 1.5 GPa. Results indicate that dissolution–precipitation creep (DPC) and grain boundary sliding (GBS) are the dominant deformation mechanisms and operate simultaneously. Coinciding with sample deformation, syn-kinematic mineral reactions yield abundant nucleation of new grains; the resulting intense grain size reduction is considered crucial for the activity of DPC and GBS. In high strain zones dominated by plagioclase, a weak, nonrandom, and geometrically consistent crystallographic preferred orientation (CPO) is observed. Usually, a CPO is considered a consequence of dislocation creep, but the experiments presented here demonstrate that a CPO can develop during DPC and GBS. This study provides new evidence for the importance of DPC and GBS in mid-crustal shear zones within mafic rocks, which has important implications for understanding and modeling mid-crustal rheology and flow.
X-ray tomographic microscopy is a well-established analysis technique in different fields of the Earth Sciences to access volumetric information of the internal microstructure of a large variety of ...opaque materials with high-spatial resolution and in a non-destructive manner. Synchrotron radiation, with its coherence and high flux, is required for pushing the temporal resolution into the second and sub-second regime and beyond, and therefore moving from the investigation of static samples to the study of fast dynamic processes as they happen in 3D. Over the past few years, several hardware and software developments at the TOMCAT beamline at the Swiss Light Source contributed to establishing its highly flexible and user-friendly fast tomography endstation, making a large variety of new dynamic in situ and operando investigations possible. Here we present an overview of the different devices, including an in-house developed detector, a new highly efficient macroscope and a programmable fast rotation stage. Their tight interplay and synchronization are key for lifting experimental design compromises and follow dynamic processes with high spatial and temporal resolution unfolding over prolonged periods of time, as often required by many applications. We showcase these new capabilities for the Earth Sciences community by presenting three different geological studies, which make use of different sample environments. With a tri-axial deformation rig, chemo-mechanical-hydraulic feedbacks between gypsum dehydration and halite deformation have been studied, while the spatio-temporal evolution of a solute plume has been investigated for the first time in 3D with a flow cell. A laser-based heating system available at the beamline provides access to the high temperatures required to address bubble growth and collapse as well as bubble-bubble interaction and coalescence in volcanological material. With the integration of a rheometer, information on bubble deformation could also be gained. In the near future, upgrades of most large-scale synchrotron radiation facilities to diffraction-limited storage rings will create new opportunities, for instance through sub-second tomographic imaging capabilities at sub-micron length scales.
Understanding fluid flow in rocks is crucial to quantify many natural processes such as ground water flow and naturally triggered seismicity, as well as engineering questions such as displacement of ...contaminants, the eligibility of subsurface waste storage, geothermal energy usage, oil and gas recovery and artificially induced seismicity. Two key parameters that control the variability of fluid flow and the movement of dissolved chemical species are (i) the local hydraulic conductivity, and (ii) the local sorption properties of the dissolved chemical species by the solid matrix. These parameters can be constrained through tomography imaging of rock samples subjected to fluid injection under constrained flow rate and pressure. The neutron imaging technique is ideal to explore fluid localization in porous materials due to the high but variable sensitivity of neutrons to the different hydrogen isotopes. However, until recently, this technique was underused in geology because of its large acquisition time. With the improved acquisition times of newly set-up neutron beamlines, it has become easier to study fluid flow. In the current set of experiments, we demonstrate the feasibility of in-situ 2D and 3D time-lapse neutron imaging of fluid and pollutant percolation in rocks, in particular that of cadmium salt. Cadmium is a hazardous compound that is found in many electronic devices, including batteries and is a common contaminant in soil and groundwater. It also exhibits higher contrast in neutron attenuation with respect to heavy water, and is therefore an ideal tracer. Time-lapse 2D radiographies and 3D neutron tomographies of the samples were acquired on two neutron beamlines (ILL, France and SINQ, Switzerland). We performed two sets of experiments, imbibition and injection experiments, where we imaged in-situ flow properties, such as local permeability and interactions between cadmium and the solid rock matrix. Our results indicate that even within these cm-scale porous rocks, cadmium transport follows preferential pathways, and locally interacts within the limestone samples. Our results demonstrate that the use of neutron imaging provides additional insights on subsurface transport of pollutants.
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