Ujiie, Kohtaro and Tsutsumi, Akito (2010): High-velocity frictional properties of clay-rich fault gouge in a megasplay fault zone, Nankai subduction zone

Leg/Site/Hole:
IODP 314 C0004
IODP 316 C0004
Identifier:
2012-021567
georefid

10.1029/2010GL046002
doi

Creator:
Ujiie, Kohtaro
University of Tsukuba, Graduate School of Life and Environmental Sciences, Tsukuba, Japan
author

Tsutsumi, Akito
Kyoto University, Japan
author

Identification:
High-velocity frictional properties of clay-rich fault gouge in a megasplay fault zone, Nankai subduction zone
2010
Geophysical Research Letters
American Geophysical Union, Washington, DC, United States
37
24
We conducted high-velocity friction experiments on clay-rich fault gouge taken from the megasplay fault zone in the Nankai subduction zone under dry and wet conditions. In the dry tests, dehydration of clay minerals occurred by frictional heating, and slip weakening is related to thermal pressurization associated with water vaporization, resulting in a random distribution of clay-clast aggregates in the gouge matrix. In the wet tests, slip weakening is caused by pore-fluid pressurization via shear-enhanced compaction and frictional heating, and there is a very weak dependence of the steady-state shear stress on the normal stress. The resulting microstructure reflects the grain size segregation in a granular-fluid shear flow at high shear rates. These results suggest that earthquake rupture propagates easily through clay-rich fault gouge by high-velocity weakening, potentially leaving the microstructures resulting from the frictional heating or the flow sorting at high slip rates.
Coverage:Geographic coordinates:
North:33.1300
West:136.4300East: 136.4300
South:33.1300

Geophysics of minerals and rocks; Asia; clay minerals; Far East; fault zones; faults; friction; gouge; grain size; Honshu; illite; Integrated Ocean Drilling Program; IODP Site C0004; Japan; Kii Peninsula; Nankai Trough; NanTroSEIZE; North Pacific; Northwest Pacific; P-T conditions; Pacific Ocean; physical properties; sheet silicates; silicates; slip rates; subduction zones; West Pacific;

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