Einat Aharonov

Nanograins form carbonate fault mirrors

Many faults are characterized by naturally polished, reflective, glossy surfaces, termed fault mirrors (FMs), that form during slip. Recent experiments also find that FMs form during rapid sliding between rock surfaces, and that FM formation coincides with pronounced friction reduction. The structure of FMs and the mechanism of their formation are thus important for understanding the mechanics of frictional sliding, particularly during earthquakes. Here we characterize the small-scale structure of natural carbonate FMs from three different faults along a tectonically active region of the Dead Sea transform. Atomic force microscopy measurements indicate that the FMs have extremely smooth surface topography, accounting for their mirror-like appearance. Electron microscope characterization revealed a thin (

INTERACTION BETWEEN PRESSURE SOLUTION AND CLAYS IN STYLOLITE DEVELOPMENT: INSIGHTS FROM MODELING

Stylolites are localized dissolution surfaces commonly found in sedimentary rocks. Stylolites have been extensively studied due to their important role in controlling dissolution, precipitation, deformation, and fluid transport in rocks. Field observations indicate that stylolite formation and morphology are strongly correlated both with the surrounding stress and with the distribution of clays within the host rock, yet the mechanism by which they form remains enigmatic. We present results from a newly developed two-dimensional Spring-Network Model that studies stylolite formation by pressure-solution with and without the presence of clays, where clays play a role of enhancing pressure solution. We use our model to test the relative role of stress and clays in controlling the localization of dissolution into stylolites. In contrast to the common paradigm, our results suggest that pressure solution alone, in the absence of catalyzing clays, does not lead to spontaneous localization of dissolution into stylolites. Instead, we propose a new coupled clay-pressure-solution feedback to localize stylolites, a coupling that we observe in our model: a region with a slightly larger clay fraction will experience enhanced dissolution, and will thus accumulate more residual clays, which will act to further enhance pressure solution in that region, and accumulate even more clays. Stress is a necessary component in this feedback as it controls the direction of stylolite propagation, and facilitates lateral propagation.

Ductile deformation of passive margins: A new mechanism for subduction initiation

[1] The onset of subduction at passive margins has been extensively investigated and debated. However, the force constellations and mechanisms that enable the development of a subduction system from a passive margin remain unclear. This study presents new insights into the conditions and processes by which lateral density differences between oceanic and continental lithospheres in passive margins may lead to initiation of a low-angle subduction system. The presented study consists of (1) analytical calculations of flow fields generated in passive margins, and (2) analogue experiments of mature passive margins performed in a centrifuge. The analytical formulation predicts temporal and spatial evolution of an interface between the oceanic and continental lithospheres, and demonstrates that oceanic underthrusting may occur by rotation of this interface. The analogue experiments show that incipient subduction may develop by ductile deformation within the lithosphere, involving no sliding along the ocean-continent interface, so that the frictional resistance between the plates need not be overcome. The force induced by the negative buoyancy of the oceanic plate with respect to the asthenosphere, is found to be in some cases irrelevant to subduction nucleation. Results of both the analogue experiments and the analytical calculation are compared to the south-east Australian passive margin, and show an excellent fit to its geometry and stress distribution. The proposed mechanism is also applied to the only two cases of subduction of Atlantic tectonic system, the Lesser-Antilles and the South Sandwich subduction systems.

Fingerprinting stress: Stylolite and calcite twinning paleopiezometry revealing the complexity of progressive stress patterns during folding—The case of the Monte Nero anticline in the Apennines, Italy

In this study we show for the first time how quantitative stress estimates can be derived by combining calcite twinning and stylolite roughness stress fingerprinting techniques in a fold-and-thrust belt. First, we present a new method that gives access to stress inversion using tectonic stylolites without access to the stylolite surface and compare results with calcite twin inversion. Second, we use our new approach to present a high-resolution deformation and stress history that affected Meso-Cenozoic limestone strata in the Monte Nero Anticline during its late Miocene-Pliocene growth in the Umbria-Marche Arcuate Ridge (northern Apennines, Italy). In this area an extensive stylolite-joint/vein network developed during layer-parallel shortening (LPS), as well as during and after folding. Stress fingerprinting illustrates how stress in the sedimentary strata did build up prior to folding during LPS. The stress regime oscillated between strike slip and compressional during LPS before ultimately becoming strike slip again during late stage fold tightening. Our case study shows that high-resolution stress fingerprinting is possible and that this novel method can be used to unravel temporal relationships that relate to local variations of regional orogenic stresses. Beyond regional implications, this study validates our approach as a new powerful toolbox to high-resolution stress fingerprinting in basins and orogens combining joint and vein analysis with sedimentary and tectonic stylolite and calcite twin inversion techniques.

A General Criterion for Liquefaction in Granular Layers with Heterogeneous Pore Pressure

Fluid-saturated granular and porous layers can undergo liquefaction and lose their shear resistance when subjected to shear forcing. In geosystems, such a process can lead to severe natural hazards of soil liquefaction, accelerating slope failure, and large earthquakes. Terzaghis principle of effective stress predicts that liquefaction occurs when the pore pressure within the layer becomes equal to the applied normal stress on the layer. However, under dynamic loading and when the internal permeability is relatively small the pore pressure is spatially heterogeneous and it is not clear what measurement of pore pressure should be used in Terzaghis principle. Here, we show theoretically and demonstrate using numerical simulations a general criterion for liquefaction that applies also for the cases in which the pore pressure is spatially heterogeneous. The general criterion demands that the average pore pressure along a continuous surface within the fluid-saturated granular or porous layer is equal to the applied normal stress.

Stylolites: A review

Abstract Stylolites are ubiquitous geo-patterns observed in rocks in the upper crust, from geological reservoirs in sedimentary rocks to deformation zones, in folds, faults, and shear zones. These rough surfaces play a major role in the dissolution of rocks around stressed contacts, the transport of dissolved material and the precipitation in surrounding pores. Consequently, they play an active role in the evolution of rock microstructures and rheological properties in the Earths crust. They are observed individually or in networks, in proximity to fractures and joints, and in numerous geological settings. This review article deals with their geometrical and compositional characteristics and the factors leading to their genesis. The main questions this review focuses on are the following: How do they form? How can they be used to measure strain and formation stress? How do they control fluid flow in the upper crust? Geometrically, stylolites have fractal roughness, with fractal geometrical properties exhibiting typically three scaling regimes: a self-affine scaling with Hurst exponent 1.1 ± 0.1 at small scale (up to tens or hundreds of microns), another one with Hurst exponent around 0.5 to 0.6 at intermediate scale (up to millimeters or centimeters), and in the case of sedimentary stylolites, a flat scaling at large scale. More complicated anisotropic scaling (scaling laws depending of the direction of the profile considered) is found in the case of tectonic stylolites. We report models based on first principles from physical chemistry and statistical physics, including a mechanical component for the free-energy associated with stress concentrations, and a precise tracking of the influence of grain-scale heterogeneities and disorder on the resulting (micro)structures. Experimental efforts to reproduce stylolites in the laboratory are also reviewed. We show that although micrometer-size stylolite teeth are obtained in laboratory experiments, teeth deforming numerous grains have not yet been obtained experimentally, which is understandable given the very long formation time of such geometries. Finally, the applications of stylolites as strain and stress markers, to determine paleostress magnitude are reviewed. We show that the scalings in stylolite heights and the crossover scale between these scalings can be used to determine the stress magnitude (its scalar value) perpendicular to the stylolite surface during the stylolite formation, and that the stress anisotropy in the stylolite plane can be determined for the case of tectonic stylolites. We also show that the crossover between medium (millimetric) scales and large (pluricentimetric) scales, in the case of sedimentary stylolites, provides a good marker for the total amount of dissolution, which is still valid even when the largest teeth start to dissolve – which leads to the loss of information, since the total deformation is not anymore recorded in a single marker structure. We discuss the impact of the stylolites on the evolution of the transport properties of the hosting rock, and show that they promote a permeability increase parallel to the stylolites, whereas their effect on the permeability transverse to the stylolite can be negligible, or may reduce the permeability, depending on the development of the stylolite.

Long runout landslides: a solution from granular mechanics

Large landslides exhibit surprisingly long runout distances compared to a rigid body sliding from the same slope, and the mechanism of this phenomena has been studied for decades. This paper shows that the observed long runouts can be explained quite simply via a granular pile flowing downhill, while collapsing and spreading, without the need for frictional weakening that has traditionally been suggested to cause long runouts. Kinematics of the granular flow is divided into center of mass motion and spreading due to flattening of the flowing mass. We solve the center of mass motion analytically based on a frictional law valid for granular flow, and find that center of mass runout is similar to that of a rigid body. Based on the shape of deposits observed in experiments with collapsing granular columns and numerical simulations of landslides, we derive a spreading length Rf~V^1/3. Spreading of a granular pile, leading to a deposit angle much lower than the angle of repose or the dynamic friction angle, is shown to be an important, often dominating, contribution to the total runout distance, accounting for the long runouts observed for natural landslides.

Editorial: Flow and Transformation in Porous Media

Fluid flow in transforming porous rocks, fracture networks, and granular media is subject to considerable current interdisciplinary research activity in Physics, Earth Sciences, and Engineering. Examples of natural and engineered processes include hydrocarbon recovery, carbon dioxide geo-sequestration, soil drying and wetting, pollution remediation, soil liquefaction, landslides, dynamics of wet or dry granular media, dynamics of faulting or friction, volcanic eruptions, gas venting in sediments, karst development and speleogenesis, ore deposit development, and radioactive waste disposal. Hydrodynamic flow instabilities and pore scale disorder typically result in complex flow patterning. In transforming media, additional mechanisms come into play: compaction, de-compaction, erosion, segregation, and fracturing lead to changes in permeability over time. Dissolution, precipitation, and chemical reactions between solutes and solids may gradually alter the composition and structure of the solid matrix, either creating or destroying permeable paths for fluid flow. A complex, dynamic feedback thus arises where, on the one hand, the fluid flow affects the characteristics of the porous medium, and on the other hand the changing medium influences the fluid flow. This Research Topic Ebook presents current research illustrating the depth and breadth of ongoing work in the field of flow and transformation in porous media through 15 papers by 72 authors from around the world. The body of work highlights the challenges posed by the vast range of length-and timescales over which subsurface flow processes occur. Importantly, phenomena from each scale contribute to the larger-scale behavior. The flow of oil and gas in reservoirs, and the flow of groundwater on catchment scale is sensitively linked to pore scale processes and material heterogeneity down to the micrometer scale. The geological features of the same reservoirs and catchments evolved over millions of years, sometimes as a consequence of cracking and fracture growth occurring on the time scale of microseconds. The research presented by the authors of this Research Topic represents a step toward bridging the separation of scales as well as the separation of scientific disciplines so that a more unified picture of flow and transformation in porous media can start to emerge.

A physics-based rock-friction constitutive law: steady-state friction.: A physics-based friction law, part I

Experiments measuring friction over a wide range of sliding velocities find that the value of the friction coefficient varies widely: friction is high and behaves according to the rate and state constitutive law during slow sliding, yet markedly weakens as the sliding velocity approaches seismic slip speeds. We introduce a physics-based theory to explain this behavior. Using conventional microphysics of creep, we calculate the velocity and temperature dependence of contact stresses during sliding, including the thermal effects of shear heating. Contacts are assumed to reach a coupled thermal and mechanical steady state, and friction is calculated for steady sliding. Results from theory provide good quantitative agreement with reported experimental results for quartz and granite friction over 11 orders of magnitude in velocity. The new model elucidates the physics of friction and predicts the connection between friction laws to independently determined material parameters. It predicts four frictional regimes as function of slip rate: at slow velocity friction is either velocity strengthening or weakening, depending on material parameters, and follows the rate and state friction law. Differences between surface and volume activation energies are the main control on velocity dependence. At intermediate velocity, for some material parameters, a distinct velocity strengthening regime emerges. At fast sliding, shear heating produces thermal softening of friction. At the fastest sliding, melting causes further weakening. This theory, with its four frictional regimes, fits well previously published experimental results under low temperature and normal stress. Plain Language Summary Experiments measuring friction over a wide range of sliding velocities find that the value of the friction coefficient varies widely: friction is high during slow sliding, yet markedly weakens as the sliding velocity rises to seismic slip rates. We introduce a physics-based theory to explain this behavior. Our model assumes friction is controlled by creep at contacts that form between the sliding surfaces. It also assumes that when sliding is fast contacts heat up, and this affects friction profoundly. Our model is able to quantitatively predict, for the first time, reported experimental results for steady state friction at all experimentally measured slip rates. This is done using material parameters that are measured from other experiments, unrelated to friction. The new model may have far reaching implications for understanding friction in general and for earthquake physics in particular.

Spatial and Temporal Relation of Submarine Landslides and Faults Along the Israeli Continental Slope, Eastern Mediterranean

A new study of the Israeli Mediterranean continental slope provides an understanding of the interaction between submarine landslides, fault scarps, and subsurface evaporites. Faults and landslides interact in the northern part of the studied continental slope where fault scarps rupture the seabed. In this area landslides are thought to be triggered by over-steepened fault-scarps and are observed to cover older fault scarps, or be cut by younger faults. These variable cross-cutting relationships indicate a multi-phase history in which landsliding and faulting both post-date and pre-date one another. Isopach maps of the Messinian evaporites further reveal that fault scarps are mainly found along a slope-parallel belt where the underlying salt layer is 150–500 m thick. We suggest that this rather thin sequence of the Messinian evaporites associated with faulting serves as a localized detachment zone for the overlaying strata. We argue that the multi-phase and spatially variable association of landslides and faults reveal a highly dynamic continental slope, which may be still active in the present day.