Matt J. Ikari

On the relation between fault strength and frictional stability

A fundamental problem in fault mechanics is whether slip instability associated with earthquake nucleation depends on absolute fault strength. We present laboratory experimental evidence for a systematic relationship between frictional strength and friction rate dependence, one of the key parameters controlling stability, for a wide range of constituent minerals relevant to natural faults. All of the frictionally weak gouges (coefficient of sliding friction, μ < 0.5) are composed of phyllosilicate minerals and exhibit increased friction with slip velocity, known as velocity-strengthening behavior, which suppresses frictional instability. In contrast, fault gouges with higher frictional strength exhibit both velocity-weakening and velocity-strengthening frictional behavior. These materials are dominantly quartzofeldspathic in composition, but in some cases include certain phyllosilicate-rich gouges with high friction coefficients. We also find that frictional velocity dependence evolves systematically with shear strain, such that a critical shear strain is required to allow slip instability. As applied to tectonic faults, our results suggest that seismic behavior and the mode of fault slip may evolve predictably as a function of accumulated offset.

Stress State in the Largest Displacement Area of the 2011 Tohoku-Oki Earthquake

Stressed Out Large seismic events such as the 2011 magnitude 9.0 Tohoku-Oki earthquake can have profound effects not just on the severity of ground motion and tsunami generation, but also on the overall state of the crust in the surrounding regions. Lin et al. (p. 687) analyzed the stress 1 year after the Tohoku-Oki earthquake and compared it with the estimated stress state before the earthquake. In situ resistivity images were analyzed from three boreholes drilled into the crust across the plate interface where the earthquake occurred. Stress values indicate a nearly complete drop in stress following the earthquake such that the type of faulting above the plate boundary has changed substantially. These findings are consistent with observations that the sea floor moved nearly 50 meters during the earthquake. Borehole stress measurements indicate a nearly total stress drop in the region of largest slip. The 2011 moment magnitude 9.0 Tohoku-Oki earthquake produced a maximum coseismic slip of more than 50 meters near the Japan trench, which could result in a completely reduced stress state in the region. We tested this hypothesis by determining the in situ stress state of the frontal prism from boreholes drilled by the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program approximately 1 year after the earthquake and by inferring the pre-earthquake stress state. On the basis of the horizontal stress orientations and magnitudes estimated from borehole breakouts and the increase in coseismic displacement during propagation of the rupture to the trench axis, in situ horizontal stress decreased during the earthquake. The stress change suggests an active slip of the frontal plate interface, which is consistent with coseismic fault weakening and a nearly total stress drop.

Comparison of frictional strength and velocity dependence between fault zones in the Nankai accretionary complex

Accretionary complexes host a variety of fault zones that accommodate plate convergence and internal prism deformation, including the decollement, imbricate thrusts, and out-of-sequence thrusts or splays. These faults, especially the decollement and major splay faults, are considered to be candidates for hosting slow slip events and large magnitude earthquakes, but it is not clear what modes of slip should be expected at shallow levels or how they are related to fault rock frictional properties. We conducted laboratory experiments to measure the frictional properties of fault and wall rock from three distinct fault zone systems sampled during Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 316 and Ocean Drilling Program Leg 190 to the Nankai Trough offshore Japan. These are (1) a major out-of-sequence thrust fault, termed the “megasplay” (Site C0004), (2) the frontal thrust zone, a region of diffuse thrust faulting near the trench (Site C0007), and (3) the decollement zone sampled 2 km from the trench (Site 1174). At 25 MPa effective normal stress, at slip rates of 0.03–100 μm/s, and in the presence of brine as a pore fluid, we observe low friction (μ ≤ 0.46) for all of the materials we tested; however, the weakest samples (μ ≤ 0.30) are from the decollement zone. Material from the megasplay fault is significantly weaker than the surrounding wall rocks, a pattern not observed in the frontal thrust and decollement. All samples exhibit primarily velocity-strengthening frictional behavior, suggesting that earthquakes should not nucleate at these depths. A consistent minimum in the friction rate parameter a-b at sliding velocities of ∼1–3 μm/s (∼0.1–0.3 m/d) is observed at all three sites, suggesting that these shallow fault zones may be likely to host slow slip events.

Clay fabric intensity in natural and artificial fault gouges: Implications for brittle fault zone processes and sedimentary basin clay fabric evolution

[1] The role of phyllosilicate fabrics in fault gouge is a poorly understood component of the mechanical and hydrologic behavior of brittle fault zones. We present 90 fabric intensity measurements using X-ray texture goniometry on 22 natural clay-rich fault gouges from low-angle detachment faults (Death Valley area detachments, California; Ruby Mountains, Nevada; West Salton Detachment Fault, California) and the Peramola thrust in NE Spain. Natural fault gouges have uniformly weak clay fabrics (multiples of a random distribution (MRD) = 1.7–4.5, average MRD = 2.6) when compared to phyllosilicate-rich rocks found in other geologic settings. Clay fabric intensities in natural gouges do not vary significantly either as a function of tectonic environment or of dominant clay mineralogy in the gouge. We compare these natural samples with 69 phyllosilicate fabric intensities measured in laboratory experiments on synthetic clay-quartz mixtures. Clay fabric intensities from laboratory samples are similar to those in natural gouges (MRD = 1.7–4.6), but increase systematically with increasing shear strain and normal stress. Total phyllosilicate content does not significantly affect clay fabric intensity. Shear strain is important for developing stronger fabrics; samples subjected solely to compression exhibit uniformly weak fabrics (MRD = 1.6–1.8) even when compressed at high normal stresses (150 MPa). The weak fabrics found in natural fault gouge indicate that if anisotropic and overall low fault zone permeability allow elevated pore fluid pressures and fault weakening, this anisotropy must be a transient feature that is not preserved. Our data also reinforce the idea that clay fabric development in sedimentary rocks is primarily a function of authigenic mineral growth and not of compaction-induced particle rotation.

Pelagic smectite as an important factor in tsunamigenic slip along the Japan Trench

The very large slip on the shallow portion of the subduction interface during the 2011 Tohoku-oki earthquake (M w 9.0) caused a huge tsunami along the northeast coast of Honshu, Japan. In order to elucidate the mechanics of such tsunamigenic slip, the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Expedition 343 (Japan Trench Fast Drilling Project, JFAST), was carried out one year after the earthquake and succeeded in recovering rocks constituting the active plate boundary fault. Our mineralogical analyses using X-ray diffraction reveal that the shallow portion of the fault zone that caused the earthquake is significantly enriched in smectite compared to the surrounding sediments, which may be intimately linked to the tsunamigenic shallow faulting. For comparison, we also analyzed mineralogical features of incoming sediments just prior to subduction, recovered on the outer rise of the Japan Trench (Site 436, Deep Sea Drilling Project Leg 56), and found a characteristic smectite-rich horizon in the uppermost ∼5 m of the pelagic clay layer. This horizon should be mechanically weak and will become the future plate boundary fault, as observed in the JFAST cores. The smectite-rich deposits are broadly distributed in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, and may therefore potentially enhance conditions for large shallow slip during earthquakes that occur over a broad area of the Japan Trench plate boundary, which would result in large tsunamis for this region.

Laboratory observations of time-dependent frictional strengthening and stress relaxation in natural and synthetic fault gouges

Interseismic recovery of fault strength (healing) following earthquake failure is a fundamental requirement of the seismic cycle and likely plays a key role in determining the stability and slip behavior of tectonic faults. We report on laboratory measurements of time- and slip-dependent frictional strengthening for natural and synthetic gouges to evaluate the role of mineralogy in frictional strengthening. We performed slide-hold-slide (SHS) shearing experiments on nine natural fault gouges and eight synthetic gouges at conditions of 20 MPa normal stress, 100% relative humidity (RH), large shear strain (~15), and room temperature. Phyllosilicate-rich rocks show the lowest rates of frictional strengthening. Samples rich in quartz and feldspar exhibit intermediate rates of frictional strengthening, and calcite-rich gouges show the largest values. Our results show that (1) the rates of frictional strengthening and creep relaxation scale with frictional strength, (2) phyllosilicate-rich fault gouges have low strength and healing characteristics that promote stable, aseismic creep, (3) most natural fault gouges exhibit intermediate rates of frictional strengthening, consistent with a broad range of fault slip behaviors, and (4) calcite-rich fault rocks show the highest rates of frictional strengthening, low values of dilation upon reshear, and high frictional strengths, all of which would promote seismogenic behavior.

Experimental evidence linking slip instability with seafloor lithology and topography at the Costa Rica convergent margin

Seismicity patterns offshore Costa Rica (Central America) at the Middle America Trench have led to speculation that large (moment magnitude, M w ∼7.0) earthquakes are associated with subducting topographic highs. In areas of high basement topography, a regionally extensive nannofossil chalk unit is exposed at the seafloor on the incoming plate, whereas in regions of low basement topography, hemipelagic clay-rich sediment is exposed. Because the entire sediment section is subducted at this margin, lithologic variation in the uppermost subducting sediments may control plate boundary fault behavior. Our laboratory experiments reveal that the chalk is frictionally strong (µ = 0.71–0.88) and characterized by velocity-weakening and stick-slip behavior, notably at elevated temperature. In contrast, the hemipelagic sediment is weak (µ = 0.22–0.35) and in many cases velocity strengthening. We suggest that the presence of frictionally unstable carbonates at bathymetric highs may play a key, previously unrecognized, role in governing earthquake nucleation.

A microphysical interpretation of rate‐ and state‐dependent friction for fault gouge

The evolution of fault strength during the seismic cycle plays a key role in the mode of fault slip, nature of earthquake stress drop, and earthquake nucleation. Laboratory-based rate- and state-dependent friction (RSF) laws can describe changes in fault strength during slip, but the connections between fault strength and the mechanisms that dictate the mode of failure, from aseismic creep to earthquake rupture, remain poorly understood. The empirical nature of RSF laws remains a drawback to their application in nature. Here we analyze an extensive data set of friction constitutive parameters with the goal of illuminating the microphysical processes controlling RSF. We document robust relationships between: (1) the initial value of sliding (or kinetic) friction, (2) RSF parameters, and (3) the time rates of frictional strengthening (aging). We derive a microphysical model based on asperity contact mechanics and show that these relationships are dictated by: (1) an activation energy that controls the rate of asperity growth by plastic creep, and (2) an inverse relationship between material hardness and the activation volume of plastic deformation. Collectively, our results illuminate the physics expressed by the RSF parameters, and which describe the absolute value of frictional strength and its dependence on time and slip rate. Moreover, we demonstrate that seismogenic fault behavior may be dictated by the interplay between grain properties and ambient conditions controlling the local shear strength of grain-scale asperity contacts.

Velocity- and slip-dependent weakening in simulated fault gouge: Implications for multimode fault slip

In addition to the velocity dependence of friction, slip dependence may play a major role before and during earthquake slip in fault zones. We performed laboratory friction experiments on simulated fault gouges, measuring both the velocity and slip dependence of friction in velocity step tests. The pure velocity-dependent component of friction measured over short displacements shows both velocity strengthening and velocity weakening friction, depending on the amount of slip considered. However, we observe that increases in sliding velocity can induce slip weakening behavior which overwhelms the velocity dependence resulting in large overall weakening, especially at rates > 1 µm/s. On natural tectonic faults, this suggests that a velocity perturbation, such as coseismic rupture propagating onto a fault patch, could induce instability via large slip weakening. Therefore, a fault which is experiencing a transient slip or slow earthquakes may be more easily induced to slip coseismically if a dynamic rupture from large earthquake propagates onto the fault.

Principal slip zones: Precursors but not recorders of earthquake slip

Narrow, highly-comminuted shear localization features in faults, known as principal slip zones (PSZs), are commonly associated with large-offset seismogenic faults. In this study, laboratory friction experiments were performed using shale and slate gouges where deformation was encouraged to localize at the gouge–wall-rock boundary. The slate gouges develop a black, narrow PSZ composed of densely packed submicron particles that appear sintered while the spectator gouge remains largely undeformed. These PSZs form at subseismic slip velocities of ∼10 –5 m/s and with a calculated temperature rise of ∼3 °C. Instances of velocity-weakening friction, which is necessary for unstable fault slip, are only observed for slate samples with a PSZ; shale gouges, however, do not develop a PSZ and exhibit only velocity-strengthening frictional behavior. The development of a PSZ may therefore be a prerequisite for future earthquake slip to occur, rather than unequivocal evidence of past earthquake slip.