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AGU: Journal of Geophysical Research, Solid Earth

 

Keywords

  • thermal pressurization
  • dehydration reactions

Index Terms

  • Tectonophysics: Rheology and friction of fault zones
  • Seismology: Earthquake dynamics
  • Tectonophysics: Dynamics and mechanics of faulting
Abstract
Cited By (6)
 

Abstract

JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 115, B05314, 17 PP., 2010
doi:10.1029/2009JB006533

Thermochemical pressurization of faults during coseismic slip

N. Brantut

Laboratoire de Géologie, CNRS UMR 8538, École Normale Supérieure, Paris, France

A. Schubnel

Laboratoire de Géologie, CNRS UMR 8538, École Normale Supérieure, Paris, France

J. Corvisier

Laboratoire de Géologie, CNRS UMR 8538, École Normale Supérieure, Paris, France

J. Sarout

Laboratoire de Géologie, CNRS UMR 8538, École Normale Supérieure, Paris, France

During earthquakes, frictional heating on the fault plane induces a temperature rise and thus a pore pressure rise, which is known as thermal pressurization (TP). Coseismic mineral dehydrations may occur because of this temperature increase and are included within the TP framework. Dehydrations are modeled as a source term for pore pressure because of the total volume change and as a sink term for temperature because they are endothermic. The reaction occurs within the slipping zone when a threshold temperature Ts is reached. Dehydration reaction kinetic is modeled using a first-order reaction rate. Using energy and fluid mass conservation, we derive analytically the equations of evolution of pore pressure, temperature, and reaction extent in the undrained, adiabatic case using a constant reaction rate. We investigate the values of the kinetic rate constant required to produce a significant effect, which are much higher than laboratory data reported in the literature on clay, serpentine, and phyllosilicate dehydration. We show, however, that such high values can be reached if the temperature dependency of the rate constant is taken into account. Next, we include fluid and heat transport and use an Arrhenius law to calculate the rate constant as a function of temperature. The subsequent set of differential equations is then solved numerically. The main effect of dehydration reactions is an increase of pore pressure and a stabilization of the temperature during slip. We explore a wide range of parameters in order to determine in which cases dehydration can be considered as a nonnegligible process. For high-permeability rocks (>10−18 m2) and when the amount of water that can be released is of the order of 10%, dehydration is an important mechanism as it delays the onset of melting, which would normally occur even within the TP framework. If the onset temperature is low compared to the initial temperature T0 (TsT0 ≲ 150°C), overpressure can occur. If the reactions are highly endothermic and if their kinetic is fast enough, frictional melting would not occur unless the dehydration reactions are completed within the slipping zone.

Received 10 April 2009; accepted 6 January 2010; published 29 May 2010.

Citation: Brantut, N., A. Schubnel, J. Corvisier, and J. Sarout (2010), Thermochemical pressurization of faults during coseismic slip, J. Geophys. Res., 115, B05314, doi:10.1029/2009JB006533.

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