Seismic signals propagating across a fault may yield information on the internal structure of the fault zone. Here we have assessed the amplification of seismic noise (i.e., ambient vibrations generated by natural or anthropogenic disturbances) across the Vado di Corno Fault (Campo Imperatore, central Italy). The fault zone is considered as an exhumed analogue of the normal faults activated during the L'Aquila 2009 earthquake sequence. Detailed structural geological survey of the footwall block revealed that the fault zone is highly anisotropic and is affected by a complex network of faults and fractures with dominant WNW–ESE strike. We measured seismic noise with portable seismometers along a ∼500 m long transect perpendicular to the average fault strike. Seismic signals were processed calculating the horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratios and performing wavefield polarization analyses. We found a predominant NE–SW to NNE–SSW (i.e., ca. perpendicular to the average strike of the fault-fracture network) amplification of the horizontal component of the seismic waves. Numerical simulations of earthquake-induced ground motions ruled out the role of topography in controlling the polarization and the amplitude of the waves. Therefore, the higher seismic noise amplitude observed in the fault-perpendicular direction was related to the measured fracture network and the resulting stiffness anisotropy of the rock mass. These observations open new perspectives in using measures of ambient seismic noise, which are fast and inexpensive, to estimate the dominant orientation of fracture networks within fault zones.
Earthquake-radiated motions contain information that can be interpreted as source displacement and therefore related to stress drop.Except in a few notable cases, these displacements cannot be easily related to the absolute stress level or the fault strength, or attributed to a particular physical mechanism.In contrast, paleoearthquakes recorded by exhumed pseudotachylite have a known dynamic mechanism whose properties constrain the coseismic fault strength.Pseudotachylite can be used to directly address a discrepancy between seismologically measured stress drops, which are typically a few MPa, and much larger dynamic stress drops expected from thermal weakening during slip at seismic speeds in crystalline rock (Mckenzie and Brune, 1972;Sibson, 1973;Lachenbruch, 1980;Mase and Smith, 1987;Rice, 2006), and as have been observed in laboratory experiments at high slip rates (Di Toro, Hirose, Nielsen, Pennacchioni, et al., 2006).This places pseudotachylite-derived estimates of fault strength and inferred crustal stress within the context and bounds of naturally observed earthquake source parameters: apparent stress, stress drop, and overshoot, including consideration of fault-surface roughness, off-fault damage, fracture energy, and the strength excess.The analysis, which assumes stress drop is related to corner frequency as in the Madariaga (1976) source model, is restricted to earthquakes of the Gole Larghe fault zone in the Italian Alps, where the dynamic shear strength is well constrained by field and laboratory measurements.We find that radiated energy is similar to or exceeds the shear-generated heat and that the maximum strength excess is ∼16 MPa.These events have inferred earthquake source parameters that are rare, for instance, a low percentage of the global earthquake population has stress drops as large, unless fracture energy is routinely greater than in existing models, pseudotachylite is not representative of the shear strength during the earthquake that generated it, or the strength excess is larger than we have allowed.
Recent Global Positioning System observations of major earthquakes such as the 2014 Chile megathrust show a slow preslip phase releasing a significant portion of the total moment (Ruiz et al., 2014, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1256074). Despite advances from theoretical stability analysis (Rubin & Ampuero, 2005, https://doi.org/10.1029/2005JB003686; Ruina, 1983, https://doi.org/10.1029/jb088ib12p10359) and modeling (Kaneko et al., 2017, https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL071569), it is not fully understood what controls the prevalence and the amount of slip in the nucleation process. Here we present laboratory observations of slow slip preceding dynamic rupture, where we observe a dependence of nucleation size and position on the loading rate (laboratory equivalent of tectonic loading rate). The setup is composed of two polycarbonate plates under direct shear with a 30-cm long slip interface. The results of our laboratory experiments are in agreement with the preslip model outlined by Ellsworth and Beroza (1995, https://doi.org/10.1126/science.268.5212.851) and observed in laboratory experiments (Latour et al., 2013, https://doi.org/10.1002/grl.50974; Nielsen et al., 2010, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-246x.2009.04444.x; Ohnaka & Kuwahara, 1990, https://doi.org/10.1016/0040-1951(90)90138-X), which show a slow slip followed by an acceleration up to dynamic rupture velocity. However, further complexity arises from the effect of (1) rate of shear loading and (2) inhomogeneities on the fault surface. In particular, we show that when the loading rate is increased from 10-2 to 6 MPa/s, the nucleation length can shrink by a factor of 3, and the rupture nucleates consistently on higher shear stress areas. The nucleation lengths measured fall within the range of the theoretical limits L b and L∞ derived by Rubin and Ampuero (2005, https://doi.org/10.1029/2005JB003686) for rate-and-state friction laws.
The determination of the maximum temperature achieved by friction melt (Tmelt) in pseudotachylytebearing faults is crucial to estimate earthquake source parameters (e.g., earthquake energy budgets, coseismic fault strength) on a geological basis. Here we investigated the mineralogy of a pseudotachylyte from the Gole Larghe Fault (Italian Alps) by using X-ray powder diffraction, micro-Raman spectroscopy, and EDS-equipped field emission scanning electron microscopy. In particular, we report the presence of the hexagonal polymorph of CaAl2Si2O8 (dmisteinbergite) in a pseudotachylyte. Published experimental work shows dmisteinbergite can crystallize at 1200-1400 °C by rapid quenching. Therefore, the presence of dmisteinbergite in pseudotachylyte could be a reliable geothermometer for friction melts for which Tmelt has only as yet been estimated.
Abstract Experiments that systematically explore rock friction under crustal earthquake conditions reveal that faults undergo abrupt dynamic weakening. Processes related to heating and weakening of fault surfaces have been invoked to explain pronounced velocity weakening. Both contact asperity temperature T a and background temperature T of the slip zone evolve significantly during high‐velocity slip due to heat sources (frictional work), heat sinks (e.g., latent heat of decomposition processes), and diffusion. Using carefully calibrated High‐Velocity Rotary Friction experiments, we test the compatibility of thermal weakening models: (1) a model of friction based only on T in an extremely simplified, Arrhenius‐like thermal dependence; (2) a flash heating model which accounts for the evolution of both V and T ; (3) same but including heat sinks in the thermal balance; and (4) same but including the thermal dependence of diffusivity and heat capacity. All models reflect the experimental results but model (1) results in unrealistically low temperatures and model (2) reproduces the restrengthening phase only by modifying the parameters for each experimental condition. The presence of dissipative heat sinks in stage (3) significantly affects T and reflects on the friction, allowing a better joint fit of the initial weakening and final strength recovery across a range of experiments. Temperature is significantly altered by thermal dependence of (4). However, similar results can be obtained by (3) and (4) by adjusting the energy sinks. To compute temperature in this type of problem, we compare the efficiency of three different numerical approximations (finite difference, wavenumber summation, and discrete integral).
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