| Abstract: | Earthquake instability has long been attributed to fault weakening during accelerated slip1, and a central question of earthquake physics is identifying the mechanisms that control this weakening2. Even with much experimental effort2-12, the weakening mechanisms have remained enigmatic. Here we present evidence for dynamic weakening of experimental faults that are sheared at velocities approaching earthquake slip rates. The experimental faults, which were made of room-dry, solid granite blocks, quickly wore to form a fine-grain rock powder known as gouge. At modest slip velocities of 10-60mms-1, this newly formed gouge organized itself into a thin deforming layer that reduced the fault‘s strength by a factor of 2-3. After slip, the gouge rapidly ‘aged‘ and the fault regained its strength in a matter of hours to days. Therefore, only newly formed gouge can weaken the experimental faults. Dynamic gouge formation is expected to be a common and effective mechanism of earthquake instability in the brittle crust as (1) gouge always forms during fault slip5,10,12-20; (2) fault-gouge behaves similarly to industrial powder lubricants21; (3) dynamic gouge formation explains various significant earthquake properties; and (4) gouge lubricant can form for a wide range of fault configurations, compositions and temperatures15. ?? 2010 Macmillan Publishers Limited. All rights reserved. |
| Genre: | Article |
| ProdID: | 70037522 |
| Citation Author: | Reches, Z.; Lockner, D. A. |
| Citation Contributing Office: | |
| Citation Datum: | |
| Citation Day: | |
| Citation Edition: | |
| Citation Editor: | |
| Citation End Page: | 455 |
| Citation Issue: | 7314 |
| Citation Keywords: | |
| Citation Language: | English |
| Citation Larger Work Title: | Nature |
| Citation LatN: | |
| Citation LatS: | |
| Citation LonE: | |
| Citation LonW: | |
| Citation Month: | |
| Citation No Pagination: | |
| Citation Number Of Pages: | 4 |
| Citation Online Only Flag: | |
| Citation Phsyical Description: | |
| Citation Projection: | |
| Citation Public Comments: | |
| Citation Publisher: | |
| Citation Series: | |
| Citation Series Code: | |
| Citation Series Number: | |
| Citation Search Results Text: | Fault weakening and earthquake instability by powder lubrication; 2010; Article; Journal; Nature; Reches, Z.; Lockner, D. A. |
| Citation Start Page: | 452 |
| Citation Volume: | 467 |
| Citation Year: | 2010 |
| Type: | citation/reference |
| Text: | Fault weakening and earthquake instability by powder lubrication; 2010; Article; Journal; Nature; Reches, Z.; Lockner, D. A. |
| URL (THUMBNAIL): | http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/thumbnails/outside_thumb.jpg |
| URL (DIGITAL OBJECT IDENTIFIER): | http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature09348 |
| Date Other: | Fri, 1 Jan 2010 00:00 -0600 |
| Publisher: | |
