high-pressure-high-temperature-deformation-experiment-using-new

High-pressure, High-temperature Deformation Experiment Using the New Generation Griggs-type Apparatus

In order to address geological processes at great depths, rock deformation should ideally be tested at high pressure (&#62; 0.5 GPa) and high temperature ...

Ecole Normale Supérieure (ENS Paris)

Phase transformations of metastable olivine might trigger deep-focus earthquakes (400 to 700 kilometers) in cold subducting lithosphere. To explore the feasibility of this mechanism, we performed laboratory deformation experiments on germanium olivine (Mg2GeO4) under differential stress at high pressure (P = 2 to 5 gigapascals) and within a narrow temperature range (T = 1000 to 1250 kelvin). We found that fractures nucleate at the onset of the olivine-to-spinel transition. These fractures propagate dynamically (at a nonnegligible fraction of the shear wave velocity) so that intense acoustic emissions are generated. Similar to deep-focus earthquakes, these acoustic emissions arise from pure shear sources and obey the Gutenberg-Richter law without following Omori's law. Microstructural observations prove that dynamic weakening likely involves superplasticity of the nanocrystalline spinel reaction product at seismic strain rates.

Alexandre Schubnel

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