2020年8月
Generation of sintered fault rock and its implications for earthquake energetics and fault healing
Communications Earth & Environment
- ,
- ,
- ,
- ,
- ,
- ,
- 巻
- 1
- 号
- 1
- 開始ページ
- 3
- 終了ページ
- 記述言語
- 英語
- 掲載種別
- 研究論文(学術雑誌)
- DOI
- 10.1038/s43247-020-0004-z
- 出版者・発行元
- Springer Science and Business Media LLC
Abstract
After an earthquake, faults can recover strength through fault healing, but the mechanisms responsible are not well understood. Seismic slip may induce sintering, a bonding process between solid particles in contact under high temperatures without melting, which could produce a fault rock with elevated strength and chemical stability. Here we present results from electron microscope analyses that show a typical sintered structure in a black disk-shaped rock from the Chelungpu fault, Taiwan. This structure is experimentally reproducible in simulated fault material, prepared from the local host-rock, by heating at 800–900 °C. Through thermal and kinetic analyses of experimental materials, we show that sintering is an exothermic process which can generate energy to enhance post-slip thermochemical reactions in the fault. We propose that sintering substantially contributes to earthquake energetics and fault healing and that its occurrence can be a useful indicator of past seismic slip.
After an earthquake, faults can recover strength through fault healing, but the mechanisms responsible are not well understood. Seismic slip may induce sintering, a bonding process between solid particles in contact under high temperatures without melting, which could produce a fault rock with elevated strength and chemical stability. Here we present results from electron microscope analyses that show a typical sintered structure in a black disk-shaped rock from the Chelungpu fault, Taiwan. This structure is experimentally reproducible in simulated fault material, prepared from the local host-rock, by heating at 800–900 °C. Through thermal and kinetic analyses of experimental materials, we show that sintering is an exothermic process which can generate energy to enhance post-slip thermochemical reactions in the fault. We propose that sintering substantially contributes to earthquake energetics and fault healing and that its occurrence can be a useful indicator of past seismic slip.
- リンク情報
- ID情報
-
- DOI : 10.1038/s43247-020-0004-z
- eISSN : 2662-4435