Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.
High-velocity weakening of faults may drive fault motion duringlarge earthquakes. Experiments on simulated faults in Carraramarble at slip rates up to 1.3 meters per second demonstratethat thermal decomposition of calcite due to frictional heatinginduces pronounced fault weakening with steady-state frictioncoefficients as low as 0.06. Decomposition produces particlesof tens of nanometers in size, and the ultralow friction appearsto be associated with the flash heating on an ultrafine decompositionproduct. Thus, thermal decomposition may be an important processfor the dynamic weakening of faults.
1 Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Korea University, Seoul 136-701, South Korea. 2 Division of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Graduate School of Science, Kyoto University, Kyoto 606-8502, Japan. 3 Department of Earth and Planetary Systems Science, Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima 739-8526, Japan.
Present address: Department of Earth and Planetary Systems Science,Hiroshima University, Higashi-Hiroshima 734-8526, Japan.
Present address: Instituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia,00143 Rome, Italy.
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: rhhan{at}korea.ac.kr
The editors suggest the following Related Resources on Science sites:
In Science Magazine
PERSPECTIVES
Raul Madariaga (11 May 2007) Science316 (5826), 842.
[DOI: 10.1126/science.1142332] |Summary »|Full Text »|PDF »
THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Dynamics of the emplacement of the Heart Mountain allochthon at White Mountain: Constraints from calcite twinning strains, anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility, and thermodynamic calculations.
J. P. Craddock, D. H. Malone, J. Magloughlin, A. L. Cook, M. E. Rieser, and J. R. Doyle (2009)
Geological Society of America Bulletin
121, 919-938
|Abstract »|Full Text »|PDF »
Thermal decomposition of calcite: Mechanisms of formation and textural evolution of CaO nanocrystals.
C. Rodriguez-Navarro, E. Ruiz-Agudo, A. Luque, A. B. Rodriguez-Navarro, and M. Ortega-Huertas (2009)
American Mineralogist
94, 578-593
|Abstract »|Full Text »|PDF »
The frictional strength of granular fault gouge: application of theory to the mechanics of low-angle normal faults.
C. Boulton, T. Davies, and M. McSaveney (2009)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications
321, 9-31
|Abstract »|Full Text »|PDF »
Recent advances in the understanding of fault zone internal structure: a review.
C. A. J. Wibberley, G. Yielding, and G. Di Toro (2008)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications
299, 5-33
|Abstract »|Full Text »|PDF »
Frictional-viscous flow, seismicity and the geology of weak faults: a review and future directions.
J. Imber, R. E. Holdsworth, S. A. F. Smith, S. P. Jefferies, and C. Collettini (2008)
Geological Society, London, Special Publications
299, 151-173
|Abstract »|Full Text »|PDF »
Seismic slip record in carbonate-bearing fault zones: An insight from high-velocity friction experiments on siderite gouge.
R. Han, T. Shimamoto, J.-i. Ando, and J.-H. Ree (2007)
Geology
35, 1131-1134
|Abstract »|Full Text »|PDF »