Changes in elastic wave velocity during brittle deformation of gabbro and peridotite: Implications for oceanic Moho reflectivity

Abstract

Cracks that develop during brittle deformation easily modify rocks' physical properties; therefore, understanding of seismic properties of oceanic rocks during deformation is essential for interpretation of the seismic observations of the oceanic lithosphere. Here we measured elastic wave velocities of gabbro and peridotite during triaxial deformation experiments at room temperature, a confining pressure of 20 MPa, and a strain rate of ∼10−6 s−1. Gabbroic rocks showed significant decrease in elastic wave velocities approaching the maximum stress, which is comparable to that of typical crystalline rocks. On the other hand, peridotite showed relatively sudden and small decrease in elastic wave velocities close to the maximum stress. We inverted the observed velocities to crack density tensor based on an effective medium theory. The different changes in elastic wave velocities between gabbroic rocks and peridotites were interpreted by different characteristics of crack development, where limited number of cracks were opened in peridotite than in gabbroic rocks. The calculated reflection coefficient of the interface between the gabbro and peridotite increases from <0.1 to ∼0.25 as approaching the maximum stress. Synthetic seismograms computed from the crack-dependent velocity structures of the oceanic lithosphere indicate that the Moho reflectivity is highly sensitive to the contrast of crack-damage across the crust-mantle boundary. The existence of a heterogeneous crack-damaged zone in the oceanic lithosphere, which is likely related to intra-plate earthquakes, may result in the spatial variations of Moho reflection.