Dehydration‐induced damage and deformation in gypsum and implications for subduction zone processes

Abstract

Experimental heating tests were performed on Volterra gypsum to study the micromechanical consequences of the dehydration reaction. The experimental conditions were drained at 5 MPa fluid pressure and confining pressures ranging from 15 to 55 MPa. One test was performed with a constantly applied differential stress of 30 MPa. The reaction is marked by (1) a porosity increase and homogeneous compaction, (2) a swarm of acoustic emissions, (3) a large decrease in P and S wave velocities, and (4) a decrease in VP/VS ratio. Wave velocity data are interpreted in terms of crack density and pore aspect ratio, which, modeling pores as spheroids, is estimated at around 0.05 (crack‐like spheroid). Complementary tests performed in an environmental scanning electron microscope indicate that cracks first form inside the gypsum grains and are oriented preferentially along the crystal structure of gypsum. Most of the visible porosity appears at later stages when grains shrink and grain boundaries open. Extrapolation of our data to serpentinites in subduction zones suggest that the signature of dehydrating rocks in seismic tomography could be a low apparent Poisson's ratio, although this interpretation may be masked by anisotropy development due to preexisting crystal preferred orientation and/or deformation‐induced cracking. The large compaction and the absence of strain localization in the deformation test suggests that dehydrating rocks maybe seen as soft inclusions and could thus induce ruptures in the surrounding, nonreacting rocks.