Devolatilization‐generated fluid pressure and deformation‐propagated fluid flow during prograde regional metamorphism

Abstract

The obstruction to fluid flow formed by the rocks overlying a metamorphic devolatilization front causes the fluid pressure gradient in the reacting rocks to diverge from lithostatic. This drives deformation in tandem with the fluid pressure anomaly generated by the volume change of the reaction. Numerical simulations show that once the vertical extent of the reacted rocks is comparable to the compaction length, compaction processes caused by the difference between confining and fluid pressure gradients generate a positive fluid pressure anomaly (effective pressure <0) above the reaction front, irrespective of the reaction volume change. Consequent dilational deformation propagates the anomaly upward, leading to underpressuring and densification at the reaction front and detachment of a wave of anomalous fluid pressure and porosity. Creep is a viable mechanism for such wave propagation for crustal viscosities <1015 MPa s. Continuous upward strengthening of the crust increases the wavelength and amplitude of the fluid pressure waves and thereby the likelihood of hydrofracture. Order of magnitude strength contrasts are adequate to arrest wave propagation, forming water sills that become increasingly stable in the absence of deviatoric stress. Although the fluid pressure gradient within a wave may be near hydrostatic, Rayleigh convection is unlikely. Thus, in the absence of lateral perturbations, fluid flow is upward and episodic, despite continuity of devolatilization. Porosity waves provide a mechanism for temporal focusing of metamorphic fluid fluxes with the potential to increase the efficacy of heat and mass transport.