The failure mechanism for deep-focus earthquakes

Abstract

Abstract Experimental deformation of Mg 2 GeO 4 olivine at pressures between 1 and 2 GPa in the spinel stability field has led to discovery of a faulting instability that develops at the kinetically-controlled threshold of transformation. Very fine-grained olivine and spinel are found in fault zones. Deformation at lower temperatures is ductile; transformation is inhibited and specimens are very strong. Deformation at higher temperatures also is ductile but transformation is rapid and specimens are much weaker. Detailed examination of the microstructures of specimens deformed in the faulting regime lead to an anticrack theory of faulting that explains the experimental data and provides a fundamentally new mechanism for deep-focus earthquakes. The new mechanism is analogous to the Griffith theory of fracture; nucleation and growth of spinel under stress produces spinel-filled microanticracks normal to the maximum compressive stress that link up to produce faulting. The friction paradox for deep earthquakes is resolved because this faulting process provides a fine-grained, superplastic, ‘lubricant’ for faults. The temperature distribution within subducting slabs of lithosphere requires that the conditions of instability are reached as a natural consequence of subduction; metastable olivine in the interior of deep slabs warms to a critical temperature where faulting ensues in the presence of a shear stress.