Thermal decomposition of serpentine during coseismic faulting: Nanostructures and mineral reactions

Abstract

This paper reports a detailed characterization of an antigorite-bearing serpentinite, deformed at seismic slip-rate (1.1 m/s) in a high-velocity friction apparatus. Micro/nanostructural investigation of the slip zone (200 μm thick) revealed a zonal arrangement, with a close juxtaposition of horizons with significantly different strength, respectively consisting of amorphous to poorly-crystalline phases (with bulk anhydrous composition close to starting antigorite) and of highly-crystalline assemblages of forsterite and disordered enstatite (200 nm in size and in polygonal-like nanotextures). The slip zone also hosts micro/nanometre sized Cr-magnetite grains, aligned at low angle with respect to the slipping surface and inherited from the host serpentinite. Overall observations suggest that frictional heating at asperities on the slipping surface induced a temperature increase up to 820–1200 °C (in agreement with flash temperature theory), responsible for serpentine complete dehydration and amorphization, followed by crystallization of forsterite and enstatite (under post-deformation, static conditions). The results of this study may provide important keys for the full comprehension of the mechanical behaviour and of the possible geodynamical role of serpentinite-hosted faults through the seismic cycle.