Physical state of water controls friction of gabbro-built faults

Wei Feng, Lu Yao (), Chiara Cornelio, Rodrigo Gomila, Shengli Ma, Chaoqun Yang, Luigi Germinario, Claudio Mazzoli and Giulio Di Toro ()
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Wei Feng: Università degli Studi di Padova
Lu Yao: China Earthquake Administration
Chiara Cornelio: Sezione Roma 1, Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia
Rodrigo Gomila: Università degli Studi di Padova
Shengli Ma: China Earthquake Administration
Chaoqun Yang: Chengdu University of Technology
Luigi Germinario: Università degli Studi di Padova
Claudio Mazzoli: Università degli Studi di Padova
Giulio Di Toro: Università degli Studi di Padova

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-9

Abstract: Abstract Earthquakes often occur along faults in the presence of hot, pressurized water. Here we exploit a new experimental device to study friction in gabbro faults with water in vapor, liquid and supercritical states (water temperature and pressure up to 400 °C and 30 MPa, respectively). The experimental faults are sheared over slip velocities from 1 μm/s to 100 mm/s and slip distances up to 3 m (seismic deformation conditions). Here, we show with water in the vapor state, fault friction decreases with increasing slip distance and velocity. However, when water is in the liquid or supercritical state, friction decreases with slip distance, regardless of slip velocity. We propose that the formation of weak minerals, the chemical bonding properties of water and (elasto)hydrodynamic lubrication may explain the weakening behavior of the experimental faults. In nature, the transition of water from liquid or supercritical to vapor state can cause an abrupt increase in fault friction that can stop or delay the nucleation phase of an earthquake.

Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-40313-x

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