Broad fault zones enable deep fluid transport and limit earthquake magnitudes

Konstantinos Leptokaropoulos (), Catherine A. Rychert (), Nicholas Harmon, David Schlaphorst, Ingo Grevemeyer, John-Michael Kendall and Satish C. Singh
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Konstantinos Leptokaropoulos: University of Southampton
Catherine A. Rychert: University of Southampton
Nicholas Harmon: University of Southampton
David Schlaphorst: Universidade de Lisboa
Ingo Grevemeyer: RD4—Marine Geodynamics
John-Michael Kendall: University of Oxford
Satish C. Singh: Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, CNRS

Nature Communications, 2023, vol. 14, issue 1, 1-11

Abstract: Abstract Constraining the controlling factors of fault rupture is fundamentally important. Fluids influence earthquake locations and magnitudes, although the exact pathways through the lithosphere are not well-known. Ocean transform faults are ideal for studying faults and fluid pathways given their relative simplicity. We analyse seismicity recorded by the Passive Imaging of the Lithosphere-Asthenosphere Boundary (PI-LAB) experiment, centred around the Chain Fracture Zone. We find earthquakes beneath morphological transpressional features occur deeper than the brittle-ductile transition predicted by simple thermal models, but elsewhere occur shallower. These features are characterised by multiple parallel fault segments and step overs, higher proportions of smaller events, gaps in large historical earthquakes, and seismic velocity structures consistent with hydrothermal alteration. Therefore, broader fault damage zones preferentially facilitate fluid transport. This cools the mantle and reduces the potential for large earthquakes at localized barriers that divide the transform into shorter asperity regions, limiting earthquake magnitudes on the transform.

Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1038/s41467-023-41403-6

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