Creep cavitation can establish a dynamic granular fluid pump in ductile shear zones

F. Fusseis (), K. Regenauer-Lieb, J. Liu, R. M. Hough and F. De Carlo
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F. Fusseis: School of Earth & Environment, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia
K. Regenauer-Lieb: School of Earth & Environment, The University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley, Western Australia 6009, Australia
J. Liu: CSIRO Exploration & Mining, 26 Dick Perry Avenue, Kensington, Western Australia 6151, Australia
R. M. Hough: CSIRO Exploration & Mining, 26 Dick Perry Avenue, Kensington, Western Australia 6151, Australia
F. De Carlo: Advanced Photon Source, Argonne National Laboratory, 9700 South Cass Avenue, Argonne, Illinois 60439, USA

Nature, 2009, vol. 459, issue 7249, 974-977

Abstract: Shear-zone fluid transfer It is difficult to explain fluid migration in the middle crust — rocks in this part of Earth's solid shell are generally considered too compact to allow fluid migration through a porous network and too hot for a dynamic fracture-sustained permeability. The interaction between fluid migration and ductile deformation can be studied by investigating strain gradients and the associated changes in porosity in exhumed shear zones. A new study of samples from the margin and centre of a metre-scale shear zone that forms part of the Redbank shear zone in central Australia points to the pressure and chemical gradients that arise dynamically during rock deformation and reaction as the driving forces for fluid migration. This granular fluid pump mechanism may therefore explain fluid transfer through the middle crust, where localization in the creep regime is required for plate tectonics, the formation of giant ore deposits, mantle degassing and earthquake nucleation.

Date: 2009
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DOI: 10.1038/nature08051

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