stuck in the mud earthquake nucleation and propagation through accretionary forearcs 1 subduction zone earthquakes can propagate to the surface causing large seafloor displacements resulting in tsunamis this requires the earthquake to rupture through clay rich sediments of the accretionary wedge which are largely aseismic as found previously the frictional properties of a range of wet clays at low slip velocity are velocity strengthening thus inhibiting earthquake nucleation however at high slip velocity the same materials weaken almost immediately resulting in a negligible critical slip weakening distance and fracture energy we interpret this behaviour as rapid thermal pressurization of the pore fluid within the clay gouge the lack of fracture energy can explain how a large rupture propagating from depth might not be arrested by clay rich velocity strengthening sediments as is commonly seen the results suggest that generally earthquakes may be difficult to nucleate on mature faults dominated by clay but the propagation of earthquakes through these zones is energetically very favourable

comparison of smectite and illite rich gouge frictional properties application to the updip limit of the seismogenic zone along subduction megathrusts along plate boundary subduction thrusts the transformation of smectite to illite within fault gouge at temperatures of 150 c is one of the key mineralogical changes thought to control the updip limit of seismicity if correct this hypothesis requires illite rich gouges to exhibit frictionally unstable velocity weakening behavior here we report on laboratory experiments designed to investigate the frictional behavior of natural and synthetic clay rich gouges we sheared 5 mm thick layers of commercially obtained pure ca smectite a suite of smectite quartz mixtures and natural illite shale grain size ranging from 2 to 500 m in the double direct shear geometry to shear strains of 7 30 at room humidity and temperature xrd analyses show that the illite shale contains dominantly clay minerals and quartz within the clay sized fraction 40 mpa our data specifically the velocity strengthening behavior of illite shale under a wide range of conditions do not support the hypothesis that the smectite illite transition is responsible for the seismic aseismic transition in subduction zones we suggest that other depth and temperature dependent processes such as cementation consolidation and slip localization with increased shearing may play an important role in changing the frictional properties of subduction zone faults and that these processes in addition to clay mineralogy should be the focus of future investigation

new c 270 kyr strike slip and uplift rates for the southern alpine fault and implications for the new zealand plate boundary abstract along 100 km of the alpine fault major valleys and glacial deposits can be matched across an 8000 m dextral offset we use paleontologic and stratigraphic age constraints to date c 270 ka marine sediments uplifted to 600 m elevation and overlying c 270 ka glacial deposits related to the 8000 m dextral offset these constraints yield a fault proximal australian plate uplift rate of 2 6 0 5 0 4 mm yr and an alpine fault dextral slip rate of 29 6 2 5 4 5 mm yr our rates resolve an apparent along strike drop in strike slip rate and instead support a relatively constant along strike dextral slip rate of 28 mm yr 80 of current australian pacific plate boundary motion we argue that the rate of dextral slip on the southern alpine fault has been relatively constant over the last 3 5 myr and that ductile fault processes may rate limit the fault from accommodating a progressively higher percentage of plate boundary motion through time i e the fault reached maturity long ago the spatiotemporally constant strike slip rate of the southern alpine fault and a previously published paleoseismic record of near regular earthquake recurrence both characterize the alpine fault as a mature plate boundary fault zone that behaves in a constant way with behavior predictable over timescales of thousands and hundreds of thousands of years

frictional viscous flow of phyllosilicate bearing fault rock microphysical model and implications for crustal strength profiles it is widely believed that around the brittle ductile transition crustal faults can be significantly weaker than predicted by conventional two mechanism brittle ductile strength envelopes factors contributing to this weakness include the polyphase nature of natural rocks foliation development and the action of fluid assisted processes such as pressure solution recently ring shear experiments using halite kaolinite mixtures as an analogue for phyllosilicaterich rocks for the first time showed frictional viscous behavior i e both normal stress and strain rate sensitive behavior involving the combined effects of pressure solution and phyllosilicates this behavior was accompanied by the development of a mylonitic microstructure a quantitative assessment of the implications of this for the strength of natural faults has hitherto been hampered by the absence of a microphysical model in this paper a microphysical model for shear deformation of foliated phyllosilicate bearing fault rock by pressure solution accommodated sliding along phyllosilicate foliae is developed the model predicts purely frictional behavior at low and high shear strain rates and frictional viscous behavior at intermediate shear strain rates the mechanical data on wet halite kaolinite gouge compare favorably with the model when applied to crustal materials the model predicts major weakening with respect to conventional brittle ductile strength envelopes in particular around the brittle ductile transition the predicted strength profiles suggest that in numerical models of crustal deformation the strength of high strain regions could be approximated by an apparent friction coefficient of 0 25 0 35 down to depths of 15 20 km

anatomy structural evolution and slip rate of a plate boundary thrust the alpine fault at gaunt creek westland new zealand minimum slip rates calculated for plate vector parallel slickenside trends in cataclasite on the sole of the alpine fault at gaunt creek westland new zealand range from 18 to 24 mm yr between half and two thirds of the total relative motion between the pacific and australian plates is being accommodated by movement on a single structure the alpine fault during the past 14 ka the leading edge of the alpine fault has changed from a moderately southeast dipping oblique reverse fault to a shallowly dipping thrust the hanging wall pacific plate is composed of a gradational sequence from basal gouge through pseudotachylite bearing cataclasite to progressively more coherent schist derived mylonite which has been faulted against subhorizontally bedded fluvio glacial gravel in the footwall australian plate during uplift the hanging wall sequence has been internally sheared and imbricated producing duplex structures and retrogressively veined and altered by pervasive hydrothermal fluid flow erosion of the exhumed fault zone produced angular cataclasite and mylonite derived talus fan breccias building a west dipping apron beneath the fault scarp wood fragments from near the base off the talus breccias have been 14 c dated at 12 650 90 yr b p progressive tectonic shortening resulted in 180 m of overthrusting of a schist derived nappe across an irregular talus fan surface composed of its own erosional debris the structural history of the alpine fault at gaunt creek illustrates the importance of the interaction between fault induced topography and erosion and the control these processes exert on the continued tectonic geometric and geomorphic evolution of the fault zone

s type asteroids ordinary chondrites and space weathering the evidence from galileo s fly bys of gaspra and ida new observations of the s type asteroids gaspra and ida especially by the galileo spacecraft demonstrate that a space weathering process operates which modifies the reflectance spectra of fresh material to be redder straighter and have shallower absorption bands the weathering process appears similar to but less potent than that observed on the moon it operates in the sense that it would tend to convert spectra of ordinary chondrites oc to having the spectral traits of s type asteroids these results appear to resolve the major obstacles of the long standing s type conundrum about the provenance of ordinary chondrite meteorites a wide body of recent research which is reviewed here builds on previous meteoritical evidence to support a new developing consensus that the larger s type asteroids are a diverse assortment of silicaceous assemblages which includes the ordinary chrondite parent bodies recent fairly realistic laboratory simulations of space weathering processes have changed oc spectra to resemble s type spectra j f bell s highly regarded earlier paradigm that oc parent bodies would be found only among sub 10 km main belt asteroids has been tested by an extensive observational survey by r binzel and his proteges the result is that no small main belt analog for the ocs has been found not even the somewhat oc like object boznemcova this article reviews the history of the s type conundrum which set the stage for galileo s historic flybys i review the findings about gaspra and ida including results about their geology their geophysical structure and probable origins and about ida s small moonlet dactyl density constraints on ida set by dactyl s orbit rule out for ida at least the classic view of s types as metallic stripped cores of differentiated precursor asteroids new analysis of the galileo spectral images of ida is presented that provides strong evidence that space weathering occurs on ida and that ida and the koronis family asteroids in general are plausibly oc like in composition after reviewing 1990s developments on the s type conundrum i advocate a new perspective that the ordinary chondrite parent bodies are among the s type asteroids a diverse grouping that also contains other silicaceous and silicate metal assemblages presumably including various stony irons and primitive achondrites represented in meteorite collections gaspra may be such a metal rich assemblage

metal silicate mixtures spectral properties and applications to asteroid taxonomy the reflectance spectra of combinations of olivine orthopyroxene and iron meteorite metal show systematic variations in spectral properties which can be used to constrain many of the physical and chemical properties of the assemblages the presence of metal most noticeably affects band area ratios peak peak and peak minimum reflectance ratios and band widths these parameters are also affected to varying degrees by the abundance and grain size of the metal and silicates and the composition of the silicates band width and band areas are useful for determining metal abundance in olivine metal and orthopyroxene metal assemblages respectively mafic silicate grain size variations are best determined using band depth criteria band centers are most useful for determining mafic silicate composition analysis of the reflectance spectrum of the s class asteroid 8 flora on the basis of these spectral parameters indicates a surface composed of approximately 50 wt metal 40 wt olivine fa 35 10 10 wt orthopyroxene fs 30 25 35 and perhaps a few weight percent of clinopyroxene a substantial amount of the surface seems to consist of a fine grained 45 m size component analysis of the reflectance spectrum of the a class asteroid 446 aeternitas suggests a surface assemblage of approximately 35 wt metal 55 wt olivine fa 20 10 7 wt clinopyroxene fs 17 and 3 wt orthopyroxene fs 45 a substantial fine grained 45 m size surface component is also indicated for this asteroid

some thermal and mechanical consequences of rapid uplift an example from the southern alps new zealand abstract the thermal evolution of continental crust during active collision is modeled through numerical solutions of the two dimensional heat conduction equation for a rapidly moving medium the boundary conditions used in the modeling are derived from geological and geophysical observations from the active collision zone in the south island of new zealand the problem domain over which the solutions are obtained consists of a 40 km horizontal by 25 km vertical spatial plane with a vertical discontinuity at 10 km from the western boundary to the east of this discontinuity vertical uplift rates of up to 10 mm a occur over a timespan of up to 4 ma temperature distributions are calculated at 10 ka intervals over the 4 ma duration a two dimensional high temperature region is established upon initiation of uplift of the eastern block due to the advective component carrying heat upwards more rapidly than it can be dissipated laterally from the problem domain temperatures within the upper 5 km are greater than 400 c after 2 25 ma with geothermal gradients of up to 200 c km attained within the upper 3 km at times greater than 2 5 ma the vertical temperature distribution changes little while the anomalously high temperatures spread laterally into the stationary crust using rheological equations to describe the brittle behaviour of a water saturated upper crust and the ductile behaviour of a quartz dominated lower crust together with the thermal distribution of the conduction models the mechanical evolution of a collision zone is investigated in addition to high crustal temperatures and associated high heat flow rapid uplift produces a weakening of the crust by raising of the depth of transition from brittle to ductile behaviour within the zone of most rapid uplift the brittle ductile transition rises from 13 km to less than 5 km after 1 5 ma of uplift further uplift reduces the brittle layer to 3 km thickness and causes lateral spreading of the low strength zone the reductions in crustal strength caused by the thermal weakening produce a high strain zone within the region of maximum uplift which is incapable of sustaining large differential stresses this causes horizontal and vertical stress transfer and results in shallow seismicity increases in the adjacent crust as well as in intermediate depth seismicity within the high strength upper mantle because the thermal and mechanical anomalies discussed are a function of rapid uplift all regions of active continental collision may be expected to exhibit similar behaviour some mechanical and thermal characteristics of the himalayan collision zone are briefly examined in light of the numerical modeling

crystallographic controls on the frictional behavior of dry and water saturated sheet structure minerals 1 we compare the frictional strengths of 17 sheet structure mineral powders measured under dry and water saturated conditions to identify the factors that cause many of them to be relatively weak the dry coefficient of friction ranges upward from 0 2 for graphite leveling off at 0 8 for margarite clintonite gibbsite kaolinite and lizardite the values of dry correlate directly with calculated 001 interlayer bond strengths of the minerals this correlation occurs because shear becomes localized along boundary and riedel shears and the platy minerals in them rotate into alignment with the shear planes for those gouges with dry 0 8 shear occurs by breaking the interlayer bonds to form new cleavage surfaces where dry 0 8 consistent with byerlee s law the interlayer bonds are sufficiently strong that other frictional processes dominate the transition in dry friction mechanisms corresponds to calculated surface energies of 2 3 j m2 adding water causes to decrease for every mineral tested except graphite if the minerals are separated into groups with similar crystal structures wet increases with increasing interlayer bond strength within each group this relationship also holds for the swelling clay montmorillonite whose water saturated strength is consistent with the strengths of nonswelling clays of similar crystal structure water in the saturated gouges forms thin structured films between the plate surfaces the polar water molecules are bonded to the plate surfaces in proportion to the mineral s surface energy and wet reflects the stresses required to shear through the water films

under the hood of the earthquake machine toward predictive modeling of the seismic cycle advances in observational laboratory and modeling techniques open the way to the development of physical models of the seismic cycle with potentially predictive power to explore that possibility we developed an integrative and fully dynamic model of the parkfield segment of the san andreas fault the model succeeds in reproducing a realistic earthquake sequence of irregular moment magnitude m w 6 0 main shocks including events similar to the ones in 1966 and 2004 and provides an excellent match for the detailed interseismic coseismic and postseismic observations collected along this fault during the most recent earthquake cycle such calibrated physical models provide new ways to assess seismic hazards and forecast seismicity response to perturbations of natural or anthropogenic origins

frictional properties and 3 d stress analysis of the southern alpine fault new zealand abstract new zealand s alpine fault af ruptures quasi periodically in large magnitude earthquakes paleoseismological evidence suggests that about half of all recognized af earthquakes terminated at the boundary between the central and south westland sections of the fault there fault geometry and the polarity of uplift change the south westland af exhibits oblique normal fault motion on a structure oriented 052 82 se that for at least 35 km along strike contains saponite rich principal slip zone gouges new hydrothermal friction experiments reveal that the saponite fault gouge is frictionally weak exhibiting friction coefficients between 0 12 and 0 16 for a range of temperatures t 25 210 c and effective normal stresses n 31 2 93 6 mpa the saponite gouge is rate strengthening in all velocity steps performed at velocities between 0 01 and 3 0 m s behavior conducive to aseismic creep a three dimensional stress analysis shows that the south westland af is favorably oriented with respect to the regional stress field for slip within the frictionally weak saponite fault gouge geometrically the fault is severely misoriented for slip in any fault forming materials with friction coefficients exceeding 0 5 the combination of weak gouges prone to aseismic creep strong asperities and low resolved shear stress may impede earthquake rupture propagation along the south westland alpine fault

frictional properties of exhumed fault gouges in dfdp 1 cores alpine fault new zealand principal slip zone gouges recovered during the deep fault drilling project dfdp 1 alpine fault new zealand were deformed in triaxial friction experiments at temperatures t of up to 350 c effective normal stresses n of up to 156 mpa and velocities between 0 01 and 3 m s chlorite white mica bearing dfdp 1a blue gouge 90 62 m sample depth is frictionally strong friction coefficient 0 61 0 76 across all experimental conditions tested t 70 350 c n 31 2 156 mpa it undergoes a transition from positive to negative rate dependence as t increases past 210 c the friction coefficient of smectite bearing dfdp 1b brown gouge 128 42 m sample depth increases from 0 49 to 0 74 with increasing temperature and pressure t 70 210 c n 31 2 93 6 mpa the positive to negative rate dependence transition occurs as t increases past 140 c these measurements indicate that in the absence of elevated pore fluid pressures dfdp 1 gouges are frictionally strong under conditions representative of the seismogenic crust

spectral properties and geologic processes on eros from combined near nis and msi data sets from april 24 to may 14 2000 the near earth asteroid rendezvous near shoemaker mission s near infrared spectrometer nis obtained its highest resolution data of 433 eros high signal to noise ratio nis reflectance spectra cover a wavelength range of 8002400 nm with footprint sizes from 213 x 427 m to 394 x 788 m this paper describes improvement in instrument calibration by remediation of internally scattered light derivation of a pseudo channel for nis at 754 nm using multispectral imager msi eros approach maps at 951 and 754 nm synthesis of a 3127 spectrum high resolution data set with the improved calibration and expanded wavelength coverage and investigation of global and localized spectral variation with respect to mineralogy composition and space weathering of eros comparing the findings with previous analyses scattered light removal reduces the red slope of eros spectra though not to the level seen by telescopic observations the pseudo channel completes sampling of eros 1 micron band i absorption feature enabling direct comparison of nis data with other asteroid and meteorite spectra without additional scaling or correction following scattered light removal and wavelength range extension the spectral parameters of average eros plot well inside the s iv field of gaffey et al 1993 and are consistent with the l6 chondrite meteorite fields of gaffey and gilbert 1998 although eros shows no evidence of mineralogical heterogeneity modest spectral variations correlate with morphologically and geographically distinct areas of the asteroid eros bright to dark spectral ratios are largely consistent with laboratory space weathering experiment results and modeling of space weathering effects eros brightness variation unaccompanied by significant spectral variation departs from lunar type where band depths slopes and albedoes all correlate and ida type where significant spectral variation is unaccompanied by corresponding brightness variation the brightest areas on eros steep crater walls have lesser spectral slope and deeper band i consistent with exposure of fresher less space weathered materials bright crater slope materials have opx opx olv of 0 240 29 and may be more representative of the subsurface mineralogy than average eros which is probably affected by space weathering the floors of the large craters psyche and himeros have lower albedo and contain the most degraded or altered looking materials nis spectra retain a red spectral slope at greater than 2 microns the recalibrated and expanded nis spectra show better agreements with mixing models based on space weathering of chondritic mixtures

shallow dynamic overshoot and energetic deep rupture in the 2011 mw 9 0 tohoku oki earthquake strong spatial variation of rupture characteristics in the moment magnitude mw 9 0 tohoku oki megathrust earthquake controlled both the strength of shaking and the size of the tsunami that followed finite source imaging reveals that the rupture consisted of a small initial phase deep rupture for up to 40 seconds extensive shallow rupture at 60 to 70 seconds and continuing deep rupture lasting more than 100 seconds a combination of a shallow dipping fault and a compliant hanging wall may have enabled large shallow slip near the trench normal faulting aftershocks in the area of high slip suggest dynamic overshoot on the fault despite prodigious total slip shallower parts of the rupture weakly radiated at high frequencies whereas deeper parts of the rupture radiated strongly at high frequencies

frictional properties of saponite rich gouge from a serpentinite bearing fault zone along the gokasho arashima tectonic line central japan abstract we studied a serpentinite bearing fault zone in gokasho arashima tectonic line mie prefecture central japan characterizing its internal structures mineral assemblage permeability and frictional properties the fault core situated between the serpentinite breccia and the adjacent sedimentary rocks is characterized by a zone locally altered to saponite the clayey gouge layer separates fault rocks of serpentinite origin containing talc and tremolite from fault rocks of sedimentary origin containing chlorite but no quartz the minerals that formed within the fault are the products of metasomatic reaction between the serpentinite and the siliceous rocks permeability measurements show that serpentinite breccia and fault gouge have permeability of 10 14 10 17 m 2 and 10 15 10 18 m 2 respectively at 5 120 mpa confining pressure frictional coefficient of the saponite rich clayey fault gouge ranged between 0 20 and 0 35 under room dry condition but was reduced to 0 06 0 12 when saturated with water the velocity dependence of friction was strongly positive mostly ranging between 0 005 and 0 006 in terms of a b values the governing friction law is not constrained yet but we find that the saponite rich gouge possesses an evolutional behavior in the opposite direction to that suggested by the rate and state friction law in addition to its direct velocity dependence

frictional strengths of talc serpentine and talc quartz mixtures 1 talc is a constituent of faults in a variety of settings and it may be an effective weakening agent depending on its abundance and distribution within a fault we conducted frictional strength experiments under hydrothermal conditions to determine the effect of talc on the strengths of synthetic gouges of lizardite and antigorite serpentinites and of quartz small amounts of talc weaken serpentinite gouges substantially more than predicted by simple weight averaging in comparison mixtures of quartz and talc show a linear trend of strength reduction at talc concentrations 15 wt and enhanced weakening at higher concentrations all of the strength data are fit by a modified version of the reuss mixing law that allows for the dominance of one mineral over the other the difference in the behavior of serpentinite talc and quartz talc mixtures at low talc concentrations is a reflection of their different textures lizardite antigorite and talc all have platy habits and displacement within gouges composed of these minerals is localized to narrow shears along which the platy grains have rotated into alignment with the shear surfaces the shears in the mixed phyllosilicate gouges maximize the proportion of the weaker mineral within them when mixed with a strong rounded mineral such as quartz some minimum concentration of talc is needed to form connected pathways that enhance strength reductions the typical development of talc by the reaction of si rich fluids with serpentinite or dolomite would tend to localize its occurrence in a natural fault and result in enhanced weakening

effect of clay content and mineralogy on frictional sliding behavior of simulated gouges binary and ternary mixtures of quartz illite and montmorillonite 1 we investigated the frictional sliding behavior of simulated quartz clay gouges under stress conditions relevant to seismogenic depths conventional triaxial compression tests were conducted at 40 mpa effective normal stress on saturated saw cut samples containing binary and ternary mixtures of quartz montmorillonite and illite in all cases frictional strengths of mixtures fall between the end members of pure quartz strongest and clay weakest the overall trend was a decrease in strength with increasing clay content in the illite quartz mixture the trend was nearly linear while in the montmorillonite mixtures a sigmoidal trend with three strength regimes was noted microstructural observations were performed on the deformed samples to characterize the geometric attributes of shear localization within the gouge layers two micromechanical models were used to analyze the critical clay fractions for the two regime transitions on the basis of clay porosity and packing of the quartz grains the transition from regime 1 high strength to 2 intermediate strength is associated with the shift from a stress supporting framework of quartz grains to a clay matrix embedded with disperse quartz grains manifested by the development of p foliation and reduction in riedel shear angle the transition from regime 2 intermediate strength to 3 low strength is attributed to the development of shear localization in the clay matrix occurring only when the neighboring layers of quartz grains are separated by a critical clay thickness our mixture data relating strength degradation to clay content agree well with strengths of natural shear zone materials obtained from scientific deep drilling projects

the multistage tectonic evolution of the gulf of suez and northern red sea continental rift from field observations field surveys in the gulf of suez northern red sea area revealed the structural pattern and evolution of this tertiary continental rift and provided constraints on the continental rifting process the structure has been controlled at every scale by four major trends of faults n0 20 e n100 120 e n140 e 160 e and n40 60 e observations of sealed faults and folds and superposed structures and the detailed analysis of the fault surfaces are coherent and indicate that as least two different stages of deformation characterize the evolution of the rift the initiation of the rift late oligocene aquitanian corresponds to the creation of large rhomboidal basins weakly subsident and partly bounded by oblique strike slip faults this framework which resulted from the reactivation of inherited weakness zone in the basement controlled the subsequent creation of large tilted blocks upper aquitanian lower burdigalian these structures were trangressed by the upper burdigalian deposits then the blocks were sliced by a secondary horst and graben pattern which was progressively sealed by middle miocene units since the upper miocene the deformation has been focused along some major faults located in the central part of the rift the determination of paleostresses from measurements of striae confirms that the initiation of the rift was controlled by a tectonic regime characterized by an horizontal compressive stress parallel to the rift and its subsequent evolution was controlled by triaxial and radial extensional regimes with horizontal minimum stress 3 predominantly trending n70 80 e the rifting process was not induced by regional doming but by a new distribution of intraplate stresses at approximately oligocene miocene time passive rift uplift of the rift shoulders began in the upper burdigalian cross sections of the rift emphasize its asymmetry large basement blocks are tilted toward the edge of the rift where a major recently active fault and a distinct morphological unit which we call a banquette are located several homogeneous tilt direction provinces can be defined they are separated by transverse hinge zones that correspond to inherited basement trends rifting deformation is expressed in the basement by steep faults arranged in a zig zag pattern and in neogene quaternary sediments by steep faults and listric faults associated with decollements therefore the style of shallow deformation cannot be extrapolated to deeper levels structures formed during the beginning of the rift show different charateristics according to their orientation but their initial shape was generally complicated by later deformation

rock and mineral transformations in a fault zone leading to permanent creep interactions between brittle and viscous mechanisms in the san andreas fault creep processes may relax part of the tectonic stresses in active faults either by continuous or episodic processes the aim of this study is to obtain a better understanding of these creep mechanisms and the manner in which they change in time and space results are presented from microstructural studies of natural samples collected from san andreas fault observatory at depth borehole drilled through the san andreas fault which reveal the chronology of the deformation within three domain types i a relatively undeformed zone of the host rock reflects the first step of the deformation process with fracturing and grain indentations showing the coupling between fracturing and pressure solution ii shear deformation development that associates fracturing and solution cleavage processes leads to profound changes in rock composition and behavior with two types of development depending on the ratio between the amount of dissolution and deposition abundant mineral precipitation strengthens some zones while pervasive dissolution weakens some others iii zones with mainly dissolution trended toward the present day creeping zones thanks to both the passive concentration of phyllosilicates and their metamorphic transformation into soft minerals such as saponite this study shows how interactions between brittle and viscous mechanisms lead to widespread transformation of the rocks and how a shear zone may evolve from a zone prone to earthquakes and postseismic creep to a zone of steady state creep in parallel the authors discuss how the creeping mechanism mainly controlled by the very low friction of the saponite in the first 3 4 km depth may evolve with depth

major earthquakes occur regularly on an isolated plate boundary fault the scarcity of long geological records of major earthquakes on different types of faults makes testing hypotheses of regular versus random or clustered earthquake recurrence behavior difficult we provide a fault proximal major earthquake record spanning 8000 years on the strike slip alpine fault in new zealand cyclic stratigraphy at hokuri creek suggests that the fault ruptured to the surface 24 times and event ages yield a 0 33 coefficient of variation in recurrence interval we associate this near regular earthquake recurrence with a geometrically simple strike slip fault with high slip rate accommodating a high proportion of plate boundary motion that works in isolation from other faults we propose that it is valid to apply time dependent earthquake recurrence models for seismic hazard estimation to similar faults worldwide

a spectral analysis of ordinary chondrites s type asteroids and their component minerals genetic implications three salient features of visible and infrared reflectance spectra of ordinary chondrites ocs and s type asteroids are 1 albedo at 0 56 m 2 continuum slope and 3 depth of the electronic absorption band due to octahedrally coordinated fe2 in olivine and pyroxene these quantities were numerically extracted from the spectra of 23 ocs representing all metamorphic grades and 39 s type asteroids to be plotted in a three dimensional coordinate system the spectral characteristics of three ocs which were comminuted melted recrystallized and recomminuted are also presented in the same format the results show that although laboratory simulation of melt alteration in an asteroidal regolith does alter oc spectra the spectral parameters of these altered meteorites do not change enough to leave the parametric region defined by unaltered oc spectra when the region containing the 39 s asteroid spectra is compared with that of the altered and unaltered ocs it is found that not one of the ocs falls within the s asteroid region the differences may be largely attributed to spectral differences between the respective metallic components the range of s asteroid parameters is then compared with potential pure end member components most likely to result from magmatic differentiation of a chondritic protoasteroid olivine orthopyroxene clinopyroxene and fe ni meteorite metal alternatively represented by the m asteroids it is found that the s asteroid array is consistent with random mixtures of the differentiated components except for a notable dominance of the spectral characteristics of the opaque metallic component these results suggest that the m asteroids may form a composition continuum with the s asteroids we discuss a scenario consistent with this analysis and with the bell et al theory of the geological structure of the asteroid belt ordinary chondritic protoasteroids of all sizes were probably the dominant primary condensates in the inner portion of the main asteroid belt these were later heated by electromagnetic induction or by 26al nuclide decay as a result the smaller ones were subjected to various degrees of metamorphism while the larger ones were subjected to large scale magmatic differentiation petrological domains of the s asteroids beneath a mixed regolith may be large and supply achondrites irons and stony irons to earth rather than well mixed breccias of these components the smaller oc protoasteroids may still be abundant in the asteroid belt but if small enough to escape differentiation may also be small enough to escape earth based identification

numerical simulations of large earthquakes dynamic rupture propagation on heterogeneous faults our current conceptions of earthquake rupture dynamics especially for large earthquakes require knowledge of the geometry of the faults involved in the rupture the material properties of the rocks surrounding the faults the initial state of stress on the faults and a constitutive formulation that determines when the faults can slip in numerical simulations each of these factors appears to play a significant role in rupture propagation at the kilometer length scale observational evidence of the earth indicates that at least the first three of the elements geometry material and stress can vary over many scale dimensions future research on earthquake rupture dynamics needs to consider at which length scales these features are significant in affecting rupture propagation

comparative mineral chemistry and textures of safod fault gouge and damage zone rocks abstract creep in the san andreas fault observatory at depth safod drillhole is localized to two foliated gouges the central deforming zone cdz and southwest deforming zone sdz the gouges consist of porphyroclasts of serpentinite and sedimentary rock dispersed in a foliated matrix of mg smectite clays that formed as a result of shearing enhanced reactions between the serpentinite and quartzofeldspathic rocks the cdz takes up most of the creep and exhibits differences in mineralogy and texture from the sdz that are attributable to its higher shearing rate in addition a 0 2 m wide sector of the cdz at its northeastern margin ne cdz is identical to the sdz and may represent a gradient in creep rate across the cdz the sdz and ne cdz have lower clay contents and larger porphyroclasts than most of the cdz and they contain veinlets and strain fringes of calcite in the gouge matrix not seen elsewhere in the cdz matrix clays in the sdz and ne cdz are saponite and corrensite whereas the rest of the cdz lacks corrensite saponite is younger than corrensite reflecting clay crystallization under declining temperatures and clays in the more actively deforming portions of the cdz have better equilibrated to the lower temperature conditions

mineralogical petrological characterization of near earth asteroids studies of near earth asteroids are aimed at determining their dynamical and structural history the mineralogy and petrology of 17 near earth asteroids are characterized using reflectance spectroscopy with ground based telescopes as one method to address their major issues implications for the origin and evolution are discussed in a separate paper assuming the surfaces are composed of cosmically abundant materials the presence of certain mineralogical species can be determined from diagnostic absorption features and spectral characteristics which have been studied under known laboratory conditions and understood in terms of crystal field theory with one possible exception the surface composition of near earth asteroids consists of common rock forming minerals such as olivine pyroxene and phyllosilicates opaque components are present but cannot be mineralogically identified with existing experimental data the spectrum of 2201 oljato cannot be interpreted in terms of common rock forming minerals this spectrum was examined for cometary features because its high orbital eccentricity suggests a possible relation to comets no common cometary features are identified in its spectrum the predominance of mafic silicate absorption features in spectra of near earth asteroids compared to the majority of main belt asteroids may be a primary compositional feature or may be the signature of relatively fresher asteroid material

damage patterns stress rotations and pore fluid pressures in strike slip fault zones 1 active faults unfavorably oriented with respect to the regional maximum compressive stress have been labeled as weak the seismic hazards posed by these faults make understanding this apparent weakness a priority stress rotations in these fault zones together with an increase in mean stress could enable high pore fluid pressures to weaken a fault zone such a model requires a foundation in the physics and mechanics of damage this paper presents a new model for stress rotations in fault zones by combining the effective medium theory with anisotropic poroelasticity this approach enables the quantitative characterization of crack damage and the prediction of progressive changes in the elastic properties of rocks across the fault zone the processes of fault growth and wear will lead to distinct patterns of crack damage with different effects on the elastic properties elevated pore fluid pressures have long been known to change the effective normal and shear stresses of anisotropic rocks and this work incorporates these effects into a multilayer fault zone model it is shown that high pore fluid pressures in the anisotropic rocks of the core zone can generate large stress rotations i e more fault parallel and increases in mean stress sufficient to weaken the fault stress rotations in the damage zones of unfavorably oriented faults tend to be away from the fault i e more fault normal for likely combinations of damage patterns and pore fluid pressure

talc friction in the temperature range 25 400 c relevance for fault zone weakening abstract talc is one of the weakest minerals that is associated with fault zones triaxial friction experiments conducted on water saturated talc gouge at room temperature yield values of the coefficient of friction shear stress effective normal stress n in the range 0 16 0 23 and increases with increasing n talc gouge heated to temperatures of 100 400 c is consistently weaker than at room temperature and talc has a temperature pressure range of stability that extends from surficial to eclogite facies conditions making it of potential significance in a variety of faulting environments talc has been identified in exhumed subduction zone thrusts in fault gouge collected from oceanic transform and detachment faults associated with rift systems and recently in serpentinite from the central creeping section of the san andreas fault typically talc crystallized in the active fault zones as a result of the reaction of ultramafic rocks with silica saturated hydrothermal fluids this mode of formation of talc is a prime example of a fault zone weakening process because of its velocity strengthening behavior talc may play a role in stabilizing slip at depth in subduction zones and in the creeping faults of central and northern california that are associated with ophiolitic rocks

talc bearing serpentinite and the creeping section of the san andreas fault the section of the san andreas fault located between cholame valley and san juan bautista in central california creeps at a rate as high as 28 mm yr 1 ref 1 and it is also the segment that yields the best evidence for being a weak fault embedded in a strong crust serpentinized ultramafic rocks have been associated with creeping faults in central and northern california and serpentinite is commonly invoked as the cause of the creep and the low strength of this section of the san andreas fault however the frictional strengths of serpentine minerals are too high to satisfy the limitations on fault strength and these minerals also have the potential for unstable slip under some conditions here we report the discovery of talc in cuttings of serpentinite collected from the probable active trace of the san andreas fault that was intersected during drilling of the san andreas fault observatory at depth safod main hole in 2005 we infer that the talc is forming as a result of the reaction of serpentine minerals with silica saturated hydrothermal fluids that migrate up the fault zone and the talc commonly occurs in sheared serpentinite this discovery is significant as the frictional strength of talc at elevated temperatures is sufficiently low to meet the constraints on the shear strength of the fault and its inherently stable sliding behaviour is consistent with fault creep talc may therefore provide the connection between serpentinite and creep in the san andreas fault if shear at depth can become localized along a talc rich principal slip surface within serpentinite entrained in the fault zone

slip localization on the southern alpine fault new zealand 1 results of a detailed field study of the southern onshore portion of new zealand s alpine fault reveal that for 75 km along strike dextral normal slip on this long lived structure is highly localized in phyllosilicate rich fault core gouges and along their contact with more competent rocks at three localities martyr river mckenzie creek and hokuri creek we document complete cross sections through the fault new 40ar 39ar dates on mylonites combined with microstructural and mechanical data on phyllosilicate rich fault core gouges show that modern slip is localized onto a single steeply dipping 1 to 12 m thick fault core composed of impermeable k 10 20 to 10 22 m2 frictionally weak s 0 12 0 37 velocity strengthening illite chlorite and saponite chlorite lizardite fault gouges fault core materials are 1 comparable to those of other major weak cored faults e g san andreas fault and 2 most compatible with fault creep despite paleoseismic evidence of quasiperiodic large magnitude earthquakes mw 7 on this portion of the alpine fault we conclude that frictional properties of gouges at the surface do not characterize the overall seismogenic behavior of the southern alpine fault

experimental investigation into the microstructural and mechanical evolution of phyllosilicate bearing fault rock under conditions favouring pressure solution abstract mature crustal fault zones are known to be zones of persistent weakness this weakness is believed to result from microstructural modifications during deformation such as grain size reduction and foliation development around the brittle ductile transition phyllosilicates are expected to have a significant effect on fault strength in particular under conditions favouring pressure solution to study such effects we performed rotary shear experiments on brine saturated halite kaolinite mixtures aimed at investigating the relation between microstructural and mechanical evolution in a system where pressure solution and cataclasis dominate the results show significant strain weakening and a transition with progressive strain towards more rate sensitive and less normal stress sensitive behaviour this was accompanied by a microstructural evolution from a purely cataclastic microstructure to a mylonitic microstructure consisting of elongate asymmetric clasts in a fine grained foliated matrix the results demonstrate that strain weakening and the development of a typical mylonitic microstructure can occur as a consequence of grain size reduction by cataclasis and a transition to pressure solution accommodated deformation even in the absence of dislocation creep the data raise questions regarding the reliability of microstructures as rheology indicators as well as on the use of low strain monomineralic flow laws for modelling crustal dynamics

crustal deformation during 1994 1998 due to oblique continental collision in the central southern alps new zealand and implications for seismic potential of the alpine fault the positions of 115 ground marks in a 150 100 km area of oblique continental collision in the central southern alps new zealand have been measured by global positioning system gps two to four times between 1994 and 1998 contemporary velocity and strain rate fields derived from these observations are largely invariant along the northeasterly strike of the mountains and alpine fault across strike more than 60 of the strain occurs within a band from 5 km nw to 20 km se of the alpine fault but significant strain continues at least a further 60 km se to near the edge of the southern alps foothills projections of the fault parallel and fault normal components of velocity onto an alpine faultnormal profile show that about 85 of the nuvel 1a model relative plate motion is observed within the gps network the surface displacements in the high strain rate region are well fit by a model in which stable slip or shearing is occurring at 50 70 of the relative plate rate in a region deeper than about 5 8 km on the down dip extension of the se dipping alpine fault material shallower than this is behaving elastically and thus storing elastic strain in the region of the alpine fault the longer wavelength displacements can be modeled either as distributed deformation beneath the southern alps or by localization of elastic strain around the upper end of a discrete nw dipping fault or shear zone that is slipping stably below about 30 km depth and would outcrop near the se boundary of the mountains if extrapolated to the surface strain determined from a small scale survey network crossing the alpine fault indicates no significant near surface aseismic fault slip on the central alpine fault over the past 25 years our results are consistent with independent geological evidence that the central section of the alpine fault is capable of producing large to great earthquakes

origin and mechanical significance of foliated cataclastic rocks in the cores of crustal scale faults examples from the median tectonic line japan 1 the median tectonic line mtl is japan s largest onshore fault and has been active since the mid cretaceous foliated cataclastic fault rocks are exceptionally well exposed in the fault core at anko nagano prefecture following an early phase of mylonitization and exhumation during left lateral shearing brittle fracture and cataclasis occurred leading to the development of centimeter to submillimeter spaced fault zone parallel fracture systems these fracture systems established an initial architectural hierarchy that influenced the subsequent development of foliated cataclasites and gouge initially fracture systems coalesced to form interconnected zones of fine grained ultracataclasite fluid influx at the onset of grain scale brittle deformation led to precipitation of fibrous chlorite within the ultracataclasites ultimately leading to the development of an interconnected network of foliated phyllosilicate rich cataclasites and gouges in the core of the mtl the brittle reduction of grain size and ingress of a chemically active fluid phase simultaneously promoted reaction softening and diffusive mass transfer in the foliated ultracataclasites leading to rate dependent frictional viscous flow at sub byerlee friction values associated weakening is indicated by the preferential localization of deformation within the ultracataclasites a protracted sequence of carbonate mineralization and cementation events is also recognized during the fault rock evolution and suggests episodic periods of fluid overpressuring a crustal scale fault zone model is proposed suggesting that the foliated cataclasites gouges are weak in the long term and represent shallower crustal equivalents of phyllonitic fault rocks exposed in more deeply exhumed fault zones including other parts of the mtl

sub crustal earthquakes within the australia pacific plate boundary zone beneath the southern alps new zealand abstract sub crustal earthquakes have been observed sporadically for 40 years in the central south island of new zealand we report on 20 events recorded between december 2008 and february 2012 near the alpine fault in the continental collision zone between the australian and pacific plates a subset of 18 events at depths of 47 74 km occurs south of mt cook and together with recently reported tremor locations indicates along strike variations in deformation behaviour along the plate boundary the sub crustal earthquakes south of mt cook increase in depth frequency and size southwards towards the puysegur subduction zone focal mechanisms could be determined for 14 earthquakes and exhibit predominantly strike slip and reverse faulting solutions stress inversion analysis of the focal mechanisms yields a stress field favouring oblique reverse faulting we interpret the geographic and vertical distributions of these sub crustal events in relation to a previously proposed tectonic model of a remnant passive margin that formed south of new zealand in the eocene and was overridden when dextral strike slip motion initiated on the alpine fault we infer that sub crustal earthquakes occur along the leading edge of this structure which is attached to the continental australian crust

plate boundary deformation in south island new zealand is related to inherited lithospheric structure abstract the alpine fault is the main active structure in the oblique continental collision zone of south island new zealand it is continuous at the surface for 800 km and accommodates 70 of current plate motion a 460 km offset of basement rocks suggests it has accommodated 50 of plate displacement since 45 ma geophysical geological and contemporary kinematic data are successfully modeled by slip on a narrow alpine fault zone extending into the lower crust the data are consistent with plate boundary deformation occurring on either northwest or southeast dipping shear zones in the upper mantle or with widely distributed strain in the upper mantle we propose that the position of the alpine fault and any associated lithospheric discontinuity is controlled by an eocene passive margin that separated palaeozoic continental lithosphere of the challenger plateau from much younger oceanic lithosphere strike slip motion since 25 ma has translated the passive margin into the continental collision zone resulting in subduction of oceanic lithosphere beneath south island and progressive localisation of shear strain near the alpine fault the eocene rift boundary formed by exploiting cretaceous oceanic transform faults and an older discontinuity within the new zealand continent we propose that a precursor to the alpine fault could be as old as palaeozoic inherited structure has clearly controlled the first order deformation pattern through new zealand since at least 100 ma and demonstrates that ancient faults can play an important role in determining lithospheric scale patterns of deformation at continental plate boundaries

late quaternary slip rates and slip partitioning on the alpine fault new zealand abstract published geological data on late quaternary offsets on the alpine fault new zealand have been assembled into a common format and analysed with respect to uncertainties uncertainties arise mainly from measurement of offset features relating apparent offsets to actual fault slip and dating the offset features despite the considerable uncertainties the data form a coherent set consistent with a relatively constant rate of strike slip of 27 5 mm year between milford sound and hokitika this rate represents 70 75 of the fault parallel interplate motion north of the confluence with the hope fault the rate drops substantially dip slip rates on the other hand show considerable variation along strike rising to a maximum of more than 10 mm year in the central section and decreasing to zero at the southern end partitioning of c 25 of the interplate slip on to structures east of the alpine fault occurs in the central section consistent with predictions from critical wedge models the partitioning of all the fault normal component of displacement on to other structures in the south may be related in part to a doubling in width of the deforming wedge to the east most probably however the fault normal displacement is mainly accommodated by underthrusting of the australian plate offshore due to a change in the nature of the crust from continental to oceanic

stable creeping fault segments can become destructive as a result of dynamic weakening faults in earth s crust accommodate slow relative motion between tectonic plates through either similarly slow slip or fast seismic wave producing rupture events perceived as earthquakes these types of behaviour are often assumed to be separated in space and to occur on two different types of fault segment one with stable rate strengthening friction and the other with rate weakening friction that leads to stick slip the 2011 tohoku oki earthquake with moment magnitude m w 9 0 challenged such assumptions by accumulating its largest seismic slip in the area that had been assumed to be creeping here we propose a model in which stable rate strengthening behaviour at low slip rates is combined with coseismic weakening due to rapid shear heating of pore fluids allowing unstable slip to occur in segments that can creep between events the model parameters are based on laboratory measurements on samples from the fault of the m w 7 6 1999 chi chi earthquake the long term slip behaviour of the model which we examine using a unique numerical approach that includes all wave effects reproduces and explains a number of both long term and coseismic observations some of them seemingly contradictory about the faults at which the tohoku oki and chi chi earthquakes occurred including there being more high frequency radiation from areas of lower slip the largest seismic slip in the tohoku oki earthquake having occurred in a potentially creeping segment the overall pattern of previous events in the area and the complexity of the tohoku oki rupture the implication that earthquake rupture may break through large portions of creeping segments which are at present considered to be barriers requires a re evaluation of seismic hazard in many areas

strengths of serpentinite gouges at elevated temperatures serpentinite has been proposed as a cause of both low strength and aseismic creep of fault zones to test these hypotheses we have measured the strength of chrysotile lizardite and antigorite rich serpentinite gouges under hydrothermal conditions with emphasis on chrysotile which has thus far received little attention at 25 c the coefficient of friction of chrysotile gouge is roughly 0 2 whereas the lizardite and antigorite rich gouges are at least twice as strong the very low room temperature strength of chrysotile is a consequence of its unusually high adsorbed water content when the adsorbed water is removed chrysotile is as strong as pure antigorite gouge at room temperature heating to 200 c causes the frictional strengths of all three gouges to increase limited data suggest that different polytypes of a given serpentine mineral have similar strengths thus deformation induced changes in polytype should not affect fault strength at 25 c the chrysotile gouge has a transition from velocity strengthening at low velocities to velocity weakening at high velocities consistent with previous studies at temperatures up to 200 c however chrysotile strength is essentially independent of velocity at low velocities overall chrysotile has a restricted range of velocity strengthening behavior that migrates to higher velocities with increasing temperature less information on velocity dependence is available for the lizardite and antigorite gouges but their behavior is consistent with that outlined for chrysotile the marked changes in velocity dependence and strength of chrysotile with heating underscore the hazards of using room temperature data to predict fault behavior at depth the velocity behavior at elevated temperatures does not rule out serpentinite as a cause of aseismic slip but in the presence of a hydrostatic fluid pressure gradient all varieties of serpentine are too strong to explain the apparent weakness of faults such as the san andreas

regoliths on small bodies in the solar system a regolith is defined as a layer or mantle of loose incoherent rocky material of whatever origin that nearly everywhere forms the surface of the land and rests on coherent bedrock the regoliths on many planetary bodies are the result of continual impacts which transform coherent surfaces into fragmental debris the present investigation is concerned with the special case of regolith formation and evolution on small objects such as asteroids and meteorite parent bodies first order models of regolith evolution on asteroidal surfaces are constructed on the basis of data provided by studies of lunar samples and meteorites it appears that regolith formation proceeds by deposition of discrete layers of the widely spread ejecta primarily from the larger impacts moderate size 100 300 km diameter asteroids are covered by modest regoliths of the order of one km in depth small rocky asteroids develop negligible regoliths

mainbelt asteroids dual polarization radar observations observations of 20 asteroids in the main belt between mars and jupiter provide information about the nature of these objects surfaces at centimeter to kilometer scales at least one asteroid pallas is extremely smooth at centimeter to meter scales each asteroid appears much rougher than the moon at some scale between several meters and many kilometers the range of asteroid radar albedos is very broad and implies substantial variations in porosity or metal concentration or both the highest albedo estimate for the asteroid psyche is consistent with a surface having porosities typical of lunar soil and a composition nearly entirely metallic

bulk density of asteroid 243 ida from the orbit of its satellite dactyl during its reconnaissance of the asteroid 243 ida the galileo spacecraft returned images of a second object 1993 243 1 dactyl1 the first confirmed satellite of an asteroid sufficient data were obtained on the motion of dactyl to determine its orbit as a function of ida s mass here we apply statistical and dynamical arguments to constrain the range of possible orbits and hence the mass of ida combined with the volume of ida2 this yields a bulk density of 2 6 0 5 g cm 3 allowing for the uncertainty in the porosity of ida this density range is consistent with a bulk chon dritic composition and argues against some but not all classes of meteoritic igneous rock types that have been suggested as compositionally representative of s type asteroids like ida

frictional properties and sliding stability of the san andreas fault from deep drill core the strength of tectonic faults and the processes that control earthquake rupture remain central questions in fault mechanics and earthquake science we report on the frictional strength and constitutive properties of intact samples across the main creeping strand of the san andreas fault saf california united states recovered by deep drilling we find that the fault is extremely weak friction coefficient 0 10 and exhibits both velocity strengthening frictional behavior and anomalously low rates of frictional healing consistent with aseismic creep in contrast wall rock to the northeast shows velocity weakening frictional behavior and positive healing rates consistent with observed repeating earthquakes on nearby fault strands we also document a sharp increase in strength to values of 0 40 over 1 m distance at the boundary between the fault and adjacent wall rock the friction values for the saf are sufficiently low to explain its apparent weakness as inferred from heat flow and stress orientation data our results may also indicate that the shear strength of the saf should remain approximately constant at 10 mpa in the upper 5 8 km rather than increasing linearly with depth as is commonly assumed taken together our data explain why the main strand of the saf in central california is weak extremely localized and exhibits aseismic creep while nearby fault strands host repeating earthquakes

microseismicity and stress in the vicinity of the alpine fault central southern alps new zealand 1 we investigate present day microseismicity associated with the central alpine fault and the zone of active deformation and uplift in the central southern alps using 14 months of data robust hypocenter locations have been obtained for 1800 earthquakes of magnitudes between 0 3 and 4 2 we derived a magnitude scale with a frequency dependent attenuation factor f 0f where 0 1 89 0 02 10 3 s km that enables magnitudes to be calculated consistently for earthquakes of different sizes and frequency contents the maximum depth of the seismicity varies systematically with distance from the alpine fault from 10 2 km near the fault to 8 2 km within 20 km and 15 2 km further southeast this distribution correlates with lateral variations in crustal resistivity earthquake hypocenters are concentrated in areas of strong resistivity gradients and restricted to depths of resistivities 100 m rocks at greater depth are too hot too fluid saturated or too weak to produce detectable earthquakes focal mechanism solutions computed for 211 earthquakes ml 0 44 exhibit predominantly strike slip mechanisms we obtain a maximum horizontal compressive stress direction of 115 10 from focal mechanism inversion this azimuth is consistent with findings from elsewhere in the central and northern south island and indicates a uniform crustal stress field despite pronounced variations in crustal structure and topographic relief our stress estimates suggest that the alpine fault with a mean strike of 055 is poorly oriented in an andersonian sense but that individual thrust and strike slip segments of the fault s surface trace have close to optimal orientations

micromechanisms of creep in clay rich gouge from the central deforming zone of the san andreas fault we report the strength and constitutive behavior of gouge sampled from the central deforming zone cdz of the san andreas fault layers of flaked cdz gouge were sheared in the triaxial saw cut configuration using the stress relaxation technique to measure the gouge strength over 4 orders of magnitude in shear strain rate and at rates as low as 5 10 10s 1 and within an order of magnitude of in situ rates deformation conditions correspond to the in situ effective normal stress 100 mpa and temperature 65 to 120 c at the sampling depth of 2 7 km gouge was sheared dry and with brine pore fluid at 25 mpa pore pressure dry gouge is stronger and more rate strengthening than brine saturated gouge brine saturated cdz gouge strengthens with increasing strain rate and decreasing temperature and the dependencies of strength on strain rate and temperature increase at rates below 5 10 9s 1 at strain rates greater than 5 10 9s 1 the rate dependence is consistent with previous studies on the cdz gouge conducted at even higher rates the increase in rate dependence below 5 10 9s 1 indicates a change in the rate controlling deformation mechanism the magnitude of the friction rate dependence parameter a and the temperature sensitivity of a are consistent with crystal plasticity of the phyllosilicates we hypothesize a micromechanical model for the cdz gouge whereby a transition from fracture and delamination accommodated frictional flow to crystal plasticity accommodated frictional flow occurs with decreasing strain rate

the effect of mineralogy and effective normal stress on frictional strength of sheet silicates abstract phyllosilicates are common constituents of upper crustal faults and subduction forearcs we studied the effect of mineralogy and controlled effective normal stress between 5 mpa and 100 mpa on frictional strength although the effect of mineralogy on frictional strength of single phase phyllosilicate gouges has been previously studied the influence of effective normal stress has not we conducted water saturated and vacuum dry frictional tests on single phase phyllosilicate gouges using a triaxial apparatus minerals included talc pyrophyllite kaolinite lizardite illite montmorillonite chlorite muscovite phlogopite and biotite particle size 20 mpa dry friction coefficients are constant and wet friction coefficients show a small increase this is attributed to loss of water and increased contact area the results indicate that frictional strength of clay rich faults increases at depths less than 1 km under hydrostatic pore fluid pressures

optical effects of space weathering the role of the finest fraction the optical properties of lunar softs are different than those of rocks from which they are derived as a consequence of lunar space weathering soils are darker and exhibit a distinctive red sloped continuum and weaker mineral absorption bands the accumulation of dark glass welded aggregates agglutinates has been thought to account for these optical effects of space weathering on lunar soils spectroscopic analyses of agglutinate separates and size fractions for a suite of lunar softs presented here indicate that the agglutinate paradigm is insufficient to fully account for lunar optical alteration it is the finest fraction of lunar soils 25 gm which constitute 25 wt that dominates the optical properties of the bulk soil unlike size fractions of most silicates for which the finest fraction is the brightest the lunar soil size fractions all have comparable albedos in the short wavelength visible in the near infrared however it is the finest fraction that exhibits the steep red continuum and weak absorption bands the properties of the finest fraction cannot be duplicated by preparing a fine fraction by grinding larger agglutinate rich soil particles these results suggest space weathering on airless bodies is dominated by surface correlated processes perhaps associated with the development of fine grained fe o on or near the surface of grains and the accumulation of the larger agglutinates is not necessarily required to account for lunar optical alteration

continent scale strike slip on a low angle fault beneath new zealand s southern alps implications for crustal thickening in oblique collision zones new zealand s southern alps lie adjacent to the continent scale dextral strike slip alpine fault on the boundary between the pacific and australian plates we show with a simple 2 d model of crustal balancing that the observed crustal root and erosion expressed as equivalent crustal shortening is up to twice that predicted by the orthogonal plate convergence since 11 ma and even since 23 ma when the alpine fault formed we consider two explanations for this involving a strong component of motion along the length of the plate boundary zone geophysical data indicate that the alpine fault has a listric geometry flattening at mid crustal levels and has accommodated sideways underthrusting of australian plate crust beneath pacific plate crust the geometry of the crustal root together with plate reconstructions requires the underthrust crust to be the hyperextended part of an asymmetric rift system which formed over 500 km farther south during the eocene the narrow remnant part today forms the western margin of the campbell plateau at 10 ma the hyperextended margin underwent shallow subduction in the puysegur subduction zone and then was dragged over 300 km along the length of the southern alps beneath a low angle 20 section of the alpine fault we speculate that prior to 10 ma more distributed lower crustal shortening and thickening occurred beneath the southern alps accommodating southward extrusion of continental crust in the northern part of the plate boundary zone providing a mechanism for clockwise rotation of the hikurangi margin

prehistoric dates of the most recent alpine fault earthquakes new zealand we use four methods to investigate the earthquake history over the past 600 yr of the central alpine fault new zealand trenches across the active fault trace at five locations identify two ruptures on the fault in the past 450 yr three other indirect indicators episodes of landsliding and aggradation dated either via 14 c or from forest establishment on the resulting surfaces and tree ring growth anomalies provide further evidence for these two earthquakes and a greater resolution in estimates of their timing and extent the most recent earthquake occurred in a d 1717 and the rupture extended over a section of fault between milford and the haupiri river a distance of 375 km about 1630 another earthquake occurred on the fault and this extended between at least the paringa and ahaura rivers 250 km regional episodes of landsliding and forest establishment provide evidence for a third earthquake at about 1460 over the same section of fault the pattern of earthquake recurrence is not regular but averages 200 yr and varies from 100 yr to at least 280 yr which is the lapsed time since the most recent rupture

space weathering on eros constraints from albedo and spectral measurements of psyche crater we present combined multi spectral imager msi 0 95 m and near infrared spectrometer nis 0 8 2 4 m observations of psyche crater on s type asteroid 433 eros obtained by the near earth asteroid rendezvous near shoemaker spacecraft at 5 3 km in diameter psyche is one of the largest craters on eros which exhibit distinctive brightness patterns consistent with downslope motion of dark regolith material overlying a substrate of brighter material at spatial scales of 620 m spectrum psyche crater wall materials exhibit albedo contrasts of 32 40 at 0 946 m associated spectral variations occur at a much lower level of 4 8 2 4 we report results of scattering model and lunar analogy investigations into several possible causes for these albedo and spectral trends grain size differences olivine pyroxene and troilite variations and optical surface maturation we find that the albedo contrasts in psyche crater are not consistent with a cause due solely to variations in grain size olivine pyroxene or lunar like optical maturation a grain size change sufficient to explain the observed albedo contrasts would result in strong color variations that are not observed olivine and pyroxene variations would produce strong band correlated variations that are not observed a simple lunar like optical maturation effect would produce strong reddening that is not observed the contrasts and associated spectral variation trends are most consistent with a combination of enhanced troilite a dark spectrally neutral component simulating optical effects of shock and lunar like optical maturation these results suggest that space weathering processes may affect the spectral properties of eros materials causing surface exposures to differ optically from subsurface bedrock however there are significant spectral differences between eros proposed analog meteorites ordinary chondrites and or primitive achondrites and eros freshest exposures of subsurface bright materials after accounting for all differences in the measurement units of our reflectance comparisons we have found that the bright materials on eros have reflectance values at 0 946 m consistent with meteorites but spectral continua that are much redder than meteorites from 1 5 to 2 4 m most importantly we calculate that average eros surface materials are 30 40 darker than meteorites

shear behavior of dfdp 1 borehole samples from the alpine fault new zealand under a wide range of experimental conditions the alpine fault is a major plate boundary fault zone that poses a major seismic hazard in southern new zealand the initial stage of the deep fault drilling project has provided sample material from the major lithological constituents of the alpine fault from two pilot boreholes we use laboratory shearing experiments to show that the friction coefficient of fault related rocks and their precursors varies between 0 38 and 0 80 depending on the lithology presence of pore fluid effective normal stress and temperature under conditions appropriate for several kilometers depth on the alpine fault 100 mpa 160 c fluid saturated a gouge sample located very near to the principal slip zone exhibits 0 67 which is high compared with other major fault zones targeted by scientific drilling and suggests the capacity for large shear stresses at depth a consistent observation is that every major lithological unit tested exhibits positive and negative values of friction velocity dependence critical nucleation patch lengths estimated using representative values of the friction velocity dependent parameter a b and the critical slip distance d c combined with previously documented elastic properties of the wall rock may be as low as 3 m this small value consistent with a seismic moment m o 4 1010 for an m w 1 earthquake suggests that events of this size or larger are expected to occur as ordinary earthquakes and that slow or transient slip events are unlikely in the approximate depth range of 3 7 km

distribution of present day vertical deformation across the southern alps new zealand from 10 years of gps data 1 we use ten years of gps data from nine continuous and six semi continuous gps stations in a transect across the southern alps to measure rates of relative vertical movement with typical 1 uncertainties of 0 3 0 5 mm yr the estimated vertical rates define a fairly smooth profile across the range with the highest rates of 5 mm yr found near the crest of the mountains and 20 30 km southeast of the alpine fault the distribution of vertical rates supports models based on horizontal velocities from gps surveys in which interseismic coupling on the alpine fault decreases from 100 near the surface to zero by 13 18 km depth

speculations on the geometry of the initiation and termination processes of earthquake rupture and its relation to morphology and geological structure earthquake initiation and termination processes are commonly described in terms of barriers and asperities barriers fall into two classes geometric barriers are associated with places where the orientation of a failure surface changes and relaxation barriers where stress is low because aseismic creep processes outpace tectonic loading geometric barriers fall into conservative and nonconservative subgroups according to whether finite fault motion can proceed without the creation of new structures or whether it demands the creation of new faulting or void space the multiple faulting or fragmentation associated with some nonconservative barriers can disrupt fault planes and form asperities by means of selected examples it is shown that a description in terms of these barriers can help one to visualise the processes of earthquake rupture and its relation to the geological environment

coastal dunes in westland new zealand provide a record of paleoseismic activity on the alpine fault regional episodes of coastal progradation and dune formation in south westland new zealand have quickly followed all known alpine fault earthquakes since a d 1200 this reflects rapid transport of large postseismic sediment pulses from mountain catchments to the coast and accumulation of this material as a dune ridge this study provides the first demonstration of this link for multiple events over a region the dune sequences also provide evidence of another previously unrecognized regional aggradation event which may be earthquake related and which occurred just 50 yr after a large alpine fault earthquake coastal dunes have great potential for paleoseismic application because the spatial separation of earthquake induced sediment pulses on a prograding coast allows identification of events closely spaced in time coastal dune systems have the potential to improve paleoseismic understanding over the holocene for many plate boundary faults near coastal areas

episodic fault creep events in california controlled by shallow frictional heterogeneity stable fault slip or creep is thought to occur in unconsolidated sediments that form shallow parts of continental strike slip faults numerical simulations show that creep events observed on faults in california also require the presence of a shallow unstable layer of rock the thickness of which influences the duration of the creep event

a note on fault reactivation reactivation of existing faults whose normal lies in the 1 3 plane of a stress field with effective principal compressive stresses 1 2 3 is considered for the simplest frictional failure criterion n n p where and n are respectively the shear and normal stresses to the existing fault p is the fluid pressure and is the static friction for a plane oriented at to 1 the stress ratio for reactivation is 1 3 1 cot 1 tan this ratio has a minimum positive value at the optimum angle for reactivation given by 12tan 1 1 but reaches infinity when 2 beyond which 3 0 is a necessary condition for reactivation an important consequence is that for typical rock friction coefficients it is unlikely that normal faults will be reactivated as high angle reverse faults or thrusts as low angle normal faults unless the effective least principal stress is tensile

effects of temperature on remotely sensed mineral absorption features laboratory spectral reflectance of mafic silicates has been measured over a temperature range characteristic of solar system objects to study the variation of diagnostic mineral absorption bands this information has become increasingly important with recent improvements in the quality of remotely sensed planetary data and the concurrent increase in sophistication of quantitative and qualitative spectrum analysis techniques in this study visible and near ir reflectance spectra 0 4 2 5 m of pyroxenes and olivine were obtained over a sample temperature range of 80 448 k these are the first published reflectance data for these minerals at temperatures significantly below ambient 300 k additionally thermal radiation emitted from the samples at elevated temperatures was effectively removed disclosing for the first time the high temperature reflectance behavior of pyroxenes in the diagnostic 2 m spectral region as expected from basic physical considerations fe2 crystal field absorptions in all samples become narrower with decreasing temperature the three components of the composite olivine band centered near 1 m become better resolved with decreased temperature and show changes in relative absorption strength there is not however any significant wavelength shift of the olivine reflectance minimum both orthopyroxene and clinopyroxene spectra show dramatic changes in band symmetry with temperature with the greatest change in the longer wavelength edge despite these significant changes in shape little if any change is observed in the wavelength position of reflectance minima of pyroxene absorptions near 1 m the 2 m pyroxene absorptions in contrast demonstrate major shifts of reflectance minima but in different directions in orthopyroxene spectra the band shifts to longer wavelengths with increased temperature while for the clinopyroxene spectra the band shifts to shorter wavelengths this behavior results in greatly improved spectral differentiation of orthopyroxene and clinopyroxene components in a mixture such as a basalt at reduced temperatures application of the results presented here to remote sensing mineral characterization techniques currently in use for determination of pyroxene composition can provide a moderate improvement to quantitative interpretations from 5 to 20 wt feo for orthopyroxenes and 5 wt cao for clinopyroxenes depending on planetary surface temperature

mantle material in the main belt battered to bits the complete or near complete differentiation of a chondritic parent body is believed to result in an object with an fe ni core a thick olivine dominated mantle and a thin plagioclase pyroxene crust compositional groupings of iron meteorites give direct evidence that at least 60 chondritic parent bodies have been differentiated and subsequently destroyed a long standing problem has been that our meteorite collections and apparently our asteroid observations as well show a great absence of olivine dominated metal free mantle material while the basaltic achondrites hed meteorites represent metal free pyroxene dominated crustal samples the isotopic and geochemical evidence implies that this class is derived from only one parent body perhaps vesta thus the meteoritic and perhaps astronomical evidence also suggests a great absence of crustal material resulting from the collisional disruption of numerous parent bodies

rotational spectral variations of asteroid 8 flora implications for the nature of the s type asteroids and for the parent bodies of the ordinary chondrites abstract the new interpretive calibrations olivine pyroxene abundance spectral signature of chondritic metal grains have been applied to visible and near infrared spectral reflectance data for the typical s type asteroid 8 flora chondritic metal grains do not exhibit the steeply reddened spectral signature previously associated with a nickel iron nife metal phase the conditions required to produce a s type spectral curve from a chondritic material are much more restrictive and improbable than previously supposed five mineralogic and patrologic parameters have been derived for the surface material of flora from the analysis of the spectral reflectance and rotational spectral variations of this object these include bulk mineralogy nife metal olivine pyroxene mafic mineral abundance ol py 2 8 metal nature abundant 50 and coarse grained in the substrate pyroxene composition orthopyroxene f s 50 and or abundant clinopyroxene and spatial mineralogic variations olivine pyroxene ratio and pyroxene composition do not covary in a chondritic manner all of the diagnostic mineralogic properties of the flora surface material indicate that this is a differentiated body none of the derived surface properties unambiguously support a chondritic type material and several contradict any type of undifferentiated assemblage flora is most probably the residual core of an intensely heated thermally evolved and magmatically differentiated planetesimal which was subsequently disrupted the present surface samples layers formed at and near the core mantle boundary in the parent body several lines of evidence suggest that the s type asteroids as a class are predominantly the core fragments of disrupted differentiated planetesimals a main belt source of the ordinary chondrites remains elusive