Experimental investigation of the brittle-viscous transition in mafic rocks – Interplay between fracturing, reaction, and viscous deformation

Sina Marti; Holger Stünitz; Renée Heilbronner; Oliver Plumper; Martyn Drury

doi:10.1016/j.jsg.2017.10.011

Experimental investigation of the brittle-viscous transition in mafic rocks – Interplay between fracturing, reaction, and viscous deformation

Sina Marti ¹ Holger Stünitz ^{2, 3, 4} Renée Heilbronner ¹ Oliver Plumper ⁵ Martyn Drury ⁵

1 Department of Environmental Sciences, University Basel

2 ISTO - Institut des Sciences de la Terre d'Orléans - UMR7327

3 Department of Geosciences

4 Géodynamique - UMR7327

BRGM - Bureau de Recherches Géologiques et Minières (BRGM), ISTO - Institut des Sciences de la Terre d'Orléans - UMR7327 : UMR7327, INSU - CNRS - Institut national des sciences de l'Univers , UO - Université d'Orléans : UMR7327

5 Utrecht University [Utrecht]

Abstract : Rock deformation experiments are performed on fault gouge fabricated from ‘Maryland Diabase’ rock powder to investigate the transition from dominant brittle to dominant viscous behaviour. At the imposed strain rates of View the MathML sourceγ˙=3·10−5−3·10−6 s−1, the transition is observed in the temperature range of (600 °C < T < 800 °C) at confining pressures of (0.5 GPa ≤ Pc ≤ 1.5 GPa). The transition thereby takes place by a switch from brittle fracturing and cataclastic flow to viscous dissolution-precipitation creep and grain boundary sliding. Mineral reactions and resulting grain size refinement by nucleation are observed to be critical processes for the switch to viscous deformation, i.e., grain size sensitive creep. In the transitional regime, the mechanical response of the sample is a mixed-mode between brittle and viscous rheology and microstructures associated with both brittle and viscous deformation are observed. As grain size reduction by reaction and nucleation is a time dependent process, the brittle-viscous transition is not only a function of T but to a large extent also of microstructural evolution.

Keywords : Polyphase rheology Grain boundary sliding Rock deformation experiments Brittle-viscous transition Dissolution-precipitation

Type de document :

Article dans une revue

Journal of Structural Geology, Elsevier, 2017, 105, pp.62 - 79. 〈10.1016/j.jsg.2017.10.011〉

Domaine :

Planète et Univers [physics]

Liste complète des métadonnées

https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01636815
Contributeur : Nathalie Pothier <>
Soumis le : vendredi 17 novembre 2017 - 09:05:15
Dernière modification le : jeudi 11 janvier 2018 - 06:28:20

Experimental investigation of the brittle-viscous transition in mafic rocks – Interplay between fracturing, reaction, and viscous deformation

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Experimental investigation of the brittle-viscous transition in mafic rocks – Interplay between fracturing, reaction, and viscous deformation

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