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A likely geological record of deep tremor and slow slip events from a subducted continental broken formation.
Full text linkFluids in subduction zones play a key role in controlling seismic activity, drastically affecting the
rheology of rocks, triggering mineral reactions, and lowering the effective stress. Fluctuating
pore pressure is one important parameter for the switch between brittle and ductile deformation,
thus impacting seismogenesis. Episodic tremor and slow slip events (ETS) have been proposed
as a common feature of the geophysical signature of subduction zones. Their geological record,
however, remains scanty. Only the detailed and further characterization of exhumed fossil geological
settings can help fill this knowledge gap. Here we propose that fluctuating pore pressure linked to
metamorphic dehydration reactions steered cyclic and ETS-related brittle and ductile deformation
of continental crustal rocks in the subduction channel of the Apennines. Dilational shear veins and
ductile mylonitic shear zones formed broadly coevally at minimum 1 GPa and 350 °C, corresponding
to ~ 30–40 km depth in the subduction zone. We identify carpholite in Ca-poor metasediments as an
important carrier of H2O
to depths > 40 km in cold subduction zones. Our results suggest that the
described (micro)structures and mineralogical changes can be ascribed to deep ETS and provide a
useful reference for the interpretation of similar tectonic settings worldwide
Deeply subducted continental fragments - Part 1: Fracturing, dissolution-precipitation, and diffusion processes recorded by garnet textures of the central Sesia Zone (western Italian Alps)
No full textContiguous continental high-pressure terranes in orogens offer insight into deep recycling and transformation processes that occur in subduction zones. These remain poorly understood, and currently debated ideas need testing. The approach we chose is to investigate, in detail, the record in suitable rock samples that preserve textures and robust mineral assemblages that withstood overprinting during exhumation. We document complex garnet zoning in eclogitic mica schists from the Sesia Zone (western Italian Alps). These retain evidence of two orogenic cycles and provide detailed insight into resorption, growth, and diffusion processes induced by fluid pulses in high-pressure conditions. We analysed local textures and garnet compositional patterns, which turned out remarkably complex. By combining these with thermodynamic modelling, we could unravel and quantify repeated fluid-rock interaction processes. Garnet shows low-Ca porphyroclastic cores that were stable under (Permian) granulite facies conditions. The series of rims that surround these cores provide insight into the subsequent evolution: the first garnet rim that surrounds the pre-Alpine granulite facies core in one sample indicates that pre-Alpine amphibolite facies metamorphism followed the granulite facies event. In all samples documented, cores show lobate edges and preserve inner fractures, which are sealed by high-Ca garnet that reflects high-pressure Alpine conditions. These observations suggest that during early stages of subduction, before hydration of the granulites, brittle failure of garnet occurred, indicating high strain rates that may be due to seismic failure. Several Alpine rims show conspicuous textures indicative of interaction with hydrous fluid: (a) resorption-dominated textures produced lobate edges, at the expense of the outer part of the granulite core; (b) peninsulas and atoll garnet are the result of replacement reactions; and (c) spatially limited resorption and enhanced transport of elements due to the fluid phase are evident along brittle fractures and in their immediate proximity. Thermodynamic modelling shows that all of these Alpine rims formed under eclogite facies conditions. Structurally controlled samples allow these fluid-garnet interaction phenomena to be traced across a portion of the Sesia Zone, with a general decrease in fluid-garnet interaction observed towards the external, structurally lower parts of the terrane. Replacement of the Permian HT assemblages by hydrate-rich Alpine assemblages can reach nearly 100% of the rock volume. Since we found no clear relationship between discrete deformation structures (e.g. shear zones) observed in the field and the fluid pulses that triggered the transformation to eclogite facies assemblages, we conclude that disperse fluid flow was responsible for the hydration
Replacement reactions and deformation by dissolution and precipitation processes in amphibolites
Full text linkThe deformation of the middle to lower crust in collisional settings occurs via deformation mechanisms that vary with rock composition, fluid content, pressure and temperature. These mechanisms are responsible for the accommodation of large tectonic transport distances during nappe stacking and exhumation. Here we show that fracturing and fluid flow triggered coupled dissolution‐precipitation and dissolution‐precipitation creep processes, which were responsible for the formation of a mylonitic microstructure in amphibolites. This fabric is developed over a crustal thickness of >500 m in the Lower Seve Nappe (Scandinavian Caledonides). Amphibolites display a mylonitic foliation that wraps around albite porphyroclasts appearing dark in panchromatic cathodoluminescence. The albite porphyroclasts were dissected and fragmented by fractures preferentially developed along the (001) cleavage planes, and display lobate edges with embayments and peninsular features. Two albite/oligoclase generations, bright in cathodoluminescence, resorbed and overgrew the porphyroclasts, sealing the fractures. Electron backscattered diffraction shows that the two albite/oligoclase generations grew both pseudomorphically and topotaxially at the expense of the albite porphyroclasts, and epitaxially around them. These two albite/oligoclase generations also grew as neoblasts elongated parallel to the mylonitic foliation. The amphibole crystals experienced a similar microstructural evolution, as evidenced by corroded ferrohornblende cores surrounded by ferrotschermakite rims that preserve the same crystallographic orientation of the cores. Misorientation maps highlight how misorientations in amphibole are related to displacement along fractures perpendicular to its c‐axis. No crystal plasticity is observed in either mineral species. Plagioclase and amphibole display a crystallographic preferred orientation that is the result of topotaxial growth on parental grains and nucleation of new grains with a similar crystallographic orientation. Amphibole and plagioclase thermobarometry constrains the mylonitic foliation development to the epidote amphibolite facies (˜600°C, 0.75‐0.97 GPa). Our results demonstrate that at middle to lower crustal levels the presence of H2O‐rich fluid at grain boundaries facilitates replacement reactions by coupled dissolution‐precipitation and favours deformation by dissolution‐precipitation creep over dislocation creep in plagioclase and amphibole
Constraints on upper crustal fluid circulation and seismogenesis from in-situ outcrop quantification of complex fault zone permeability
Full text linkThe permeability of fault zones plays a significant role on the distribution of georesources and on seismogenesis in the brittle upper crust, where both natural and induced seismicity are often associated with fluid migration and overpressure. Detailed models of the permeability structure of fault zones are thus necessary to refine our understanding of natural fluid pathways and of the mechanisms leading to fluid compartmentalization and possible overpressure in the crust. Fault zones commonly contain complex internal architectures defined by the spatial juxtaposition of "brittle structural facies" (BSF), which progressively and continuously form and evolve during faulting and deformation. We present the first systematic in-situ outcrop permeability measurements from a range of BSFs from two architecturally complex fault zones in the Northern Apennines (Italy). A stark spatial heterogeneity of the present-day permeability (up to four orders of magnitude) even for tightly juxtaposed BSFs belonging to the same fault emerges as a key structural and hydraulic feature. Insights from this study allow us to better understand how complex fault architectures steer the 3D hydraulic structure of the brittle upper crust. Fault hydraulic properties, which may change through space but also in time during an orogenesis and/or individual seismic cycles, in turn steer the development of overpressured volumes, where fluid-induced seismogenesis may localize
Constraints on upper crustal fluid circulation and seismogenesis from in-situ outcrop quantification of complex fault zone permeability
Full text link: The permeability of fault zones plays a significant role on the distribution of georesources and on seismogenesis in the brittle upper crust, where both natural and induced seismicity are often associated with fluid migration and overpressure. Detailed models of the permeability structure of fault zones are thus necessary to refine our understanding of natural fluid pathways and of the mechanisms leading to fluid compartmentalization and possible overpressure in the crust. Fault zones commonly contain complex internal architectures defined by the spatial juxtaposition of "brittle structural facies" (BSF), which progressively and continuously form and evolve during faulting and deformation. We present the first systematic in-situ outcrop permeability measurements from a range of BSFs from two architecturally complex fault zones in the Northern Apennines (Italy). A stark spatial heterogeneity of the present-day permeability (up to four orders of magnitude) even for tightly juxtaposed BSFs belonging to the same fault emerges as a key structural and hydraulic feature. Insights from this study allow us to better understand how complex fault architectures steer the 3D hydraulic structure of the brittle upper crust. Fault hydraulic properties, which may change through space but also in time during an orogenesis and/or individual seismic cycles, in turn steer the development of overpressured volumes, where fluid-induced seismogenesis may localize
An inverse modeling approach to obtain P-T conditions of metamorphic stages involving garnet growth and resorption
Full text linkThis contribution presents an approach and a computer program (GRTMOD) for numerical simulation of garnet evolution based on compositions of successive growth zones in natural samples. For each garnet growth stage, a new local effective bulk composition is optimized, allowing for resorption and/or fractionation of previously crystallized garnet. The successive minimizations are performed using the Nelder-Mead algorithm; a heuristic search method. An automated strategy including two optimization stages and one refinement stage is described and tested. This program is used to calculate pressure-temperature (P-T) conditions of crystal growth as archived in garnet from the Sesia Zone (Western Alps). The compositional variability of successive growth zones is characterized using standardized X-ray maps and the program XMapTools. The model suggests that Permian garnet cores crystallized under granulite-facies conditions at T>800 °C and P = 6 kbar. During Alpine times, a first garnet rim grew at eclogite-facies conditions (650 °C, 16 kbar) at the expense of the garnet core. A second rim was added at lower P (∼11 kbar) and 630 °C. In total, garnet resorption is modeled to amount to ∼9 vol% during the Alpine evolution; this value is supported by our observations in X-ray compositional maps
Fresh, pseudotachylyte-bearing mantle peridotites from the lawsonite eclogite-facies san petrone unit, alpine corsica
Full text linkMantle peridotites exhumed in mountain belts provide important insights on the composition and evolution of the upper mantle, and additionally inform on metamorphic, geochemical, and tectonic processes-including seismic activity-at convergent margins. In this contribution, we present field, microstruc-tural, and mineralogical data of fresh, pseudotachylyte-bearing mantle peridotites from the lawsonite eclogite-facies San Petrone unit, Alpine Corsica, France. The present case study represents the first example of subducted fresh peridotite associated with fresh lawsonite eclogite-facies assemblages. Two bodies of fresh peridotite are embedded in fully serpentinized ultramafic rocks forming the substratum of a subducted ocean-continent transition of the Piemonte-Liguria Basin. Clinopyroxene and spinel mineral chemistry indicates that the investigated peridotite samples were part of a refertilized mantle and, therefore, the San Petrone unit likely belonged to the more distal part of the ocean-continent transition. Because small bodies of fresh peridotite embedded in fully serpentinized rocks can hardly be identified by means of geophysical investigations, this finding suggests that small, yet disseminated bodies of fresh mantle peridotite can potentially be more abundant than previously supposed at ocean-continent transition and, potentially, at mid-ocean ridges and in subduction zones. The preservation of fresh mantle peridotite bodies in subducting slabs is also discussed with respect to its potential implications on intermediate depth seismicity and geochemical cycling-including production of natural energy sources-from rifting to subduction
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
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