Earthquake slip surfaces identified by biomarker thermal maturity within the 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake fault zone

Rabinowitz, H. S.; Savage, H. M.; Polissar, P. J.; Rowe, C. D.; Kirkpatrick, J. D.

doi:10.1038/s41467-020-14447-1

Cited by 21 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 59 publications

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“…This greatly reduces the diffusion time compared to previous models (Saffer & Bekins, 1998, 1999) which attribute all the geochemical anomalies to episodic fluid flow and consider a single thick fault strand. Also, our results of frequently active fault strands are in line with studies on biomarker thermal maturity indicators that identified seismic faults in drill cores recovered from the Japan Trench subduction zone (Rabinowitz et al., 2020). These results show that even fault zones that have hosted earthquakes with displacement ≥10 m ruptured repeatedly during a period of 36 kyrs.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Pore Pressure Regime and Fluid Flow Processes in the Shallow Nankai Trough Subduction Zone Based on Experimental and Modeling Results from IODP Site C0023

et al. 2021

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Recent subduction earthquakes such as the M w 9.2 2004 Sumatra-Andaman (Ammon et al., 2005) and M w 9.1 2011 Tohoku events (Fujii et al., 2011) triggered devastating tsunamis through large seafloor displacement caused by coseismic slip extending to the trench. The shallow slip challenges the prevailing model of plate boundary interface behavior in which the outer subduction thrust system behaves aseismically and any seaward rupture propagation should cease in velocity-strengthening unconsolidated sediments (e.g., J. C. Moore & Saffer, 2001; Wang & He, 2008). Recent laboratory friction experiments show that propagation of earthquakes through these zones seems energetically favorable when the sediments are at low effective normal stress conditions (Faulkner et al., 2011). Therefore, pore fluid pressure plays a crucial role for fault mechanical behavior because it governs the effective normal stress and thus the absolute fault strength (e.g.,

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 90%

Pore Pressure Regime and Fluid Flow Processes in the Shallow Nankai Trough Subduction Zone Based on Experimental and Modeling Results from IODP Site C0023

et al. 2021

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“…Biomarker thermal maturity has proven an effective tool for identifying zones of coseismic slip within a fault zone (Coffey et al., 2019; Polissar et al., 2011; Rabinowitz et al., 2020; Savage & Polissar, 2019; Savage et al., 2014). Biomarkers are the molecular remains of organisms preserved in sedimentary rocks, which when heated, undergo structural changes, rearrangements, or transformations depending upon the thermal stability of the molecules.…”

Section: Background and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence of Seismic Slip on a Large Splay Fault in the Hikurangi Subduction Zone

Coffey

Savage

Polissar

et al. 2021

Geochem Geophys Geosyst

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The Hikurangi subduction zone is capable of producing moderate to large earthquakes as well as regularly repeating slow slip events. However, it is unclear what structures host these different slip styles along the margin. Here we address whether splay faults can host seismic slip at shallow (<1 km) depth by investigating the Pāpaku fault, sampled during International Ocean Discovery Program Expedition 375. We use biomarker thermal maturity to search for evidence of frictional heating within turbiditic sediments of the Pāpaku fault. Four zones of localized high temperature are found near the top of the fault zone, which are interpreted to be zones of localized seismic slip. Thermal modeling shows that the most likely maximum displacement on the shallow Pāpaku fault during each event was 14–17 m. Our results demonstrate that the Pāpaku fault, and potentially other splay faults along the margin, host coseismic slip and have the potential to produce large tsunami (e.g., runup heights of >1 m as observed in the 1947 Poverty and Tolaga Bay earthquakes.

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“…A possible mechanism for such a local temperature elevation could be flash heating due to friction on the fault plane. Frictional heating is known to occur on fault planes (Goldsby and Tullis, 2007;Smith et al, 2015), particularly in episodes of rapid seismic slip (Rabinowitz et al, 2020). However, the magnitude and duration of elevated temperatures from friction depend on a range of factors such as permeability, slip duration, and fault thickness (Bustin, 1983;Mase and Smith, 1987;Fulton and Harris, 2012;Kitamura et al, 2012), and there is therefore uncertainty as to whether this would always be sufficient to alter the Raman spectra.…”

Section: I[d]/i[g]mentioning

confidence: 99%

Raman spectroscopy in thrust-stacked carbonates: an investigation of spectral parameters with implications for temperature calculations in strained samples

Kedar

Bond

Muirhead

2021

Preprint

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Abstract. Raman spectroscopy is commonly used to estimate peak temperatures in rocks containing organic carbon. In geological settings such as fold-thrust belts, temperature constraints are particularly important as complex burial and exhumation histories cannot easily be modelled. Many authors have developed equations to determine peak tempertaures from Raman spectral parameters, most recently to temperatures as low as 75 °C. However, recent work has shown that Raman spectra can be affected by strain as well as temperature. Fold-thrust systems are often highly deformed on multiple scales, with deformation characterised by faults and shear zones, and therefore temperatures derived from Raman spectra in these settings may be erroneous. In this study, we investigate how the four most common Raman spectral parameters and ratios change through a thrust-stacked carbonate sequence. By comparing samples from relatively low-strain localities to those on thrust planes and in shear zones, we show maximum differences of 0.16 for I[d]/I[g] and 0.11 for R2, while FWHM[d] and Raman Band Separation show no significant change between low and high strained samples. Plausible frictional heating temperatures of faulted samples suggest that the observed changes in Raman spectra are not the result of frictional heating. We apply three equations used to derive the peak temperatures from Raman spectra to our data to investigate the implications on predicted temperatures between strained and unstrained samples. All three equations produce different temperature gradients with depth in unstrained samples. We observe that individual equations exhibit apparently varying sensitivities to strain, but calculated temperatures can be up to 140 °C different for adjacent strained and unstrained samples using the same temperature equation. These results have implications for how temperatures are determined in strained rock samples from Raman spectra.

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Earthquake slip surfaces identified by biomarker thermal maturity within the 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake fault zone

Cited by 21 publications

References 59 publications

Pore Pressure Regime and Fluid Flow Processes in the Shallow Nankai Trough Subduction Zone Based on Experimental and Modeling Results from IODP Site C0023

Pore Pressure Regime and Fluid Flow Processes in the Shallow Nankai Trough Subduction Zone Based on Experimental and Modeling Results from IODP Site C0023

Evidence of Seismic Slip on a Large Splay Fault in the Hikurangi Subduction Zone

Raman spectroscopy in thrust-stacked carbonates: an investigation of spectral parameters with implications for temperature calculations in strained samples

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