Dehydration softening of serpentine and its roles in the intermediate-depth earthquakes

A popular hypothesis for the occurrence of double seismic zones in subducting slabs, located at the depth of about 50-200 km, is dehydration embrittlement of serpentinized mantle. Brittle failure of serpentinite has been attributed to excess pore fluid pressure caused by dehydration reaction (Raleigh and Paterson, 1965, JGR; Murrell and Ismail, 1976, Tectonophysics). However, in previous deformation experiments of serpentinites and other hydrous minerals using gas-medium apparatus, confining pressure was limited to 500 MPa, which corresponds to the depth of the middle crust (~15 km). It is questionable if the same mechanism could be effective in subducting slabs at higher pressures. We conducted constant strain-rate experiments of a serpentinite sample, which consists of almost pure antigorite, using solid-medium deformation apparatus. Cylindrical specimens of serpentinite with the diameter of 10 mm and the length of 15 mm were cut from the serpentinite sample and jacketed in Ag tubes. Deformation experiments were conducted at 500 oC and 700 oC under the confining pressure of 800 MPa. The temperature of the dehydration reaction is about 650 oC at this pressure. The strain rate ranges from 3.3x10-5 to 2x10-4 sec-1. At 500 oC, antigorite was very hard and not yielded even after differential stress exceeded 900 MPa. The samples deformed at 700 oC without pre-heating exhibited brittle failures and strain hardening. Dehydration reaction had not occurred in these samples. On the contrary, samples deformed at 700 oC after static heating exhibited steady creep behaviors. The yield strength of preheated samples were 200-280 MPa. The differential stress was slightly increased when the sample strain exceeds 5%. Velocity step tests indicated that the yield stress is insensitive to the strain rate. In the pre-heated samples, intergranular pores were developed. No cracks nor microfaults were observed after deformation experiments. The color of antigorite changed from dark green to pink, possibly due to highly oxidized atmosphere caused by free water release. Reaction products of olivine (forsterite) exhibited host-controlled weak lattice preferred orientation (LPO) but there was no evidence for intracrystalline slip. Mechanical behaviors and microstructural features both indicated that the dominant deformation mechanism of pre-heated samples was cataclastic flow of reaction products. Significant volume loss in these samples suggests compaction and escape of water during deformation experiments. Strain localization in the serpentinized parts of mantle due to dehydration softening and high fluid pressure caused by pore collapse would trigger earthquakes in surrounding peridotite mantle.