Investigating feedback mechanisms between stress and grain-size: preliminary findings from finite-element modelling

It is widely accepted that changes in stress and grain size can induce a switch between grain-size insensitive (GSI) and sensitive (GSS) creep mechanisms. Under steady-state conditions, grains evolve to an equilibrium size in the boundary region between GSS and GSI, described by the paleopiezometer for a given material. Under these conditions, significant rheological weakening is not expected, as grain size reduction processes are balanced by grain growth processes. However, it has been shown that the stress field surrounding faults varies through the seismic cycle, with both rapid loading and unloading of stress possible in the co- and post-seismic stages. We propose that these changes in stress in the region of the brittle-ductile transition zone may be sufficient to force a deviation from the GSI-GSS boundary and thereby cause a change in grain size and creep mechanism prior to system re-equilibration. Here we present preliminary findings from numerical modelling of stress and grain size changes in response to loading of mechanical inhomogeneities. Our results are attained using a grain-size evolution (GSE) subroutine incorporated into the SULEC finite-element code developed by Susan Ellis and Susanne Buiter, which utilises an iterative approach of solving for spatial and temporal changes in differential stress, grain size and active creep mechanism. Preliminary models demonstrate that stress changes in response to the opening of a fracture in a flowing medium can be significant enough to cause a switch from GSI to GSS creep. These results are significant in the context of understanding spatial variations and feedback between stress, grain size and deformation mechanisms through the seismic cycle.