Smectite-illite transition during coseismic slip

Few evidences for coseismic slip events are preserved in natural fault rocks except pseudotachylytes showing a clear evidence of melting caused by frictional shear at high slip rates [e.g., Spray, 1987; Tsutsumi and Shimamoto, 1997; Hirose and Shimamoto, 2005]. Higher maturity of vitrinite of coal fragments is observed in the fault cores recovered from the Nankai accretionary prism [Sakaguchi eta al., 2011], and also in the friction experiments sheared at seismic slip rates [Kitamura et al., 2012], implying that local heating is caused by frictional shear during earthquakes. Another possible evidence for coseismic slip is illitization of smectite clay along faults observed in the present and ancient accretionary prisms [Yamaguchi et al., 2011; Kameda et al., 2013]. Kameda et al. [2013] have estimated the fault activity using the kinetics of smectite-illite transition, which is determined in the studies on long-term diagenetic processes of smectite-illite transition and may not be appropriate for the short-tem reaction caused by frictional heating associated with coseismic slip. Here we report on high-speed friction experiments on synthetic smectite-quartz mixtures. The goals of our experiments are: (1) to reproduce the illitization of smectite clay (Na-montmorillonite) during coseismic shear and (2) to obtain better kinetic parameters to estimate the fault activity of coseismic slip. The friction experiments were conducted on the rotary-shear apparatus at AIST. One gram of the synthetic gouge of smectite-quartz (70:30 wt.%) mixture was sheared at slip velocity of 1.3 m/s, normal stress of 1 MPa, and up to displacement of 55 m. Because cation exchange between sodium ion in smectite and potassium ion in fluid is required for the illitization, we used gouge samples dampened with two different pore fluid media: (1) 1 mol/L aqueous solution of potassium chloride (KCl) and (2) pure water. Friction coefficient of the gouge sheared with potassium rich fluid is 0.45 at peak and 0.12 at steady state, and approximately two times greater than friction coefficient of the gouge sheared with pure water (0.27 at peak and 0.05 at steady state). Pore fluid chemistry largely affects the frictional strength of gouge and thus probably temperature evolution within the gouge. X-ray diffraction analysis of the post-experiment gouges with ethylene glycol treatment indicate illite generation in the gouge sheared with potassium-rich fluid; i.e., smectite is partly transformed to illite by the frictional heating. The gouge sheared with pure water, on the other hand, shows no evidence for illite generation. We will present more experimental results and derive interrelationships between the degree of the illitization, slip velocity, shear displacement, frictional strength, temperature, and concentrations of the potassium ion in pore fluid.