Slow-slip events in semi-brittle serpentinite fault zones.

ABSTRACT: Slow-slip events are earthquake-like events only with much lower slip rates. While peak coseismic velocities can reach tens of meters per second, slow-slip is on the order of 10^-7±2 m/s and may last for days to weeks. Under the rate-and-state model of fault friction, slow-slip is produced only when the asperity size is commensurate with the critical nucleation size, a function of frictional properties. However, it is unlikely that all subduction zones embody the same frictional properties. In addition to friction, plastic flow of antigorite-rich serpentinite may significantly influence the dynamics of fault slip near the mantle wedge corner. Here, we show that the range of frictional parameters that generate slow slip is widened in the presence of a serpentinized layer along the

SUBMITTER: Goswami A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5906616 | biostudies-literature | 2018 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature