The earthquake cycle in the dry lower continental crust: insights from two deeply exhumed terranes (Musgrave Ranges, Australia and Lofoten, Norway).

ABSTRACT: This paper discusses the results of field-based geological investigations of exhumed rocks exposed in the Musgrave Ranges (Central Australia) and in Nusfjord (Lofoten, Norway) that preserve evidence for lower continental crustal earthquakes with focal depths of approximately 25-40 km. These studies have established that deformation of the dry lower continental crust is characterized by a cyclic interplay between viscous creep (mylonitization) and brittle, seismic slip associated with the formation of pseudotachylytes (a solidified melt produced during seismic slip along a fault in silicate rocks). Seismic slip triggers rheological weakening and a transition to viscous creep, which may be already active during the immediate post-seismic deformation along faults initially characterized by fr

SUBMITTER: Menegon L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7898122 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature