Faultingdeformationinthelithosphere.pptVIP

PORE PRESSURE EFFECTS Water and other fluids are often present in rocks, especially in the upper crust.The fluid pressure, known as pore pressure, reduces the effect of the normal stress and allows sliding to take place at lower shear stresses. This is modeled by replacing normal stress ? with the effective normal stress ? = ? - P f , where Pf is the pore fluid pressure. Similarly, taking into account pore pressure, effective principal stresses ?1 = ?1 - Pf ?2 = ?2 - Pf are used in the fracture theory. The role of pore pressure in making sliding easier can be seen by trying to slide an object across a dry table and then wetting the table In continental lithosphere strength in the quartz-rich crust increases with depth and then decreases. Below the Moho there should be a second, deeper, zone of strength due to the olivine rheology. This profile including a weak zone may be part of the reason why continents deform differently than oceanic lithosphere. For example, some continental mountain building may involve crustal thickening in which slices of upper crust, which are too buoyant to subduct, are instead thrust atop one another. The weaker lower crust may contribute in other ways to the general phenomenon that continental plate boundaries are broader and more complex than oceanic ones JELLY SANDWICH STRENGTH PROFILE FOR CONTINENTS Chen and Molnar, 1983 EARTHQUAKES ROCK FRICTION It is natural to assume that earthquakes occur when tectonic stress exceeds the strength, so a new fault forms or an existing one slips. Thus steady motion across a plate boundary seems likely to give a cycle of successive earthquakes at regular intervals, with the same slip and stress drop However, we have seen that the earthquake history is more complicated. Shimazaki and Nakata, 1980 The time between earthquakes on plate boundaries varies although the plate motion causing the earthquakes is steady Earthqua