Dynamic earthquake rupture preserved in a creeping serpentinite shear zone

Abstract

Laboratory experiments on serpentinite suggest that extreme dynamic weakening at earthquake slip rates is accompanied by amorphisation, dehydration and possible melting. However, hypotheses arising from experiments remain untested in nature, because earthquake ruptures have not previously been recognised in serpentinite shear zones. Here we document the progressive formation of high-temperature reaction products that formed by coseismic amorphisation and dehydration in a plate boundary-scale serpentinite shear zone. The highest-temperature products are aggregates of nanocrystalline olivine and enstatite, indicating minimum peak coseismic temperatures of ca. 925 ± 60 °C. Modelling suggests that frictional heating during earthquakes of magnitude 2.7–4 can satisfy the petrological constraints on the coseismic temperature profile, assuming that coseismic fluid storage capacity and permeability are increased by the development of reaction-enhanced porosity. Our results indicate that earthquake ruptures can propagate through serpentinite shear zones, and that the signatures of transient frictional heating can be preserved in the fault rock record.