Journal
NATURE COMMUNICATIONS
Volume 9, Issue -, Pages -Publisher
NATURE PUBLISHING GROUP
DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-05964-1
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Funding
- US NSF [EAR-1361278, 1661489, EAR-1661519]
- National Natural Science Foundation of China [41425012, 41590623, 41227001]
- National Science Foundation - Earth Sciences [EAR-1634415]
- Department of Energy-Geosciences [DE-FG02-94ER14466]
- DOE Office of Science [E-AC02-06CH11357]
- DOE Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences [DE-AC02-06CH11357]
- [EAR-1531583]
- Directorate For Geosciences
- Division Of Earth Sciences [1661489] Funding Source: National Science Foundation
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Southern Tibet is the most active orogenic region on Earth where the Indian Plate thrusts under Eurasia, pushing the seismic discontinuity between the crust and the mantle to an unusual depth of similar to 80 km. Numerous earthquakes occur in the lower portion of this thickened continental crust, but the triggering mechanisms remain enigmatic. Here we show that dry granulite rocks, the dominant constituent of the subducted Indian crust, become brittle when deformed under conditions corresponding to the eclogite stability field. Microfractures propagate dynamically, producing acoustic emission, a laboratory analog of earthquakes, leading to macroscopic faults. Failed specimens are characterized by weak reaction bands consisting of nanometric products of the metamorphic reaction. Assisted by brittle intra-granular ruptures, the reaction bands develop into shear bands which self-organize to form macroscopic Riedel-like fault zones. These results provide a viable mechanism for deep seismicity with additional constraints on orogenic processes in Tibet.
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