** Progress in Earth and Planetary Science is the official journal of the Japan Geoscience Union, published in collaboration with its 50 society members.

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    • Progress in Earth and Planetary Science
    • Progress in Earth and Planetary Science
    • Progress in Earth and Planetary Science
    • Progress in Earth and Planetary Science
    • Progress in Earth and Planetary Science
    Progress in Earth and Planetary Science

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    Solid earth sciences

    Effects of frictional properties of quartz and feldspar in the crust on the depth extent of the seismogenic zone

    Masuda K, Arai T, Takahashi M

    Fault friction, Quartz, Feldspar

    The temperature range of negative velocity dependence of steady-state friction of wet feldspar was wider than that of wet quartz.

    The depth extent of the crustal seismogenic zone is closely related to the size of earthquakes. The mechanisms that control the depth of the lower transition of the seismogenic zone are important issues in seismology and disaster mitigation. Laboratory studies have shown that the mechanism of earthquake nucleation is controlled by the frictional properties of fault materials. We measured the velocity dependences of the steady-state friction of quartz and feldspar, two major components of crustal rocks, under dry and wet conditions at temperatures up to 600 °C. In the presence of water, the temperature range over which the velocity dependence of steady-state friction was negative was wider for feldspar than for quartz, thus indicating that the temperature range of earthquake nucleation is wider for feldspar than for quartz. Considering that temperature increases with depth, our findings indicate that the material properties of feldspar likely play a dominant role in limiting the depth extent of the seismogenic zone.