Effect of lateral stress on the consolidation state of sediment from the Nankai Trough

Abstract:

In order to better understand the mechanics of seismogenesis and stress state along subduction plate boundaries, the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program (IODP) Nankai Trough Seismogenic Zone Experiment (NanTroSEIZE) program has focused on drilling a transect of boreholes across the subduction zone offshore SW Japan to collect core samples and geophysical logs. One primary target of the drilling effort is a major splay fault (the “megasplay”) that branches from the décollement ~55 km landward of the trench and reaches the seafloor ~30 km from the trench. Three drillsites near the tip of the megasplay sampled the same 1.24-1.65 Ma slope apron sediment section at a reference location 0.75 km seaward of the megasplay fault tip (Site C0008), at the fault tip (Site C0022), and 0.30 km landward (Site C0004) where the section is overridden by accretionary prism sediment. We report on a suite of laboratory experiments conducted on coeval core samples from the three sites, to test the hypothesis that increasing horizontal stress with proximity to the megasplay fault leads to overconsolidation.

We conducted uniaxial constant rate of strain (CRS) and triaxial consolidation experiments to define consolidation state and yield behavior of the sediment, and to estimate in situ effective stress magnitudes. The consolidation state is described in terms of the over-consolidation ratio (OCR), which is the ratio of stress at yield in the experiments to the in situ vertical stress expected for normal consolidation. Values of OCR increase with proximity to the fault, with values ranging from 0.5-1 at the reference Site C0008, to 1.4-1.5 at Site C0022 at the tip of the fault, to 1.7-2.1 in the footwall of the fault at Site C0004, defining a trend of progressively increasing overconsolidation. We attribute this pattern to increasing horizontal stress as the megasplay fault is approached. Assuming that the sediment is at a critical state (i.e. on the verge of shear failure) at the tip of the fault, we estimate that the maximum horizontal effective stress is 4.4 MPa at a depth of 94.5 m below seafloor at Site C0022, where the effective vertical stress is 0.62 MPa. Our result is consistent with analyses of borehole breakouts at Site C0004 that define a thrust faulting regime, and may help constrain future faulting and earthquake models near the megasplay fault.