Dynamically triggered slip and sustained fault gouge instability associated with unique slip behavior under laboratory shear conditions

Abstract:

We investigate dynamic-wave triggered slip under laboratory shear conditions. The experiment is comprised of a 3-block system containing two gouge layers composed of glass beads and held in place by a fixed load in a bi-axial configuration. When the system is sheared under steady state conditions at loads from 3-8 MPa, stick-slip exhibiting a characteristic recurrence time is observed. Under these load conditions, we find that shear failure may be instantaneously triggered by a brief dynamical wave if the system is in a critical shear-stress state, near failure. Dynamic triggering is only observed when the dynamic wave amplitude exceeds strains of 10^(-7). Following triggering, the gouge material remains in an unstable state for long periods of time as manifest by unique slip characteristics not observed during spontaneous events: the measured physical characteristics—the gouge material strength recovery, the gouge layer thickness, the gouge shear modulus and the stick-slip recurrence time recover over many stick-slip cycles following triggering. This work suggests that faults must be critically stressed to trigger under dynamic conditions and that the recovery process following a dynamically triggered event differs from the recovery following a spontaneous event.