Velocity Structure of the Alpine Fault Zone, New Zealand: Laboratory and Log-Based Fault Rock Acoustic Properties at Elevated Pressures

Abstract:

The elastic properties of fault zone rocks at seismogenic depth play a key role in rupture nucleation, propagation, and damage associated with fault slip. In order to understand the seismic hazard posed by a fault we need to both measure these properties and understand how they govern that particular fault’s behavior. The Alpine Fault is the principal component of the active transpressional plate boundary through the South Island of New Zealand. Rapid exhumation along the fault provides an opportunity to study near-surface rocks that have experienced similar histories to those currently deforming at mid-crustal depths. In this study, we examine the acoustic properties of the Alpine Fault in Deep Fault Drilling Project (DFDP)-1 drill core samples and borehole logs from the shallow fault zone, DFDP-2 borehole logs from the hanging wall, and outcrop samples from a number of field localities along the central Alpine Fault. P- and S-wave velocities were measured at ultrasonic frequencies on saturated 2.5 cm-diameter core plugs taken from DFDP-1 core and outcrops. Sampling focused on mylonites, cataclasites, and fault gouge from both the hanging and foot walls of the fault in order to provide a 1-D seismic velocity transect across the entire fault zone. Velocities were measured over a range of effective pressures between 1 and 68 MPa to determine the variation in acoustic properties with depth and pore pressure. When possible, samples were cut in three orthogonal directions and S-waves were measured in two polarization directions on all samples to constrain velocity anisotropy. XRD and petrographic characterization were used to examine how fault-related alteration and deformation change the composition and texture of the rock, and to elucidate how these changes affect the measured velocities. The ultrasonic velocities were compared to sonic logs from DFDP to examine the potential effects of frequency dispersion, brittle deformation, and temperature on the measured properties. Further comparison to large-scale seismic tomography studies will focus on the role the high geothermal gradient plays in velocity reduction around the Alpine Fault.