The Evolution of Deformation-Induced Grain-Boundary Porosity and Dynamic Permeability in Crustal Fault Zones: Insights From the Alpine Fault, New Zealand

Abstract:

Fluids and minor phases have an important influence on the bulk rheology of a deforming rock mass, but they are not uniformly distributed at any scale within fault zones. Additionally, exhumed ductile shear zones show little interconnected porosity or static permeability, requiring a dynamic process at depth to allow fluids to access the deforming rock mass. It was recently recognized that reactive fluids interact with high-strain sites to generate cavities on quartz grain boundaries, increasing the grain-scale porosity and dynamic permeability of the rock and allowing for additional fluids to infiltrate the shear zone along interlinking cavities, stimulating further reaction and cavitation. Grain-boundary cavities and fine-grained secondary phases impede grain-boundary mobility and cause a transition in deformation mechanisms from grain-size insensitive dislocation creep to grain-size sensitive creep, which is recognized as a weakening mechanism that promotes strain localisation.

At present, it is unclear how the distribution of grain-boundary pores within fault rocks reflects the bulk mineralogy and phase arrangement, which is a function of shear strain. We have used micro-computed x-ray tomography (μ-CT), SEM imaging, and EDS analyses to examine how the distribution of grain-boundary pores varies in relation to the arrangement of secondary phases in exhumed protomylonites, mylonites, and ultramylonites within the actively-deforming Alpine Fault zone, and in samples acquired from the Deep Fault Drilling Project (DFDP). Additionally, EBSD is coupled with µ-CT and EDS analyses to characterise the evolution of microstructures in three dimensions across a finite strain gradient. Here we examine the relationship and competition between grain-boundary cavitation and microstructural processes during deformation in a high-strain shear zone, and discuss the implications of these grain-scale deformation processes on strain localisation and continental fault zone dynamics.