Earthquakes produce carbon dioxide in crustal faults

Details Earthquakes produce carbon dioxide in crustal faults Earthquakes produce carbon dioxide in crustal faults

Jan 2008

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008e%26psl.265..487f&link_type=abstract

Earth and Planetary Science Letters, Volume 265, Issue 3-4, p. 487-497.

Physics

7

Scientific paper

Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) microanalysis of pseudotachylytes (i.e. friction-induced melts produced by seismic slip) from the Nojima fault (Japan) reveals that earthquakes almost instantaneously expel 99 wt.% of the wall rock CO2 content. Carbon is exsolved because it is supersaturated in the friction melts. By extrapolation to a crustal-scale fault rupture, large events such as the M7.2 Kobe earthquake (1995) may yield a total production of 1.8 to 3.4 × 103 tons CO2 within a few seconds. This extraordinary release of CO2 can cause a flash fluid pressure increase in the fault plane, and therefore enhance earthquake slip or trigger aftershocks; it may also explain the anomalous discharge of carbon monitored in nearby fault springs after large earthquakes. Because carbon saturation in silicate melts is pressure-dependent, FTIR can be used as a new tool to constrain the maximum depth of pseudotachylyte formation in exhumed faults.

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