Experimental evidence on formation of imminent and short-term hydrochemical precursors for earthquakes

The formation of imminent hydrochemical precursors of earthquakes is investigated by the simulation for water–rock reaction in a brittle aquifer. Sixty-one soaking experiments were carried out with granodiorite and trachyandesite grains of different sizes and three chemically-distinct waters for 6 to 168 h. The experimental data demonstrate that water–rock reaction can result in both measurable increases and decreases of ion concentrations in short times and that the extents of hydrochemical variations are controlled by the grain size, dissolution and secondary mineral precipitation, as well as the chemistry of the rock and groundwater. The results indicate that water–rock reactions in brittle aquifers and aquitards may be an important genetic mechanism of hydrochemical seismic precursors when the aquifers and aquitards are fractured in response to tectonic stress.     

Carbon isotopic thermometry calibrated by dolomite-calcite solvus temperatures

The temperature dependence of carbon isotopic fractionations between calcite and graphite, and between dolomite and graphite are calibrated by the calcite-dolomite solvus geothermometry using marbles collected from the contact metamorphic aureole in the Kasuga area, central Japan. The carbon isotopic fractionations (Δ¹³C_Cc-Gr and Δ¹³C_DoGr) systematically decrease with increasing metamorphic temperature. The concordant relationships between the fractionations and solvus temperatures are approximately linear with T^?2 over the temperature range. 400° to 680°C: Δ¹³C_CcGr (%.) = 5.6 × 10⁶ × T^?2 (K) ? 2.4 Δ¹³C_DoGr (%.) = 5.9 × 10⁶ × T^?2 (K) ? 1.9 These systematic relationships between fractionation and temperature suggest that carbon isotopic equilibria between carbonates and graphite were attained in many cases. The equation for the calcite-graphite system has a slope steeper than Bottinga's (1969) results. It is, however, in good agreement with that of Valley and O'Neil (1981) in the temperature range from 600° to 800°C.Because of the relatively high sensitivity to temperature, these isotopic geothermometers are useful for determining the temperatures in moderate- to high-grade metamorphosed carbonate rocks.