Application of the Pi theorem to the wear rate of gouge formation in frictional sliding of rocks

A simple law of wear rate is examined for the process of gouge generation during the frictional sliding of simulated faults in rocks, by use of the Pi theorem method (dimensional analysis) and existing experimental data. The relationship between wear rate (t/d) and the applied stress can be expressed by the power-law relations $$\frac{t}{d} = C_\sigma \sigma ^{m\sigma } ,\frac{t}{d} = C_\tau \tau ^{m\tau }$$ wheret is the thickness of the gouge generated on the frictional surfaces,d is the fault displacement, σ and τ are normal stress and shear stress, respectively, andC _σ,C _τ,m _σ andm _τ are constants. These results indicate that the exponent coefficientsm _σ andm _τ and the coefficientsC _σ andC _τ depend on the material hardness of the frictional surfaces. By using the wear rates of natural faults, these power-law relationships may prove to be an acceptable palaeopiezometer of natural faults and the lithosphere.     

Laboratory verification of submicron magnetite production in pseudotachylytes: relevance for paleointensity studies

Pseudotachylytes generally possess stable remanent magnetizations but the processes by which pseudotachylytes are magnetized remain poorly understood. Magnetic hysteresis and scanning electron microscope studies reveal that experimental frictional melting of granites produces dispersed submicron inclusions of weakly interacting pseudo-single-domain (PSD) magnetite, in artificial pseudotachylyte. The magnetite inclusions are absent in the undeformed granite protolith and result from oxidation of Fe in melt-susceptible mafic minerals during the melt-quenched event. The pseudotachylytes acquired a stable thermal remanence in fine-grained PSD magnetites during the rapid cooling of the melt, implying that fine-grained magnetite has the potential for paleointensity determinations of contemporaneous magnetic fields with co-seismic faulting in granitoids.     

Diurnal shelf waves off Hamada on San'in Coast

The tidal current data observed off Hamada on San'in coast have shown the diurnal tidal currents to be larger than the semidiurnal ones by a factor of 5–8, although the ratio (K₁+O₁)/(M₂+S₂) for the tidal heights at Hamada is 1.3. Furthermore, the diurnal currents are found to be more remarkable on the shelf slope than on the shelf. We consider such diurnal current features as being due to the vortical mode waves, and show that the broad shelf and steep shelf slope off San'in coast allow 1st-mode interior shelf waves (ISWs) at a diurnal-period. Using a simple shelf model, it is shown that ISWs occur in response to the seaward component of diurnal tidal oscillations on the shelf and their propagation originates from the western entrance of the Tsushima Straits.     

The structure and transformation of the nanomineral schwertmannite: a synthetic analog representative of field samples

The phase transformation of schwertmannite, an iron oxyhydroxide sulfate nanomineral synthesized at room temperature and at 75 °C using H₂O₂ to drive the precipitation of schwertmannite from ferrous sulfate (Regenspurg et al. in Geochim Cosmochim Acta 68:1185–1197, 2004), was studied using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy. The results of this study suggest that schwertmannite synthesized using this method should not be described as a single phase with a repeating unit cell, but as a polyphasic nanomineral with crystalline areas spanning less than a few nanometers in diameter, within a characteristic ‘pin-cushion’-like amorphous matrix. The difference in synthesis temperature affected the density of the needles on the schwertmannite surface. The needles on the higher-temperature schwertmannite displayed a dendritic morphology, whereas the needles on the room-temperature schwertmannite were more closely packed. Visible lattice fringes in the schwertmannite samples are consistent with the powder X-ray diffraction (XRD) pattern taken on the bulk schwertmannite and also matched d-spacings for goethite, indicating a close structural relationship between schwertmannite and goethite. The incomplete transformation from schwertmannite to goethite over 24 h at 75 °C was tracked using XRD and TEM. TEM images suggest that the sample collected after 24 h consists of aggregates of goethite nanocrystals. Comparing the synthetic schwertmannite in this study to a study on schwertmannite produced at 85 °C, which used ferric sulfate, reveals that synthesis conditions can result in significant differences in needle crystal structure. The bulk powder XRD patterns for the schwertmannite produced using these two samples were indistinguishable from one another. Future studies using synthetic schwertmannite should account for these differences when determining schwertmannite’s structure, reactivity, and capacity to take up elements like arsenic. The schwertmannite synthesized by the Regenspurg et al. method produces a mineral that is consistent with the structure and morphology of natural schwertmannite observed in our previous study using XRD and TEM, making this an ideal synthetic method for laboratory-based mineralogical and geochemical studies that intend to be environmentally relevant.