Episodic Tremor and Slip (ETS) as a chaotic multiphysics spring

Episodic Tremor and Slip (ETS) events display a rich behaviour of slow and accelerated slip with simple oscillatory to complicated chaotic time series. It is commonly believed that the fast events appearing as non volcanic tremors are signatures of deep fluid injection. The fluid source is suggested to be related to the breakdown of hydrous phyllosilicates, mainly the serpentinite group minerals such as antigorite or lizardite that are widespread in the top of the slab in subduction environments. Similar ETS sequences are recorded in different lithologies in exhumed crustal carbonate-rich thrusts where the fluid source is suggested to be the more vigorous carbonate decomposition reaction. If indeed both types of events can be understood and modelled by the same generic fluid release reaction AB(solid)⇌A(solid)+B(fluid), the data from ETS sequences in subduction zones reveal a geophysically tractable temporal evolution with no access to the fault zone. This work reviews recent advances in modelling ETS events considering the multiphysics instabilities triggered by the fluid release reaction and develops a thermal-hydraulic-mechanical-chemical oscillator (THMC spring) model for such mineral reactions (like dehydration and decomposition) in Megathrusts. We describe advanced computational methods for THMC instabilities and discuss spectral element and finite element solutions. We apply the presented numerical methods to field examples of this important mechanism and reproduce the temporal signature of the Cascadia and Hikurangi trench with a serpentinite oscillator.

Duke Scholars

Author Manolis Veveakis Civil and Environmental Engineering