Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Carbonate pseudotachylytes: evidence for seismic faulting along carbonate faults

After a while I have a new paper accepted. Actually my role was very minor but I am proud of it, indeed.

From the abstract:
The Canalone Porta fault, developed within dolomitic and marly limestones in the Grigna Massif (Southern Alps, Italy), shows two types of reddish veins: one parallel to the principal slip plane (fault-veins) and the other intruding the fault host rock (injection- veins). The veins have a dominant carbonate composition and show a microtexture with millimetre-sized clasts embedded in a fine-grained matrix. This matrix is composed of micrometre-sized globular clusters of micrometre- to nanometre-sized calcite and dolomite crystals, bound together by K-bearing aluminosilicate glass. Field and petrological data suggest that this carbonate- rich matrix represents an undercooled melt-bearing assemblage produced at T 700 °C and P 0.1–0.2 GPa. The Canalone Porta veins are therefore carbonate pseudotachylytes, i.e. the friction-induced melting product of carbonate rocks. Herein, we discuss the scarcity of these rocks in general and criteria to find and recognize them along relatively deep fault zones.

The full paper can be found here

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