Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union (AGU)
Résumé : International audience
Observations from deep boreholes at several locations worldwide, laboratory measurements of frictional strength on quartzo-feldspathic materials, and earthquake focal mechanisms indicate that crustal faults are strong (apparent friction μ ≥ 0.6). However, friction experiments on phyllosilicate-rich rocks and some geophysical data have demonstrated that some major faults are considerably weaker. This weakness is commonly considered to be characteristic of mature faults in which rocks are altered by prolonged deformation and fluid-rock interaction (i.e., San Andreas, Zuccale, and Nankai Faults). In contrast, in this study we document fault weakening occurring along a marly shear zone in its infancy (<30 m displacement). Geochemical mass balance calculation and microstructural data show that a massive calcite departure (up to 50 vol %) from the fault rocks facilitated the concentration and reorganization of weak phyllosilicate minerals along the shear surfaces. Friction experiments carried out on intact foliated samples of host marls and fault rocks demonstrated that this structural reorganization lead to a significant fault weakening and that the incipient structure has strength and slip behavior comparable to that of the major weak faults previously documented. These results indicate that some faults, especially those nucleating in lithologies rich of both clays and high-solubility minerals (such as calcite), might experience rapid mineralogical and structural alteration and become weak even in the early stages of their activity.
ISSN: 0278-7407

hal-01211481
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01211481
DOI : 10.1002/2014TC003716

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD American Geophysical Union
Résumé : International audience
We present a 2-D Contact Dynamics discrete element model for simulating initiation and motion of rock avalanches, integrating hillslope geometry, Mohr-Coulomb rock behavior, pore pressure before avalanche triggering, and avalanche trigger. Avalanche motion is modeled as a dense granular flow of dry frictional and cohesive particles. On the basis of granular physics and shear experiments, we review some of the theories for the unexpectedly long runout of rock avalanches. Different causes are evoked, according to the strength (strong or weak) of the slip surface relative to the bulk. "Mechanical fluidization'' and "acoustic fluidization'' theories state that agitation of rock particles reduces frictional strength, increasing runout. Conversely, granular mechanics suggests that, as "shear-strain'' rate increases, granular material becomes more agitated, more dissipative, and more resistant. Another theory states that dynamic fragmentation of clasts creates an isotropic pressure that drives longer runout. In contrast, granular mechanics suggests that fragmentation may induce fluidization and strengthening of the granular material, while particle size reduction (among others) induces weakening of the granular flow and enhances long runout. Runout is also enhanced for column-like rock masses collapsing from steep hillslopes. Long runout may also be linked to thermal weakening mechanisms at the slip surface (e.g., thermal pressurization, and shear melting), which may lower drastically the shear strength. The model is illustrated with a hypothetical example of a rain-triggered avalanche, mobilizing shallowly dipping layers. Several phases are identified, including slope failure, avalanche triggering resulting from slip weakening, and avalanche motion in which rocks are folded and sheared.
ISSN: 0148-0227

hal-00420883
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00420883
DOI : 10.1029/2008JF001072

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD Springer
Résumé : International audience
This contribution is an attempt to present a self-contained and comprehensive survey of the mathematics and physics of material behavior of rocks in terms of texture and anisotropy. Being generally multi-phase and poly-crystalline, where each single crystallite is anisotropic with respect to its physical properties, texture, i.e., the statistical and spatial distribution of crystallographic orientations becomes a constitutive characteristic and determines the material behavior except for grain boundary effects, i.e., in first order approximation. This chapter is in particular an account of modern mathematical texture analysis, explicitly clarifying terms, providing definitions and justifying their application, and emphasizing its major insights. Thus, mathematical texture analysis is brought back to the realm of spherical Radon and Fourier transforms, spherical approximation, spherical probability, i.e., to themathematics of spherical tomography
Handbook of Geomathematics

hal-00564939
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-00564939

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : The geological storage of CO 2 is considered as one of the solutions to the problem of global warming. The most possible scenarios of geological behavior of soil in the long term conditions has to be precisely defined to avoid catastrophic damages in the future. Chemical properties of saline water in the aquifer after the CO 2 injection becomes more acidic with time. Therefore, chemical degradation of rock occurs, which leads to modifications of its mechanical properties (chemo-mechanical coupling) [1]. In this paper an incremental model of chemo-mechanical coupling using homogenization approach (asymptotic expansion method [2,3]) is proposed. The paper is focused on the numerical computations for the X-ray tomography image of carbonate rock microstructure [4]. The chemical degradation of the microstructure is obtained as a homogeneous dissolution in each direction (Fig.1. – Fig.2.) For every porosity state numerical computations to obtain full, orthotropic elasticity tensor are performed. Therefore, the degradations functions for all components of the rigidity tensor were defined (Fig.3.). Moreover, results of numerical calculations of diffusion, tortuosity and permeability tensors are presented [5,6]. The link between geometrical properties and mechanical and transport parameters are discussed. The numerical analysis of the carbonate rock sample in long term conditions shows the increase of porosity and associated mechanical weakening of the rock. Moreover, the increase of diffusion, tortuosity and permeability tensors elements with time were observed. Finally, the solution of the one-dimensional macroscopic problem of soil settlement due to chemical dissolution of rock at constant load is presented. The method is universal, in the sense that the non-dimensional time scale is used.
ALERT Workshop 2013
Aussois, France

hal-01103175
https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01103175

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : International audience
Sub-continental lithospheric mantle rocks are exhumed at the foot of magma-poor distal passive margins as aresponse to extreme stretching of the continental crust during plate separation. Remnants of the Northern Iberianpaleo-passive margin are now exposed in the North-Pyrenean Zone (NPZ) and represent field analogues to studythe processes of continental crust thinning and subcontinental mantle exhumation. The NPZ results from theinversion of basins opened between the Iberia and Europa plates during Albo-Cenomanian times. In the westernNPZ, the ‘Chaînons Béarnais’ ranges display a fold-and-thrust structure involving the Mesozoic sedimentarycover, decoupled from its continental basement and associated with peridotite bodies in tectonic contact withPalaeozoic basement lenses of small size. Continental extension developed under hot thermal conditions, asdemonstrated by the syn-metamorphic Cretaceous ductile deformation affecting both the crustal basement and theallochthonous Mesozoic cover.In this study, we present structural and geochemical data providing constraints to reconstruct the evolution ofthe northern Iberia paleo-margin. Field work confirms that the pre-rift Mesozoic cover is intimately associatedto mantle rocks and to thin tectonic lenses of crustal basement. It also shows that the pre-rift cover was detachedfrom its bedrock at the Keuper evaporites level and was welded to mantle rocks during their exhumation atthe foot of the hyper-extended margin. The crust/mantle detachment fault is a major shear zone characterizedby anastomosed shear bands defining a plurimetric phacoidal fabric at the top of the serpentinized mantle. Thedetachment is marked by a layer of metasomatic rocks, locally 20 meters thick, made of talc-chlorite-pyrite-richrocks that developped under greenschist facies conditions. Raman Spectroscopy on Carbonaceous Materials(RSCM), performed on the Mesozoic cover reveal that the entire sedimentary pile underwent temperatures rangingbetween 200C and 480C.We show that: (i) at the site of mantle rocks exhumation, the boudinaged pre-rift sediments have undergone drasticsyn-metamorphic thinning with the genesis of a S0/S1 foliation and, (ii) the Paleozoic basement has been ductilelydeformed, into thin tectonic lenses that remained welded to the exhumed mantle rocks. Therefore the overallcrustal rheology appears dominated by shallow levels having a ductile behavior. This rheology is related to thepresence of a thick pre- and syn-rift decoupled cover acting as an efficient thermal blanket. This new geologicaldata set highlights important characteristics of ductile-type hyper-extended passive margin that cannot be obtainedfrom the study of seismic lines. Finally, we stress that studying field analogues represents a major tool to betterunderstand the mechanisms of extreme crustal thinning associated with mantle exhumation and their structuralinheritance during tectonic inversion.
Geophysical Research Abstracts
Vienne, Austria

insu-01510103
https://hal-insu.archives-ouvertes.fr/insu-01510103

Éditeur(s) : HAL CCSD
Résumé : The Earth's magnetic field shows a large range of temporal variations from the year to several million years. I studied during my PhD thesis several aspects of these fluctuations, from recent secular variations to reversals. The first part of my manuscript deals with archeomagnetism, a discipline that allows to track the temporal variations of the Earth's magnetic field through millennia, mainly from archeological materials. I studied two sets of samples , one from Greece (Neolithic period 6800-3200 B.C.) and the other from Mexico (Palenque, Maya Classic period 320-840 A.D.), to acquire new archeointensity data in order to better constrain the secular variation of the geomagnetic field. By comparing my data with those available in the literature and with the various global and regional models, I showed that the secular variations during the Neolithic in Greece and during the first millennium in Central America are poorly defined. My data suggest that local components, not described by global models, may exist in these regions. They reinforce the importance of developing specific regional models. As a consequence, the acquisition of new high quality data is of main importance. The second part presents the description of a geomagnetic field reversal. This work was based on two points : first by studying transitional directions to provide new constraints on the possible preferred longitudinal paths of virtual geomagnetic poles (VGPs) and second by checking transitional paleointensities obtained on a volcanic sequence in Akaroa volcano (New Zealand). Indeed the transitional field intensity is significantly higher than the field intensity before and after the reversal. We re-sampled this sequence, and the directional results show a complex sequence of N-T-R-T-N-T-R polarity. The transitional VGPs obtained are clustered in two longitudinal bands through Australia and America. This observation seems to reinforce the assumption of a core-mantle interaction over several million years. Following a rock magnetic study, I selected samples that could provide a value for the Thellier and multispecimen paleointensity methods. The obtained paleointensity are relatively low (about 20 μT) during the polarity change and strong at the end of the sequence. Based both on the field strength values and on the radiochronological ages, showing that the sequence was erupted in a very short time, I suggest that only the C4AR.1n-C4Ar.1r reversal was recorded in this sequence. In this assumption, the reversal shows a complex path comparable to other reversals recorded in the northern hemisphere (for example the Steens Mountain ), including a rebound before stabilizing. Finally the last part is devoted to the development of a new methodology and a new apparatus to determine absolute paleointensity. Following the low success rate of paleointensity experiments from the previous study, I decided to test the multispecimen protocol, which can be applied to samples yielding a predominant multidomaine behavior. The main technical drawback of this method lies in the application of the laboratory field along the natural remanent magnetization, a difficult task to perform accurately in standard paleointensity ovens. Thus, we decided to adapt sample holders from our standard oven in order to allow the sample orientation in space and to develop an ultra-fast heating oven prototype particularly well-suited for this method, allowing to apply the laboratory field in the 3 dimensions. I checked the different multispecimen protocols on historical lavas from Reunion and Etna volcano, yielding very different magnetic mineralogies. For all flows, I obtained paleointensities very close from the expected values, regardless from the magnetic mineralogy, revealing the feasibility of our apparatus and the promising interest of the method. The application of various corrections on the statistical estimation of the intensity value or on the cooling rate had no significant impact on my results.
La première partie de ma thèse porte sur l'archéomagnétisme, discipline qui permet de retracer l'évolution temporelle du champ magnétique terrestre au travers des derniers millénaires, principalement à partir des matériaux archéologiques. J'ai étudié deux jeux d'échantillons provenant pour l'un de la Grèce (période néolithique, 6800-3200 avant J.C.) et pour l'autre du Mexique (Palenque, période Maya Classique 320-840 après J.C.), dans le but d'acquérir de nouvelles données d'archéointensité et de mieux contraindre la variation séculaire du champ magnétique terrestre. La comparaison de mes données avec celles disponibles dans la bibliographie et avec les différents modèles globaux et régionaux a mis en évidence que les variations séculaires au Néolithique en Grèce et au cours du premier millénaire en Amérique Centrale sont très mal définies. Mes données suggèrent que des composantes locales, non prisent en compte dans les modèles globaux peuvent exister au niveau de ces régions. Elles renforcent l'intérêt de développer des modèles régionaux précis. Pour ce faire, l'acquisition de nouvelles données de haute qualitéest un élément majeur. La deuxième partie traite de la description d'un renversement du champ magnétique terrestre. Cette étude a été basée sur deux points précis : étudier les directions transitionnelles afin d'apporter de nouvelles contraintes sur le possible confinement longitudinal des pôles géomagnétiques virtuels (PGV) d'une part, et d'autre part vérifier des paléointensités transitionnelles obtenues sur la séquence volcanique d'Akaroa (Nouvelle Zélande), dont l'intensité est significativement supérieure à celles des intensités avant et après le renversement. Nous avons ré-échantillonné cette séquence, et l'évolution directionnelle obtenue pour ce renversement est une succession complexe de polarités N-T-R-T-N-T-R. Les PGV obtenus semblent se regrouper sous deux bandes longitudinales sous l'Australie et l'Amérique, ce qui renforce l'hypothèse d'une interaction entre le manteau et le noyau sur plusieurs millions d'années. Suite à une étude de minéralogie magnétique, j'ai sélectionné les échantillons susceptibles de fournir une valeur de paléointensité par les méthodes de Thellier et du multispecimen. Les paléointensités obtenues sont relativement faibles (environ 20 μT) au cours du changement de polarité et forte à la fin de la séquence. Mon interprétation, basée à la fois sur les valeurs de l'intensité du champ et sur les données radiochronologiques montrant que la séquence s'est mise en place très rapidement, est de considérer que seul le renversement C4Ar.1n-C4Ar.1r a été enregistré dans cette séquence. Dans cette hypothèse, le renversement montre un cheminement complexe comparable à d'autres renversements enregistrés dans l'hémisphère nord (comme celui de la Steens Mountain par exemple), incluant un phénomène de rebond avant de se stabiliser. La troisième partie de ma thèse est consacrée au développement d'une nouvelle méthodologie et d'un nouvel appareillage pour déterminer des paléointensités. Le faible taux de réussite des expériences de paléointensité de l'étude précédente m'a poussé à m'intéresser au protocole multispecimen, qui peut s'appliquer aux échantillons possédant un comportement polydomaine. L'inconvénient technique majeur de cette méthode réside dans l'application du champ le long de l'aimantation naturelle, difficile à réaliser avec précision dans les fours standards. Pour ce faire, nous avons décidé de développer des porte-échantillons permettant d'orienter les échantillons dans l'espace pour le four standard et un prototype de four à chauffage ultra-rapide particulièrement bien adapté avec la possibilité d'orienter le champ appliqué dans les 3 dimensions. J'ai testé les différents protocoles de la méthode sur des laves historiques de la Réunion et de l'Etna, possédant des minéralogies très différentes. Pour l'ensemble des coulées étudiées, j'ai obtenu des paléointensités très proches des valeurs attendues, et ce indépendamment de la minéralogie, révélant ainsi le faisabilité de notre appareillage et le côté prometteur de la méthode. L'application de diverses corrections sur la statistique d'estimation de la valeur de l'intensité ou sur le taux de refroidissement n'ont eu aucun impact notable sur mes résultats.
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00719380

tel-00719380
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00719380
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00719380/document
https://tel.archives-ouvertes.fr/tel-00719380/file/thesefanjat2012.pdf