IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/natcom/v15y2024i1d10.1038_s41467-024-49418-3.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Anisotropic thermal conductivity of antigorite along slab subduction impacts seismicity of intermediate-depth earthquakes

Author

Listed:
  • Yu-Hsiang Chien

    (Academia Sinica and National Central University
    Academia Sinica
    National Central University)

  • Enrico Marzotto

    (GeoForschungsZentrum (GFZ)
    Karl-Liebknecht-Straße 24-25)

  • Yi-Chi Tsao

    (Academia Sinica)

  • Wen-Pin Hsieh

    (Academia Sinica
    National Taiwan University)

Abstract

Double seismic zones (DSZs) are a feature of some subducting slabs, where intermediate-depth earthquakes (~70–300 km) align along two separate planes. The upper seismic plane is generally attributed to dehydration embrittlement, whereas mechanisms forming the lower seismic plane are still debated. Thermal conductivity of slab minerals is expected to control the temperature evolution of subducting slabs, and therefore their seismicity. However, effects of the potential anisotropic thermal conductivity of layered serpentine minerals with crystal preferred orientation on slab’s thermal evolution remain poorly understood. Here we measure the lattice thermal conductivity of antigorite, a hydrous serpentine mineral, along its crystallographic b- and c-axis at relevant high pressure-temperature conditions of subduction. We find that antigorite’s thermal conductivity along the c-axis is ~3–4 folds smaller than the b-axis. Our numerical models further reveal that when the low-thermal-conductivity c-axis is aligned normal to the slab dip, antigorite’s strongly anisotropic thermal conductivity enables heating at the top portion of the slab, facilitating dehydration embrittlement that causes the seismicity in the upper plane of DSZs. Potentially, the antigorite’s thermal insulating effect also hinders the dissipation of frictional heat inside shear zones, promoting thermal runaway along serpentinized faults that could trigger intermediate-depth earthquakes.

Suggested Citation

  • Yu-Hsiang Chien & Enrico Marzotto & Yi-Chi Tsao & Wen-Pin Hsieh, 2024. "Anisotropic thermal conductivity of antigorite along slab subduction impacts seismicity of intermediate-depth earthquakes," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-11, December.
  • Handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:15:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-024-49418-3
    DOI: 10.1038/s41467-024-49418-3
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-49418-3
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/s41467-024-49418-3?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Fabio Crameri & Valentina Magni & Mathew Domeier & Grace E. Shephard & Kiran Chotalia & George Cooper & Caroline M. Eakin & Antoniette Greta Grima & Derya Gürer & Ágnes Király & Elvira Mulyukova & Kal, 2020. "A transdisciplinary and community-driven database to unravel subduction zone initiation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 1-14, December.
    2. George F. Cooper & Colin G. Macpherson & Jon D. Blundy & Benjamin Maunder & Robert W. Allen & Saskia Goes & Jenny S Collier & Lidong Bie & Nicholas Harmon & Stephen P. Hicks & Alexander A. Iveson & Ju, 2020. "Variable water input controls evolution of the Lesser Antilles volcanic arc," Nature, Nature, vol. 582(7813), pages 525-529, June.
    3. Peter B. Kelemen & Greg Hirth, 2007. "A periodic shear-heating mechanism for intermediate-depth earthquakes in the mantle," Nature, Nature, vol. 446(7137), pages 787-790, April.
    4. Ikuo Katayama & Ken-ichi Hirauchi & Katsuyoshi Michibayashi & Jun-ichi Ando, 2009. "Trench-parallel anisotropy produced by serpentine deformation in the hydrated mantle wedge," Nature, Nature, vol. 461(7267), pages 1114-1117, October.
    5. Thomas P. Ferrand & Nadège Hilairet & Sarah Incel & Damien Deldicque & Loïc Labrousse & Julien Gasc & Joerg Renner & Yanbin Wang & Harry W. Green II & Alexandre Schubnel, 2017. "Dehydration-driven stress transfer triggers intermediate-depth earthquakes," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 8(1), pages 1-11, August.
    6. Harry W. Green II & Wang-Ping Chen & Michael R. Brudzinski, 2010. "Seismic evidence of negligible water carried below 400-km depth in subducting lithosphere," Nature, Nature, vol. 467(7317), pages 828-831, October.
    7. Wen-Pin Hsieh & Alexander F. Goncharov & Stéphane Labrosse & Nicholas Holtgrewe & Sergey S. Lobanov & Irina Chuvashova & Frédéric Deschamps & Jung-Fu Lin, 2020. "Low thermal conductivity of iron-silicon alloys at Earth’s core conditions with implications for the geodynamo," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 1-7, December.
    8. George F. Cooper & Colin G. Macpherson & Jon D. Blundy & Benjamin Maunder & Robert W. Allen & Saskia Goes & Jenny S. Collier & Lidong Bie & Nicholas Harmon & Stephen P. Hicks & Alexander A. Iveson & J, 2020. "Author Correction: Variable water input controls evolution of the Lesser Antilles volcanic arc," Nature, Nature, vol. 584(7822), pages 36-36, August.
    9. Haemyeong Jung & Harry W. Green II & Larissa F. Dobrzhinetskaya, 2004. "Intermediate-depth earthquake faulting by dehydration embrittlement with negative volume change," Nature, Nature, vol. 428(6982), pages 545-549, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Hongyu Sun & Matej Pec, 2021. "Nanometric flow and earthquake instability," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 12(1), pages 1-9, December.
    2. Hong-Yan Li & Xiang Li & Jeffrey G. Ryan & Chao Zhang & Yi-Gang Xu, 2022. "Boron isotopes in boninites document rapid changes in slab inputs during subduction initiation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    3. Kuidi Zhang & Jie Liao & Taras Gerya, 2024. "Onset of double subduction controls plate motion reorganisation," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-9, December.
    4. Tomohiro Ohuchi & Yuji Higo & Yoshinori Tange & Takeshi Sakai & Kohei Matsuda & Tetsuo Irifune, 2022. "In situ X-ray and acoustic observations of deep seismic faulting upon phase transitions in olivine," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-14, December.
    5. Sotiris Alevizos & Thomas Poulet & Manolis Veveakis & Klaus Regenauer-Lieb, 2016. "Analysis of Dynamics in Multiphysics Modelling of Active Faults," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 4(4), pages 1-14, September.
    6. Bo Huang & Tim E. Johnson & Simon A. Wilde & Ali Polat & Dong Fu & Timothy Kusky, 2022. "Coexisting divergent and convergent plate boundary assemblages indicate plate tectonics in the Neoarchean," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-13, December.
    7. Cun Chen & Xueping Li & Jingli Ren, 2019. "Complex Dynamical Behaviors in a Spring-Block Model with Periodic Perturbation," Complexity, Hindawi, vol. 2019, pages 1-14, March.
    8. Seohee Yun & Huijeong Hwang & Gilchan Hwang & Yeongkyoo Kim & Douglas Blom & Thomas Vogt & Jeffrey E. Post & Tae-Yeol Jeon & Tae Joo Shin & Dong-Zhou Zhang & Hiroyuki Kagi & Yongjae Lee, 2022. "Super-hydration and reduction of manganese oxide minerals at shallow terrestrial depths," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-8, December.
    9. Weiwen Chen & Shengji Wei & Weitao Wang, 2024. "Subslab ultra low velocity anomaly uncovered by and facilitating the largest deep earthquake," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-13, December.
    10. Ke Ma & Long Guo & Wangheng Liu, 2018. "Investigation of the Spatial Clustering Properties of Seismic Time Series: A Comparative Study from Shallow to Intermediate-Depth Earthquakes," Complexity, Hindawi, vol. 2018, pages 1-10, November.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:natcom:v:15:y:2024:i:1:d:10.1038_s41467-024-49418-3. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.