Effect of normal stress on the frictional behavior of brucite: application to slow earthquakes at the subduction plate interface in the mantle wedge
2021
Abstract. We report the results of friction experiments on brucite under both dry and wet conditions under various normal stresses (10–60 MPa ). The
final friction coefficients of brucite were determined to be 0.40 and 0.26 for the dry and wet cases, respectively, independent of the normal
stress. Under dry conditions, velocity-weakening behavior was observed in all experiments at various normal stresses. Under wet conditions, velocity
weakening was observed at low normal stress (10 and 20 MPa ), whereas velocity strengthening was determined at a higher applied normal
stress. Microstructural observations of recovered experimental samples indicate localized deformation within a narrow shear band, implying that a
small volume of brucite can control the bulk frictional strength in an ultramafic setting. Among serpentinite-related minerals, weak and unstable
frictional behavior of brucite under hydrated mantle wedge conditions may play a role in slow earthquakes at the subduction plate interface in
the mantle wedge.
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