scholarly journals Deformation-enhanced diagenesis and bacterial proliferation in the Nankai accretionary prism

Solid Earth ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (9) ◽  
pp. 2067-2085
Author(s):  
Vincent Famin ◽  
Hugues Raimbourg ◽  
Muriel Andreani ◽  
Anne-Marie Boullier
Keyword(s):  
Fluid Pressure ◽  
Accretionary Prism ◽  
Shear Zones ◽  
Deformation Bands ◽  
Sulfate Reducing ◽  
Bacterial Proliferation ◽  
Accretionary Prisms ◽  
Mixed Layers ◽  
Diagenetic Reactions ◽  
Host Sediment

Abstract. Understanding diagenetic reactions in accreted sediments is critical for establishing the balance of fluid sources and sinks in accretionary prisms, which is in turn important for assessing the fluid pressure field and the ability for faults to host seismic slip. For this reason, we studied diagenetic reactions in deformation bands (shear zones and veins) within deep mud sediments from the Nankai accretionary prism (SW Japan) drilled at site C0001 during IODP Expedition 315, by means of microscopic observation, X-ray diffraction, and major- and trace-element analyses. Deformation bands are not only more compacted than the host sediment but are also enriched in framboidal pyrite, as observed under microscopy and confirmed by chalcophile-element enrichments (Fe, S, Cu, As, Sb, Pb). In tandem, one shear zone sample displays a destabilization of smectite or illite–smectite mixed layers and a slight crystallization of illite relative to its sediment matrix, and another sample shows correlated increases in B and Li in shear zones and veins compared to the host sediment, both effects suggesting a transformation of smectite into illite in deformation bands. The two diagenetic reactions of sulfide precipitation and smectite-to-illite transformation are explained by a combined action of sulfate-reducing and methanogen bacteria, which strongly suggests an increased activity of anaerobic microbial communities localized in deformation bands. This local bacterial proliferation was possibly enhanced by the liberation of hydrogen from strained phyllosilicates. We suggest that the proliferation of anoxic bacteria, boosted by deformation, may contribute to the pore water freshening observed at depth in accretionary prisms. Deformation-enhanced metabolic reactions may also explain the illitization observed in major faults of accretionary prisms. Care is therefore needed before interpreting illitization, and other diagenetic reactions as well, as evidence of shear heating, as these might be biogenic instead of thermogenic.

scholarly journals Deformation-enhanced diagenesis and bacterial proliferation in the Nankai accretionary prism

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vincent Famin ◽  
Hugues Raimbourg ◽  
Muriel Andréani ◽  
Anne-Marie Boullier
Keyword(s):  
Fluid Pressure ◽  
Accretionary Prism ◽  
Shear Zones ◽  
Deformation Bands ◽  
Sulfate Reducing ◽  
Bacterial Proliferation ◽  
Accretionary Prisms ◽  
Mixed Layers ◽  
Diagenetic Reactions ◽  
Host Sediment

Abstract. Understanding diagenetic reactions in accreted sediments is critical for establishing the balance of fluid sources and sinks in accretionary prisms, which is in turn important for assessing the fluid pressure field and the ability for faults to host seismic slip. For this reason, we studied diagenetic reactions in deformation bands (shear zones and veins) within deep mud sediments from the Nankai accretionary prism (SW Japan) drilled at site C0001 during IODP Expedition 315, by means of microscopic observation, X-ray diffraction, and major-trace element analyses. Deformation bands are not only more compacted than the host sediment, but are also enriched in framboidal pyrite, as observed under microscopy and confirmed by chalcophile element enrichments (Fe, S, Cu, As, Sb, Pb). In tandem, clays in deformation bands undergo a destabilization of smectite or illite/smectite mixed layers, and/or a slight crystallization of illite, which is matched by a correlated increase in B and Li compared to the host sediment. The two diagenetic reactions of sulfide precipitation and clay transformation are both explained by a combined action of sulfate-reducing and methanogen bacteria, which strongly suggests an increased activity of anaerobic microbial communities localized in deformation bands. This local bacterial proliferation was possibly enhanced by the liberation of hydrogen from strained phyllosilicates. We suggest that the proliferation of anoxic bacteria, boosted by deformation, may participate in the pore water freshening observed at depth in accretionary prisms. Deformation-enhanced metabolic reactions may also explain the illitization observed in major faults of accretionary prisms. Care is therefore needed before interpreting illitization, and other diagenetic reactions as well, as evidence of shear heating, as these might be biogenic instead of thermogenic.

scholarly journals Switching deformation mode and mechanisms during subduction of continental crust: a case study from Alpine Corsica

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giancarlo Molli ◽  
Luca Menegon ◽  
Alessandro Malasoma
Keyword(s):  
Shear Zone ◽  
Continental Crust ◽  
Fluid Pressure ◽  
Deformation Mode ◽  
Shear Zones ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Plastic Shear ◽  
Stick Slip ◽  
Brittle Ductile Transition

Abstract. The switching in deformation mode (from distributed to localized) and mechanisms (viscous versus frictional) represent a relevant issue in the frame of crustal deformation, being also connected with the concept of the brittle-ductile transition and seismogenesis. In subduction environment, switching in deformation mode and mechanisms may be inferred along the subduction interface, in a transition zone between the highly coupled (seismogenic zone) and decoupled deeper aseismic domain (stable slip). On the other hand, the role of brittle precursors in nucleating crystal-plastic shear zones has received more and more consideration being now recognized as fundamental in the localization of deformation and shear zone development, thus representing a case in which switching deformation mode and mechanisms interact and relate to each other. This contribution analyzes an example of a crystal plastic shear zone localized by brittle precursor formed within a host granitic-protomylonite during deformation in subduction-related environment. The studied structures, possibly formed by transient instability associated with fluctuations of pore fluid pressure and episodic strain rate variations may be considered as a small scale example of fault behaviour associated with a cycle of interseismic creep and coseismic rupture or a new analogue for episodic tremors and slow slip structures. Our case-study represents, therefore, a fossil example of association of fault structures related with stick-slip strain accomodation during subduction of continental crust.

Evidence for seamount accretion to a peri-Laurentian arc during closure of Iapetus 1This article is one of a series of papers published in CJES Special Issue: In honour of Ward Neale on the theme of Appalachian and Grenvillian geology.2 Geological Survey of Canada Contribution 20100465.

2012 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 147-165 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Zagorevski ◽  
V. McNicoll
Keyword(s):  
Accretionary Prism ◽  
Special Issue ◽  
Volcanic Arc ◽  
Bay Area ◽  
Mylonite Zone ◽  
Iapetus Ocean ◽  
Subduction Erosion ◽  
Area Preserve ◽  
Laurentian Margin ◽  
Accretionary Prisms

The Red Indian Line is the fundamental Iapetus suture zone in the Newfoundland Appalchians along which the main tract of the Iapetus Ocean was consumed. Despite being the site of the closure of a wide ocean, few vestiges of the Iapetus plate have been accreted along Red Indian Line. Ordovician rocks in the Notre Dame Bay area preserve the only evidence for accretion of a seamount in Newfoundland. The seamount is characterized by alkali basalt and hypabyssal rocks that are juxtaposed with Darriwilian peri-Laurentian volcanic arc rocks (466 ± 4 and 467 ± 4 Ma) along a major mylonite zone. The mylonite zone lacks sedimentary rocks suggesting that the seamount was accreted to the arc along a sediment-starved interface and that significant subduction erosion took place along the Laurentian margin. Identification of subduction erosion indicates that an accretionary prism did not exist outboard of Laurentia in Newfoundland, in contrast to the well developed accretionary prisms of the Caledonides.

scholarly journals Progressive Deformation Patterns from an Accretionary Prism (Helminthoid Flysch, Ligurian Alps, Italy)

Geosciences ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pierre Mueller ◽  
Matteo Maino ◽  
Silvio Seno
Keyword(s):  
Regional Scale ◽  
Kinematic Model ◽  
Outer Part ◽  
Accretionary Prism ◽  
Shear Zones ◽  
Low Grade ◽  
Progressive Deformation ◽  
Complex Deformation ◽  
Ligurian Alps ◽  
Deformation Patterns

This paper reports the results of a field-based structural investigation of a well-exposed paleo-accretionary prism, which experienced complex deformation in a low-grade metamorphic setting. Field analyses focused on the description of structural fabrics, with the main emphasis upon parameters like the orientation, style and kinematics of foliations, folds and shear zones. We address the research to the south-westernmost part of the Alpine chain, the Ligurian Alps, where, despite their origin as turbidite sequences deposited into the closing Alpine Tethys Ocean, the Helminthoid Flysch Nappes are presently distributed in the outer part of the chain, above the foreland. The new dataset highlights different deformation patterns related to the different spatial distribution of the flysch units. This regional-scale partitioning of strain is hence associated with progressive deformation within a two-stage geodynamic evolution. Correlations among the different orogenic domains allow the proposal of a kinematic model that describes the motion of the Helminthoid Flysch from the inner to the outer part of the orogen, encompassing the shift from subduction- to collision-related Alpine geodynamic phases.

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