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The connectivity of rocks’ porous structure and the presence of fractures influence the transfer of fluids in the Earth’s crust. Here, we employed laboratory experiments to measure the influence of macro-fractures and effective pressure on the permeability of volcanic rocks with a wide range of initial porosities (1–41 vol. %) comprised of both vesicles and micro-cracks. We used a hand-held permeameter and hydrostatic cell to measure the permeability of intact rock cores at effective pressures up to 30 MPa; we then induced a macro-fracture to each sample using Brazilian tensile tests and measured the permeability of these macro-fractured rocks again. We show that intact rock permeability increases non-linearly with increasing porosity and decreases with increasing effective pressure due to compactional closure of micro-fractures. Imparting a macro-fracture both increases the permeability of rocks and their sensitivity to effective pressure. The magnitude of permeability increase induced by the macro-fracture is more significant for dense rocks. We finally provide a general equation to estimate the permeability of intact and fractured rocks, forming a basis to constrain fluid flow in volcanic and geothermal systems.

Abstract. The strength and macroscopic deformation mode (brittle vs. ductile) of rocks is generally related to the porosity and pressure conditions, with occasional considerations of strain rate. At high temperature, molten rocks abide by Maxwell's viscoelasticity and their deformation mode is generally defined by strain rate or reciprocally by comparing the relaxation timescale of the material (for a given condition) to the observation timescale – a dimensionless ratio known as the Deborah (De) number. Volcanic materials are extremely heterogeneous, with variable concentrations of crystals, glass–melt, and vesicles (of different sizes), and a complete description of the conditions leading to flow or rupture as a function of temperature, stress and strain rate (or timescale of observation) eludes us. Here, we examined the conditions which lead to the macroscopic failure of variably vesicular (0.09–0.35), crystal-rich (∼ 75 vol %), pristine and altered dome rocks (at ambient temperature) and lavas (at 900 °C) from Mt. Unzen volcano, Japan. We found that the strength of the dome rocks decreases with porosity and is commonly independent of strain rate; when comparing pristine and altered rocks, we found that the precipitation of secondary mineral phases in the original pore space caused minor strengthening. The strength of the lavas (at 900 °C) also decreases with porosity. Importantly, the results demonstrate that these dome rocks are weaker at ambient temperatures than when heated and deformed at 900 °C (for a given strain rate resulting in brittle behaviour). Thermal stressing (by heating and cooling a rock up to 900 °C at a rate of 4 °C min−1, before testing its strength at ambient temperature) was found not to affect the strength of rocks.In the magmatic state (900 °C), the rheology of the dome lavas is strongly strain rate dependent. Under conditions of low experimental strain rate (≤ 10−4 s−1), ductile deformation dominated (i.e. the material sustained substantial, pervasive deformation) and displayed a non-Newtonian shear thinning behaviour. In this regime, the apparent viscosities of the dome lavas were found to be essentially equivalent, independent of vesicularity, likely due to the lack of pore pressurisation and efficient pore collapse during shear. At high experimental strain rates ( ≥ 10−4 s−1) the lavas displayed an increasingly brittle response (i.e. deformation resulted in failure along localised faults); we observed an increase in strength and a decrease in strain to failure as a function of strain rate. To constrain the conditions leading to failure of the lavas, we analysed and compared the critical Deborah number at failure (Dec) of these lavas to that of pure melt (Demelt = 10−3–10−2; Webb and Dingwell, 1990). We found that the presence of crystals decreases Dec to between 6.6×10−4 and 1×10−4. The vesicularity (φ), which dictates the strength of lavas, further controls Dec following a linear trend. We discuss the implications of these findings for the case of magma ascent and lava dome structural stability.

No abstract

Abstract. The strength and deformation mode (brittle vs ductile) of rocks is generally related to the porosity and pressure conditions, with occasional considerations of strain rate. At high temperature, molten rocks abide to Maxwell’s viscoelasticity and their deformation mode (brittle vs ductile) is generally defined by strain rate or reciprocally, by comparing the relaxation timescale of the material (for a given condition) to the observation timescale – a dimensionless ratio known as the Deborah (De) number. Volcanic materials are extremely heterogeneous, with variable concentrations of crystals, glass/ melt and vesicles (of different sizes), and a complete description of the conditions leading to flow or rupture as a function of temperature, stress and strain rate (or timescale of observation) eludes us. Here, we examined the conditions which lead to failure for variably vesicular (9–35 %), crystal-rich (~ 75 %), pristine and altered, dome rocks (at ambient temperature) and lavas (at 900 °C) from Mt. Unzen Volcano, Japan. We found that the strength of the dome rocks decreases with porosity and is commonly independent of strain rate; when comparing pristine and altered rocks, we found that alteration caused minor strengthening. The strength of the lavas (at 900 °C) also decreases with porosity. Importantly, the results demonstrate that these dome rocks are weaker at ambient temperatures than when heated and deformed at 900 °C (for a given strain rate resulting in brittle behaviour). Thermal stressing (by heating and cooling a rock up to 900 °C at a rate of 4 °C min−1, before testing its strength at ambient temperature) was found not to affect the strength of rocks. In the magmatic state (900 °C), the rheology of the dome lavas is strongly strain rate dependent. Under low strain rate conditions (≤ 10−4 s−1) the lavas behaved ductilly (i.e., the material sustained substantial, pervasive deformation) and displayed a non–Newtonian, shear thinning behaviour. In this regime, the apparent viscosities of the dome lavas were found to be independent of vesicularity, likely due to efficient pore collapse during shear. At high strain rates (≥ 10−4 s−1) the lavas displayed an increasingly brittle response (i.e., deformation resulted in failure along localised faults); we observed an increase in strength and a decrease in strain–to–failure as a function of strain rate. To constrain the conditions leading to failure of the lavas, we analysed and compared the critical Deborah number at failure (Dec, the ratio between the relaxation time and the experimental observation time) of these lavas to that of pure melt (Demelt=10−3–10−2; Webb & Dingwell, 1990). We found that the presence of crystals decreases Dec to 2.11×10−4. The vesicularity (φ), which dictates the strength of lavas, further controls Dec following −5.1×10−4φ+2.11×10−4. We discuss the implications of these findings for the case of magma ascent and lava dome structural stability.