Opposite Variations for Pore Pressure on and off the Fault During Simulated Earthquakes in the Laboratory

Abstract

We measured the spatiotemporal evolution of pore pressure on‐ and off‐fault during failure and slip in initially intact Westerly granite under triaxial conditions. The pore pressure perturbations in the fault zone and the surrounding bulk presented opposite signs upon shear failure, resulting in large pore pressure gradients over small distances (up to 10 MPa/cm). The on‐fault pore pressure dropped due to localized fault dilation associated with fracture coalescence and fault slip, and the off‐fault pore pressure increased due to bulk compaction resulting from the closure of dilatant microcracks mostly parallel to the maximum compression axis. We show that a reduction in bulk porosity and relatively undrained conditions during failure are necessary for the presence of the off‐fault pore pressure elevation. Considering this phenomenon as a consequence of a main shock, we further show that off‐fault pore pressure increase has the potential to trigger neighboring fault instabilities. In nature, we expect the phenomenon of off‐fault pore pressure increase to be most relevant for misoriented faults, where the pre‐rupture stresses can be large enough to reach the dilatancy threshold in the wall rocks.