Shallow creep and confined ruptures in frictionally unstable mica schist
Sezim E. Güvercin, Sylvain Barbot, Lei Zhang, Mehmet Köküm, Zekang Yang, Cengiz Zabcı · 2026
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Description
Sezim Güvercin and co-authors show how a mica-rich rock can both creep quietly and host small earthquakes in this 2026 study. Many crustal faults are lined with flaky minerals left by hot water altering the rock. How such rock behaves deep down, where big quakes start, was poorly known.
The team squeezed natural mica schist from Turkey's East Anatolian Fault under hot, pressurized conditions. Between three hundred and four hundred degrees the rock weakened in a way that can turn unstable, favoring shallow creep plus ruptures that stay confined. A physics model of the fault segment then matched the pattern of two real events: a magnitude 6.8 quake in 2020 and the northern stop of the great 2023 quake. The authors say the rock's heat and makeup help decide where ruptures run and where they halt.
Catalog record
| CREATOR | Sezim E. Güvercin, Sylvain Barbot, Lei Zhang, Mehmet Köküm, Zekang Yang, Cengiz Zabcı |
|---|---|
| YEAR | 2026 |
| COLLECTION | PAPERS |
| FORMAT | TXT |
| FILE SIZE | 34 KB |
| VERSION | 1.0 |
| LICENSE | CC BY 4.0 |
| RIGHTS | CC BY |
| SOURCE | Europe PMC |