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JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 109, B03102, doi:10.1029/2002JB002335, 2004

Consolidation state and strength of underthrust sediments and evolution of the décollement at the Nankai accretionary margin: Results of uniaxial reconsolidation experiments

Julia K. Morgan

Department of Earth Science, Rice University, Houston, Texas, USA


Maria V. S. Ask

Division of Rock Mechanics, Luleå University of Technology, Luleå, Sweden


Abstract

Uniaxial reconsolidation experiments conducted on Ocean Drilling Program drill cores along the Muroto Transect of the Nankai accretionary margin demonstrate complex yield and postyield behavior and provide evidence for enhanced strengths within sediments beneath the décollement zone. Tests were conducted on samples collected from similar stratigraphic levels below the décollement and its seaward projection. Consolidation state of the samples increased landward and with depth and was tracked closely by sediment yield stress for all but one of the samples. The sediments, however, exhibited substantial postyield strength: up to 2.8 times the predicted in situ effective vertical stress beneath the protothrust zone. This enhanced strength results from diagenesis that leads to matrix cementation during stable effective stress conditions within the underthrust section. The close correspondence between yield stress and predicted in situ effective stress suggests that despite the cemented state, the sediment matrix remains sensitive to in situ stress conditions. The low yield stress of one sample, collected within ∼40 m of the décollement fault at Site 808, may reflect diagenesis under reduced effective stress conditions, due to postconsolidation increases in pore pressure along the décollement. Due to their cemented state, the strong underthrust sediments resist décollement downcutting beneath the toe of the prism, leading to preferential incorporation of weaker, continuously deforming accreted sediments during shear. Seismogenic slip along the décollement at depth may create stresses in excess of sediment strength, causing shear failure and rapid release of trapped pore fluids feeding high pore fluid pressures along the décollement zone.

Received 5 December 2002; accepted 19 December 2003; published 9 March 2004.

Index Terms: 8020 Structural Geology: Mechanics; 8045 Structural Geology: Role of fluids; 8168 Tectonophysics: Stresses—general.

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Citation: Morgan, J. K., and M. V. S. Ask (2004), Consolidation state and strength of underthrust sediments and evolution of the décollement at the Nankai accretionary margin: Results of uniaxial reconsolidation experiments, J. Geophys. Res., 109, B03102, doi:10.1029/2002JB002335.