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Acoustic emissions produced by anticrack faulting during the olivine→spinel transformation
Author(s) -
Green H. W.,
Scholz C. H.,
Tingle T. N.,
Young T. E.,
Koczynski T. A.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/92gl00751
Subject(s) - olivine , geology , spinel , mantle (geology) , seismology , deep focus earthquake , instability , brittleness , geochemistry , tectonics , subduction , materials science , composite material , paleontology , physics , mechanics
Anticrack faulting during the phase transformations of olivine to its denser polymorphs is a principal contender for the mechanism of deep‐focus earthquakes. The original work on Mg 2 GeO 4 established that initiation of faulting by this mechanism is not due to brittle fracture and subsequent experiments on olivine of mantle composition showed that it can operate at pressures of at least 14 GPa. Here we report acoustic emissions accompanying anticrack faulting in Mg 2 GeO 4 , thereby confirming that this mechanism involves a dynamic instability accompanied by elastic radiation.