TheEffectsof Locked-inPressure
on the
Mechanicsof Faulting
LarryBarrows
Andrews Engineering
Static friction and dynarnic friction between two surfaces are
generally proportional to the normal force between the sur-
faces.Pressurein the Earth is approximately equal to the litho-
static overburden. It fbllows that the failure strength of a fault
and its resistanceto sliding should increase with depth below
the surface.Or should it?
Stressdescribesinternal forces that act to deform a mate-
rial. It can be separatedinto shear stress,which acts to change
the shape; and pressure,which acts to change the volurne. It c:rn
also be separatedinto environmenterlstressar-rdlocked-in stress.
The environmental stressresults from fixed displacements,sur-
lace tractions, poir-rt loacls, body forces, and thermal expansion
or contraction. The locked-in stressremains after all environrnen-
tal factors have been removed; it is locked into the shape of the
material. A simple example would be the stressthat results fiom
cementing an ellipsoid volume of material into :r sphericalc:rvity.
Another example is the pressurethat is locked into a solid rnate-
rial that comes into existenccin a high-pressurccnvironnrent. \7e
need to consider the nature and effectso[this locked-in Drcssurc.
S i t t i n g o n m y d e s ki s a W h a r n - O S u p e rB a l l .t t ' sa r w o - i n c h -
diameter, solid-latex, high-bounce ball developed in 1965 by
Wham-O Manuf;rcturing (the same cornpany th:rt brought us
the Hula Hoop and the Frisbee).The Wharn-O Super Ball
"vas
made by first formulating a recipe for an extrernely strong latex.
Melt the latex and inject it under 3,500 pour-rdsper squ;rreinch
(psi) of gagepressureinto a lnold.l Then maintain the pressure
while the latex cools and hardens. \Tithout the pressure in the
manufacturing process,you only get :r normrrl soft rubber ball
with little resiliency or "bounce." More ir-rformation is :rv:rilrrble
at http: / / www.superba[Ls.com.
The 3,500 psi of pressurewas locked into the l:rtex rvhen it
cooled and hardened. In a normal environtner-rtalpressureofone
atmosphere(I4.5 psi - I bar = l0(' dynes/crnr), the locked-in
pressuretends to push the ball :rpart.The stressin the larex is:
6 ,i = 3, 5005 DSI
I
(.
ll.t= |
where 6 - { is the Kronecker delta function.r
l0,i+ j
t/
t. Gagc pressurcis rcl:rtive to ambient iltmospheric pressure.Abscllute
prcssurcis rclativeto a perfcct vilcuul.n.
2. Locked-in prcssllretenclsto pr-rshthc mirtcrirrlrrpart; tl-risis ;r positivc
lockec-l-ir"r
strain. Thc corrcsponclir-rg strcss,rlsoI'rasrrpositive sigtr.
c aels e a r cLhe t t e r s V o l u m7e9 ,N u m b e4r J u l y / A u g u2s0t 0 8
5 4 4 S e i s m o l o g iR
We might do a little thought experiment. Put a Super Ball into
an irnaginary pressure chamber. Increase the environmental
gage pressure in the chamber to 3,500 psi. The pressurein the
latex is the sum of the locked-in pressureand the pressurein the
chamber-or zero psi.i
The locked-in pressureof 3,500 psi is the pressurein which
the liquid latex originally cooled and hardened into solid latex.
If the environmental pressure in the imaginary chamber is less
than the locked-in pressure,each little piece of latex is slightly
larger than the volume it occupies when it is constrained by the
materi:rl of the larger ball. The solid latex exists in a state of elas-
tic compression. If the pressurein the chamber is higher than the
locked-ir-rpressure,each piece is slightly smaller than the volume
it occupies; the latex is in a state of elasticdilatation. The locked-
in pressureis the environrnental pressurein which the material
fits passivelylvithin itself rvithout any associatedstress.
Rocks are similarly made of elastically compressible mate-
rial. It seemsreasonableto expect rocks that crystallize or meta-
morphose at depth rvill possessa locked-in pressure approxi-
mately equal to the lithost:itic overburden. Conceptually, a
geometrically perFect, flat-sided cube of rock at depth would
become a highly srressed,slightly larger, slightly distended cube
if it were r:riscd to the surface. One observation that supports
this contention is the ter-rder-rcyoilarge slabsof granite to spall
off the exposed surfaces of granitic batholiths. Exfoliation is
attributecl to the pressure relief that accompanies uplift plus
erosion-removalof the overburden.
The existenceof locked-ir-rpressurein solid material seems
reasonable-the $Zham-O Super Ball is a simple example. The
problem is rve do r-rotusually include locked-in pressurein the
constitutive equations that describe the behavior of earth mate-
ria.ls.L-rthe abscnccof locked-in shear stress,this relation is:
Tot:rl stress: environmental stress+ locked-in pressure
The environmental stress is the sum of the effects of applied
forces, surface tractions, lithostatic overburden, body forces,
therrnal expansion, €tc. In a tensor format the relation can be
rvritten as
o)l-'=o::"'+F6,,,
3. Thc prcssurcon a hon-rogeneor-rs spheredirectl,vtransfersinto prcssure
u'ithin thc nratcriirl.fhis is not generallv true for clbjectsrvith rnore
c o r r ro l u t c . l t h , r t r c s .
85/ gssrl.T
doi: 1.0.1.7 9.4.544
where o1:"')is the total srressin the material, o1i'"' is rhe envi-
. o n . . n r l l s r r e s s.,n d F i s t h c l o c k e d - i np r . r r u i " . '
IFche above reasoning is correct, the locked-in pressureu'ill
generally balancethe effectsof the weight oIthe overlying rocks.
An active fault zone can be regarded as a very thin planar vol-
ume of mechanicallv weak n-raterial.The lithostatic overburden
acting on the fault is then balanccd by rl-reiocked-in pressurein
the fault zone. The total normal force acting acrossa fault zone
at depth can then be zero or even slightly negarive. The f-ailure
strength and resistancero slidine of a faulr at depth are then not
expected to be larger than those of a fault near the surface.
F u r r h e r i m p l i c a r i o n sa r e :
o \7e don't need high pore-water pressure to explain the
mecharnics oflow-angle decollementthrust faults.Extensive
lor,r-anglethrust faults are characteristic of the thrust/fold
beits that fank some rnountain ranges, such as alor-rgthe
western side of the Appalachians. A depth-dependent
frictional resistance implies rhe scrarrashoulcl be crushecl
imrnediately adjacent to the rnount:rin range rather than
slide along the fault. Hubbert and Ruby (1959) proposed
these faults were weakened by pore-water pressllres that
approached or exceededrhe Iithost:rtic overburc{en.
o The stress drops associar.tedwitl-r earthquakes ure not
expected to be dependent on fbcal depth. Stressclrops can
be determir-redfronl the spectral analvsisof seismic waves;
thesedo not shorv a first-order depcnclcncyon clepth (Stein
and \Tysession2003, 269 -27 3).
o High pore-water pressures, partial n'relting, or mineral
phase change are not necded to expl:rin the mechanics
of deep-focus earthquakes. The rnechanics of clccp-focus
earthquakeshave been problernatic since their depths were
f i r s t d e t e n n i n e d ( r . g , K a s a h a r ml 9 8 l , 1 5 1 - 1 5 5 ) .
. Thc San Andreas heart-flow paraclox goes a\ver.y.
The par;i-
dox comes frorn converting the frictional rvork clone ir-rthe
fault zone into an irnplied thern-ral anomaly. If the resis-
tance to siiding is proportior-ral to the lithost;rtic overbur-
den, an observable heat flow anorn,rly shoulcl exisr. Fielci
rreasurements show the predicted anornaly does not exisr
(Brune et al. 7969).
. The Poissoneffectis a subtleproblem inherent ro consrrucr-
ing cornputer models of gravitarional tectonics. Ir predicts
unrealistic shear stresscsin gr;rvity-loeided,compressible,
elrrsticrnodels.Thescshcarsrrcsscsarc nor prcscnrirr graviry-
loaded, incompre.s.sible,
viscous rnodels rhar accornnroclare
pressureas a separatevari:rble.The pressureterm is biilanced
by the locked-in pressure(Barrows ar-rdPaul 1998).
Finally, u,e might consider the u.ay liquids :.rccolnrnodarepres-
sure. Viscosity is :rt least p:rrtially due to fiiction rvithin che
4. This relation is idcntical rvith thc cflcctive strcssecparior.rthrrt dcscribes
thc rtrcchanical bcl-raviorof rvatcr-siltrrratedunconsolicl,itcc'lclrrstics
cxccpt tl-rc"prcssurc" is thar oI the solid nurrcrill ir-rstcacl
of rhe porc
\vatcr. Prior to thc mech,rnical devclopnrcr.rtof a concinlrotis watcr-
sttl-rportedfriult, tl-reelllctive strcsseqllation should incluclea polosirv
factor. l\{ost civil enuineeringtcxts do not incluclethe porr>sin.frrctor
bur it is requircc{i[ che pore \\'rtter clTlcr is ro upprorrchzcro rrs rhc
porclsit,vappmacheszero.
S e i s m o l o g iR
c aels e a r cLhe t t e r s V o l u m7e9 ,N u m b e4r J u l y / A u g u2s0t 0 8 5 4 5
material, but the viscosity ofu,ater does not increaservith depth
belolv the surface of a lake or ocean. This is becausethe pres-
sure acting on a small volume of water at depth is exactly bal-
anced by the presslrrewithin the volurne. Similarly, the lithos-
tatic overburden acring on the rocks of the Earth is balanced by
the locked-in pressurein the rocks. The difference is that liquid
pressure ir-rstantly;rcljuststo the local pressure environmenr;
rock pressure is locked into the solid material until it either
melts or is metamorphosed.
Stress is a unique second-order tensor. Its representation
depends on the tvpe and orientarion of the coordinace sysrem
used co describe a particular problem, buc all represenrarions
describe the same system of internal fbrces. Strain is also a sec-
ond-order tensor, but strain is not unique. Rather it describes
internirl defbrmation relative to some baseline configuration.
Hooke's l;rw sayssrressis proportional to strain, so the correct
baseline configuration corresponds with zero stress.There is
nothing in the continuum mechanics of stressand strain that
requires that the baseline configuration be the configurarion
that rvould exist if the solid rnaterial forrned in a perfect pres-
sure-free vacuum (c.q.,outer space).The \Wham-O Super Ball
obscrvations sllggest it is the actual phvsical configuration at
the tinre the solid n'raterialcame into existence.After all, the
only parent material available for the creation of a solid must
have already been compresseclby the local pressure environ-
rnent beForethc solid was creared.The solid materi:rlcan be rhe
physical matrix of crvstals in an igneous or meramorphic rock
or the representative elernental volumes (REV) that compose
a theoretic-irlel;rstic continuullr. In a developing solid there is
no net force betu,een the growing cryst,rlsor betu,een adjacent
REV. Hooket 111y,5treSSand strain, and locked-in pressureare
:rll consistentconceptsprovided the baselineconfiguration used
to defir-rethe strain tensor is correctly identified.
I scurnbledinto this problem while writing computer code
that rvould deal u'ith the arbove-mentionedPoisson effect. My
ir-ritial ,rpproach \\r;rsto vastly overcomplicate the rnechanics
:rncl:rssociatedconstitutivc cquations. The Wham-O Super Ball
put things into a rnuch simple r perspective. E1
REFERENCES
B i r r r o u ' sL, . J . ,a n c lK . M . P a u l ( 1 9 9 8 ) .A f i n i t c - c l c r n e n m
t odclingapproach
to qrirvitational tectorric strcssrrnd earrhquakes.Journn/ of'Geoscience
L,ducdriott46, 1-17.
Brunc,J. N., T. L. Hcnyer,,ancl R. F. Roy (1961)).Hcat flow, srrcssand rarc
crf slip alor-rgrhe San Anclrels fauh.-fout'rtrt/ of'Geoplt.ysica/ Researcl.t
74,3,82r-3,827
.
Hubbcrr, lvl. K., and \\". W. Ruby ( t q;q). Role of lluid prcssurcin mcchan,
ics of <>verthmstfrrtrltins. BuIIcrin of't/ta Gco/ogicalSocitt_yqf-Americrt
-0 (2),
I l5- 166.
Krsalrrira, K. (1981). Edrthqu,zke Mechnttics. Cambridge: Canbridgc
Universitl, Prcss,24tl pps.
Stcin, S.. ar-rcllvl. \\''r'session (2003). An Introduction to Seistnologl,
Lartltquakt.r, dud Enrtlt .Strttt'htrc. Nlaldcn, MA: Blackwell
P t r b l i s h i n g+
, 9tt pps.
Andreus Engineering
Springfield, illinois 6271I U.S.A.
lb arrows@sndrews-eng.com