Fracturing and vein formation in the middle crust - a record of co-seismic loading and post-seismic stress relaxation

Abstract

Metamorphic rocks approaching the crustal scale brittle-ductile transition (BDT) during exhumation are expected to become increasingly affected by short term stress fluctuations related to seismic activity in the overlying seismogenic layer (schizosphere), while still residing in a long-term viscous environment (plastosphere). The structural and microstructural record of quartz veins in low grade – high pressure metamorphic rocks from southern Evia, Greece, yields insight into the processes and conditions just beneath the long-term BDT at temperatures of about 300 to 350°C, with switches between brittle failure and viscous flow as a function of imposed stress or strain rate...