Frictional Velocity-Step Tests on Clay-Bearing Fault Gouges at Elevated Temperatures

Datafiles from a suite of frictional velocity step experiments on synthetic kaolinite clay-bearing fault gouges, conducted at temperatures up to 180°C. The data were collected in the Rock Deformation Laboratory at the University of Liverpool between October 2021 and May 2022 by Dr. Isabel Ashman. Results indicate that gouges containing 25-50% clay transition from stable to unstable slip between 100 and 180°C, a finding relevant to earthquake nucleation in the clay-bearing brittle crust.

Use Cases

• Modeling the transition from stable to unstable slip in faults based on temperature and clay content parameters
• Analyzing the relationship between rate-and-state friction parameter (a-b) and temperature from calibrated measurements
• Investigating the microstructural compaction of fault gouge and its link to adsorbed water loss mentioned in the description

Strengths

• Experiments conducted at controlled elevated temperatures up to 180°C, commensurate with typical earthquake depths
• Specific findings on materials with 25-50% clay content showing unstable slip between 100 and 180°C
• Data includes both raw voltage and calibrated measurements from triaxial deformation apparatus

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment
• Data may reflect experimental bias inherent to the specific laboratory setup and synthetic gouge materials

Provenance

Source

Rock Deformation Laboratory, University of Liverpool; data aggregated by the British Geological Survey (BGS)

Collection Method

Collected via triaxial deformation apparatus during velocity-step friction experiments

Time Range

October 2021 to May 2022

Freshness

Last updated 2026-04-09 08:27:54.247845; freshness should be verified

Geography

Laboratory-based; no specific geographic coverage