Effect of deformation on serpentinite dehydration

Dehydration reactions can influence the occurrence of earthquakes at a range of depths, highlighting the importance of understanding these reactions in the study of seismic activity. We perform experiments that included the construction of a controllable fast pressure drop unit attached to the piston-cylinder apparatus (funded by the VW Foundation, project FIND RUPTURE). This setup makes it possible to simulate conditions that represent a fast pressure drop during an earthquake event. We focused on serpentinite dehydration because 1/ it plays an important link between the deep geodynamic processes occurring in subduction zones and the seismic and volcanic activity and 2/ the interplay between serpentinite dehydration and deformation during the earthquake cycle is not yet fully understood. We can also do ramping experiments, in which a series of pressure build-ups and drops are performed maintaining the high temperatures to simulate the earthquake cycle. The pressure drop occurs in seconds. The ramping experiments usually several minutes before cooling down.