Identification of capable faults using fault rock geochemical signatures; A Case study from offset granitic bedrock on the Tsuruga Peninsula, central Japan

断層岩の地球化学指標を用いた活断層の特定; 中部日本、敦賀半島の花崗岩帯における事例

丹羽 正和   ; 島田 耕史   ; 石丸 恒存 ; 田中 義浩*

Niwa, Masakazu; Shimada, Koji; Ishimaru, Tsuneari; Tanaka, Yoshihiro*

地表付近での最近の断層活動に伴う化学組成変化を特定するため、発達史の異なる2つの断層破砕帯において岩石の鉱物・化学組成分析を行った。その結果、最近活動した断層では、すべり面に沿ってMnOの増加やFeOの減少、Ceの正の異常といった地下から上昇した地下水の酸化に伴う化学組成変化が特徴的に認められる一方、長期にわたり活動していない断層では、酸化に伴う化学組成変化は破砕帯の構造に関係なく、地表からの地下水の既存の割れ目への流入で説明できることが示された。

In order to identify specific chemical changes induced by recent, near-surface faulting, we compared two faults of different size and evolutionary history, the active Shiraki-Nyu Fault and a nearby minor, inactive fault in central Japan, in terms of their mineralogical and geochemical features. Our analyses suggest that (1) chemical changes such as depletion of NaO and CaO derived from smectite and illite formation, and that changes such as increase of U, Y and REEs derived from absorption to these clay minerals, occurred during the fault initiation and subsequent retrograde alteration and are identical in the two faults, and that (2) MnO increase accompanied by FeO depletion and a positive Ce anomaly can be a key to identify specific chemical changes due to recent, near-surface faulting, because this could be related to upward migration and oxidation of fault-driven reduced fluids from deep underground to the near-surface environment.