Rock Friction-Effect of Confining Pressure, Temperature, and Pore Pressure

Abstract

This paper reviews many of the mechanical properties of faulted and jointed rock under pressure and temperature and in the presence of water. At low effective confining pressures (below about 1 kilobar), the friction strength is quite variable and depends on the frictional resistance between gouge particles or asperities and on the dilatancy of the fault. At higher pressures the friction strength is nearly independent of mineralogy, temperature, and rate, at least for rocks whose friction strength is less than the failure strength. Water tends to slightly weaken the fault. The type of sliding motion, whether stick-slip or stable sliding, is much more affected by environmental and mineralogical factors. In general, stick-slip is dominant at high pressures and low temperatures, in the presence of strong minerals such as quartz and feldspar, in the absence of gouge, for lower surface roughness, and perhaps in the presence of water. The microscopic deformation mechanisms are poorly understood. At low temperatures, cataclasis dominates in rocks containing mostly quartz or feldspar, and plastic deformation in rocks containing mostly calcite or platy silicates. At high temperature most minerals deform plastically, producing a greater temperature-and rate-dependence of the friction strength. Glass has been found in some sliding surfaces in sandstone.