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A global study of subduction zone dynamics indicates that the thermal structure of the overriding plate may control arc location. A fast convergence rate and a steep slab dip bring a hotter mantle further into the wedge corner, forming arc volcanoes closer to the trench. Separately, laboratory and numerical experiments showed that the development of a back‐arc spreading center (BASC) is driven by the migration of the subducting hinge, especially following changes in the slab geometry. As both arc location and the deformation regime of the overriding plate depend on slab kinematics and geometry, we investigate the possible correlations between BASC, the position of volcanic arcs, and slab dip at the scale of individual subduction zones. To do this, we compare the distance from trench to arc and trench to BASC at the Mariana, Scotia, Vanuatu, Tonga, and Kermadec subduction zones. In most cases, the arc and BASC are closer to the trench when the slab is dipping steeply. The correlation could result from an interplay between progressive changes in slab geometry and overriding plate deformation. This assumes, on the one hand, that the isotherm at the apex of which the arc forms is tied to a constant slab decoupling depth and, on the other hand, that back‐arc opening accommodates a change in slab dip. As slab dip decreases, both the BASC and the apex of the isotherm controlling the melt focusing move further from the trench. The observed trends are consistent with a slab anchored at 660 km depth.

 

Key Points High pore fluid pressure stabilizes fault propagation in porous sandstone deformed under drained conditions Slow faulting was associated with pervasive microcracking and diffuse shear bands only in samples deformed sufficiently slow Pervasive subcritical cracking enables slow faulting at high pore fluid pressure under drained conditions at the sample scale 

Abstract. The continuum of behavior that emerges during fracturenetwork development in crystalline rock may be categorized into threeend-member modes: fracture nucleation, isolated fracture propagation, andfracture coalescence. These different modes of fracture growth producefracture networks with distinctive geometric attributes, such as clusteringand connectivity, that exert important controls on permeability and theextent of fluid–rock interactions. To track how these modes of fracturedevelopment vary in dominance throughout loading toward failure and thushow the geometric attributes of fracture networks may vary under theseconditions, we perform in situ X-ray tomography triaxial compressionexperiments on low-porosity crystalline rock (monzonite) under upper-crustalstress conditions. To examine the influence of pore fluid on the varyingdominance of the three modes of growth, we perform two experiments undernominally dry conditions and one under water-saturated conditions with 5 MPa ofpore fluid pressure. We impose a confining pressure of 20–35 MPa and thenincrease the differential stress in steps until the rock failsmacroscopically. After each stress step of 1–5 MPa we acquire athree-dimensional (3D) X-ray adsorption coefficient field from which weextract the 3D fracture network. We develop a novel method of trackingindividual fractures between subsequent tomographic scans that identifieswhether fractures grow from the coalescence and linkage of several fracturesor from the propagation of a single fracture. Throughout loading in all ofthe experiments, the volume of preexisting fractures is larger than that ofnucleating fractures, indicating that the growth of preexisting fracturesdominates the nucleation of new fractures. Throughout loading until close tomacroscopic failure in all of the experiments, the volume of coalescingfractures is smaller than the volume of propagating fractures, indicatingthat fracture propagation dominates coalescence. Immediately precedingfailure, however, the volume of coalescing fractures is at least double thevolume of propagating fractures in the experiments performed at nominallydry conditions. In the water-saturated sample, in contrast, although thevolume of coalescing fractures increases during the stage preceding failure,the volume of propagating fractures remains dominant. The influence ofstress corrosion cracking associated with hydration reactions at fracturetips and/or dilatant hardening may explain the observed difference infracture development under dry and water-saturated conditions. 

SUMMARY The yield surfaces of rocks keep evolving beyond the initial yield stress owing to the damage accumulation and porosity change during brittle deformation. Using a poroelastic damage rheology model, we demonstrate that the measure of coupling between the yield surface change and accumulated damage is correlated with strain localization and the Kaiser effect. Constant or minor yield surface change is associated with strong strain localization, as seen in low-porosity crystalline rocks. In contrast, strong coupling between damage growth and the yield surface leads to distributed deformation, as seen in high-porosity rocks. Assuming that during brittle deformation damage occurs primarily in the form of microcracks, we propose that the measured acoustic emission (AE) in rock samples correlates with the damage accumulation. This allows quantifying the Kaiser effect under cyclic loading by matching between the onset of AE and the onset of damage growth. The ratio of the stress at the onset of AE to the peak stress of the previous loading cycle, or Felicity Ratio (FR), is calculated for different model parameters. The results of the simulation show that FR gradually decreases in the case of weak coupling between yield surface and damage growth. For a strong damage-related coupling promoting significant yield surface change, the FR remains close to one and decreases only towards the failure. The model predicts that a steep decrease in FR is associated with a transition between distributed and localized modes of failure. By linking the evolving yield surface to strain localization patterns and the Kaiser effect, the poroelastic damage rheology model provides a new quantitative tool to study failure modes of brittle rocks.