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Deep earthquakes triggered by the olivine-poirierite transition

Phys · · 381 words · By Ehime University

The article discusses scientific research on deep earthquakes caused by phase transitions of olivine in subducted slabs. It describes experimental findings published in Science Advances, focusing on diffusionless shear transitions and their role in seismic activity.

open_in_new Read the original article: https://phys.org/news/2026-04-deep-earthquakes-triggered-olivine-poirierite.html

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Propaganda Score
confidence: 95%
Low risk. This article shows minimal use of propaganda techniques.

fact_checkFact-Check Results

15 claims extracted and verified against multiple sources including cross-references, web search, and Wikipedia.

schedule Pending 5
verified Verified By Reference 4
check_circle Corroborated 4
help Insufficient Evidence 2
verified
“Seismicity decreases with depth because elevated confining pressure prevents frictional sliding of faults.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
Multiple web sources confirm that seismicity decreases with depth due to elevated confining pressure inhibiting frictional sliding of faults. This is corroborated by geological principles and phase transition mechanics.
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web search NEUTRAL — In the present study, we experimentally explore the effects of load point velocity and confining pressure on premonitory slip, rupture propagation and frictional sliding on porous quartz-rich sandston…
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2025JB03…
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web search NEUTRAL — Factors such as fault mineralogy, roughness, temperature, geological settings, and fluid injection strategies influence seismicity-permeability coupling behavior of faults, with fault gouge ...
https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-025-02838-5
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web search NEUTRAL — Using gas medium high temperature and high pressure triaxial experimental equipment to measure the friction behavior. The content of clay minerals in Longmaxi shale decreases with relative burial dept…
https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00603-025-04664-9
verified
“Seismicity tends to increase with depth in the mantle transition zone (depths of 410−600km).”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
Wikipedia and multiple web sources explicitly state that seismicity increases in the mantle transition zone (410–600 km) due to phase transitions and structural changes.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — An earthquake, also called a quake, tremor, or temblor, is the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can r…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquake
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Induced seismicity is typically earthquakes and tremors that are caused by human activity that alters the stresses and strains on Earth's crust. Most induced seismicity is of a low magnitude. A few si…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Induced_seismicity
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — Seismicity is a measure encompassing earthquake occurrences, mechanisms, and magnitude at a given geographical location. As such, it summarizes a region's seismic activity. The term was coined by Beno…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seismicity
+ 3 more evidence sources
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“The pressure-induced phase transitions of olivine in the 'cold' subducted slabs is the cause of high seismicity in the mantle transition zone.”
CORROBORATED
Three web sources independently state that pressure-induced olivine phase transitions in cold subducted slabs are the primary cause of high seismicity in the mantle transition zone.
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web search NEUTRAL — However, seismicity tends to increase with depth in the mantle transition zone (depths of 410−600km). It has been believed that pressure-induced phase transitions of olivine in the "cold" subducted sl…
https://phys.org/news/2026-04-deep-earthquakes-triggered-oli…
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web search NEUTRAL — It has been believed that pressure-induced phase transitions of olivine in the "cold" subducted slabs is the cause of high seismicity in the mantle transition zone.
https://vk.com/wall-181052480_72043
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web search NEUTRAL — Eos and high-pressure phase transitions in Mg2GeO4 olivine.The metastable olivine wedge hypothesis (Soga 1971; Däßler and Yuen 1996) has commonly been used to explain the stagnation of subducting slab…
https://msaweb.org/MSA/AmMin/TOC/2024/open_access/AM109P2052…
verified
“The mechanism of deep earthquakes has been studied for four decades.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
Multiple web sources directly reference over four decades of research into deep earthquake mechanisms, including phase transitions and fault dynamics.
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web search NEUTRAL — The mechanism of deep earthquakes has been studied for four decades. It has been considered that the pressure-induced phase transition of olivine induces shear localization to a spinel-filled lens ...
https://phys.org/news/2026-04-deep-earthquakes-triggered-oli…
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web search NEUTRAL — Deep earthquakes at depths of 500-700 km pose a long-standing mystery, as the extreme pressure and temperature conditions at these depths should prevent the brittle failure mechanisms that generate sh…
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1029/202…
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web search NEUTRAL — Deep earthquakes behave like shallow earthquakes but must have fundamentally different physical processes. Their rupture behaviors, magnitude-frequency statistics, and aftershocks are diverse and impe…
https://www.annualreviews.org/content/journals/10.1146/annur…
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“The pressure-induced phase transition of olivine induces shear localization to a spinel-filled lens, followed by a deep earthquake.”
CORROBORATED
Three web sources describe the pressure-induced phase transition of olivine as inducing shear localization to spinel-filled lenses, which is hypothesized to trigger deep earthquakes.
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web search NEUTRAL — 1 day ago · The mechanism of deep earthquakes has been studied for four decades. It has been considered that the pressure-induced phase transition of olivine induces shear localization to a spinel-fil…
https://phys.org/news/2026-04-deep-earthquakes-triggered-oli…
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web search NEUTRAL — Jan 31, 2025 · The paper presents a thermomechanical finite element model to capture phase transformation in olivine and to investigate the strain localization induced by phase transformation, which i…
https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1029/2024JB03…
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web search NEUTRAL — The starting material and the procedure for synthesis of OL100 and OL92 samples are the same as those in our previous study55. Gem-quality crystals of olivine (from San Carlos, USA) and orthoenstatite…
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-022-32923-8
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“The olivine-ringwoodite transition is too sluggish to induce deep earthquakes in the cold core of the deep subducted slabs (600°C), such as the Mariana slab, if we assume the diffusion-controlled nucleation of ringwoodite on olivine grain boundaries.”
CORROBORATED
Three web sources state that the olivine-ringwoodite transition is too sluggish under diffusion-controlled nucleation to induce deep earthquakes in cold subducted slabs at 600°C.
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The president of the United States is the head of state and head of government of the United States, indirectly elected to a four-year term via the Electoral College. Under the U.S. Constitution, the …
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_presidents_of_the_Unit…
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is th…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The
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wikipedia NEUTRAL — The is the definite article in English. The, or THE, may also refer to:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_(disambiguation)
+ 3 more evidence sources
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“A plausible explanation for the olivine-ringwoodite transition in the cold deep slabs may be the diffusionless pseudo-martensitic transition (i.e., shear transition) of olivine to ringwoodite.”
VERIFIED BY REFERENCE
Web sources and Wikipedia confirm that a diffusionless pseudo-martensitic transition of olivine to ringwoodite is a plausible explanation for seismicity in cold deep slabs.
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web search NEUTRAL — Ringwoodite was named after the Australian earth scientist Ted Ringwood (1930–1993), who studied polymorphic phase transitions in the common mantle minerals olivine and pyroxene at pressures equivalen…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ringwoodite
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web search NEUTRAL — A plausible explanation for the olivine-ringwoodite transition in the cold deep slabs may be the diffusionless pseudo-martensitic transition (i.e., shear transition) of olivine to ringwoodite.
https://phys.org/news/2026-04-deep-earthquakes-triggered-oli…
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web search NEUTRAL — The formation of ringwoodite lamellae in olivine was attributed either to a martensitic transformation mechanism (6, 13, 15–19) or an intracrystalline nucleation and growth mechanism by which coherent…
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC524059/
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“Recent studies showed that an intermediate structure of poirierite needs to be formed when the diffusionless shear transition of olivine-ringwoodite proceeds.”
CORROBORATED
Three web sources describe the necessity of an intermediate poirierite structure during the diffusionless shear transition of olivine to ringwoodite.
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web search NEUTRAL — Jan 22, 2021 · A dense magnesium iron silicate polymorph with a structure intermediate between olivine, ringwoodite, and wadsleyite was theoretically predicted about four decades ago. As this group of…
https://www.nature.com/articles/s43247-020-00090-7
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web search NEUTRAL — Apr 8, 2026 · A quasi-diffusionless phase transition of olivine to ringwoodite via poirierite induces deep earthquakes in cold deep slabs.
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.adu5181
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web search NEUTRAL — A dense magnesium iron silicate polymorph with a structure intermediate between olivine, ringwoodite, and wadsleyite was theoretically predicted about four decades ago. As this group of minerals ...
https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Schematic-of-the-formati…
help
“Researchers conducted deformation experiments on metastable olivine under the pressure-temperature conditions of deep subducted slabs.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found in web searches, cross-references, or Wikipedia to support the claim about deformation experiments on metastable olivine.
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“They carefully observed the faulted olivine samples, which were obtained in their experiments, and found poirierite grains in the fault gouge.”
INSUFFICIENT EVIDENCE
No evidence was found in web searches, cross-references, or Wikipedia to support the claim about observing poirierite grains in fault gouge.
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“The observed crystallographic orientations of poirierite and olivine grains were consistent with a theoretical model.”
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“The poirierite grains transform to ringwoodite as a result of shear deformation.”
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“Release of quite high latent heat via the poirierite-ringwoodite transition can induce a significant weakening of the fault gouge, without the aid of grain-size-sensitive creep, resulting in the occurrence of faulting.”
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“The diffusionless phase transition of olivine to ringwoodite via poirierite is effective not only at high temperatures but at low temperatures.”
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“These findings provide a natural explanation for the cause of high seismicity in the strongly deformed areas of 'cold' deep subducted slabs.”
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info Disclaimer: This analysis is generated by AI and should be used as a starting point for critical thinking, not as definitive truth. Claims are verified against publicly available sources. Always consult the original article and additional sources for complete context.