Frictional Heating of Fault Surfaces Due to Seismic Slip: Experimental Studies on the Hematite to Magnetite Transition and Federal and Private Landownership's Effect on Oil and Gas Drilling and Production in the Southwestern Wyoming Checkerboard

This project serves as a literature review on the transformation and synthesis of magnetite from hematite under hydrothermal conditions as well as with Pulsed Laser Deposition (PLD) and milling. Magnetite forms over a similar range of elevated temperatures regardless the method that is used to synthesize it, including nonheterogeneous, loosely controlled environments such as a ceramics kiln. Based on these experiments, magnetite on a fault surface created from the high temperature reduction of Fe during seismic slip may indicate the fault experienced temperatures between 300 1240°C. Duration of seismic slip is short, therefore, in order for magnetite to develop in any appreciable quantities optimal conditions for magnetite formation must be reached. Ideal conditions for magnetite formation are low fO2, high normal loads, and temperatures of at least 450 475°C in a non-equilibrium environment. A rotary shear apparatus was constructed to investigate the impact of frictional heating of hematite gouge by determining the coefficient of friction of hematite experimentally. Twelve experiments over normal loads of 15 – 70 MPa reveal that the mean experimental coefficient of friction of hematite is 0.38 ± 0.03. A detailed description of the apparatus and its operating procedure are discussed. Results of rotary shear are used to inform existing thermodynamic models and to approximate temperatures during slip of iron oxide coated faults.