Time-dependent cracking and brittle creep in crustal rocks: A review

Rock fracture under upper crustal conditions is driven not only by applied stresses, but also by time-dependent, chemically activated subcritical cracking processes. These subcritical processes are of great importance for the understanding of the mechanical behaviour of rocks over geological timescales. A macroscopic manifestation of time-dependency in the brittle field is the observation that rocks can deform and fail at constant applied stresses, a phenomenon known as brittle creep. Here, we review the available experimental evidence for brittle creep in crustal rocks, and the various models developed to explain the observations. Laboratory experiments have shown that brittle creep occurs in all major rock types, and that creep strain rates are extremely sensitive to the environmental conditions: differential stress, confining pressure, temperature and pore fluid composition. Even small changes in any of these parameters produce order of magnitude changes in creep strain rates (and times-to-failure). Three main classes of brittle creep model have been proposed to explain these observations: phenomenological, statistical, and micromechanical. Statistical and micromechanical models explain qualitatively how the increasing influence of microcrack interactions and/or the increasing accumulated damage produces the observed evolution of macroscopic deformation during brittle creep. However, no current model can predict quantitatively all of the observed features of brittle creep. Experimental data are limited by the timescale over which experiments are realistically feasible. Clearly, an extension of the range of available laboratory data to lower strain rates, and the development of new modelling approaches are needed to further improve our current understanding of time-dependent brittle deformation in rocks.