Serpentine minerals (lizardite, chrysotile, and antigorite) are a major group of hydrous phyllosilicates resulting from the hydrothermal alteration of mantle peridotite. Their distinct rheological properties mean that serpentine minerals have a strong influence on the mechanical and seismogenic behavior of faults and plate boundaries in both continental and oceanic settings. In this paper we review the results of laboratory experiments performed to understand the frictional and mechanical properties, and deformation mechanisms of serpentinite. Frictional sliding experiments at low slip rates show that antigorite exhibits velocity-strengthening behavior (a−b > 0) over a wide range of temperature (25-400°C) , while values of (a−b) for chrysotile become negative as temperature increases (25-281°C) . This indicates that the stability of slip along serpentinite-bearing faults depends on the serpentine species and fault depth. Frictional sliding of antigorite at seismic slip rates leads to weakening by flash heating. Axial compression experiments at confining pressures of up to 4 GPa show that antigorite is stronger than lizardite by at least a factor of two. The flow law for dislocation creep of antigorite based on stress values at 〜15% strain also predicts differential stresses that are substantially lower than those for the dislocation creep of olivine at natural strain rates (10−10 to 10−14 s−1) . This suggests that the viscosity of serpentinite promotes slab–mantle decoupling. However, the antigorite flow law should be used with caution because antigorite starts to deform by semi-brittle flow after 〜20% strain. Large-strain simple-shear deformation of antigorite aggregates at high pressure (1 GPa) results in a strong alignment of antigorite c-axes normal to the shear plane. This observation explains the trench-parallel anisotropy beneath the Ryukyu subduction zone. Although dehydration embrittlement is considered a primary cause of intermediate-depth earthquakes, recent high-pressure experiments on antigorite show stable sliding behavior or detect no acoustic emissions during dehydration reactions. We emphasize that the presence of talc derived from the metasomatic alteration of serpentine further weakens and stabilizes the slab–mantle interface and promotes long-lived ( > 1 Ma) detachment faulting.
