Stress strain data of experimentally deformed Carrara marble in the semi-brittle field

The data set contains stress-strain data of Carrara marble experimentally deformed in triaxial compression at temperatures of 20 – 800°C, confining pressures of 30 – 300 MPa, and strain rates between 10-3 and 10-6 s-1. This range covers conditions, at witch marble deforms in the semi-brittle regime, i.e., strength depends on all parameters, but with different sensitivity. Semi-brittle deformation behavior is expected to be important in the mid continental crust. The experiments were conducted in the Experimental Rock Deformation Laboratory of the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences in Potsdam, Germany. The data are separated into 91 individual ASCII files, one for each sample. The corresponding temperature, pressure and strain rate conditions are listed in Tab. 1. of the data description and in the associated work by Rybacki et al. (submitted).

Cylindrical samples were prepared from Carrara marble (Bianco Lorano, Apuane Alps, Italy). Samples denoted CMxx, where xx is sample number, were 20 mm long and 10 mm in diameter; samples Mbxx were 60 mm long and 30 mm in diameter. Both set of samples were dry and deformed in two different deformation apparatuses using Argon gas as confining medium. Raw data were axial force and axial displacement, measured with a load cell and LVDT, respectively. Raw data (axial force and displacement) were converted to stress and strain assuming constant volume deformation. All data are corrected for system compliance and jacket strength.