The Fracture Zone

A True Portrait of One of the World's Most Chaotic and Beautiful Regions That Explains Why Violence Has Always Occurred There--And Why It May Continue For Years To Come The vast and mountainous area that makes up the Balkans is rife with discord, both cultural and topographical. And, as Simon Winchester superbly demonstrates in this intimate portrait of the region, much of the political strife of the past century can be traced to its inherent contrasts. With the aid of a guide and linguist, Winchester traveled deep into the region's most troublesome areas--including Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Albania, Kosovo, and Turkey--just as the war was tearing these countries apart. The result is a book not just about war but also about how war affects the living. Both timeless and current, The Fracture Zone goes behind the headlines to offer a true picture of a region that has always been on the brink. Winchester's remarkable journey puts all the elements together--the faults, the fractures, and the chaos--to make sense out of a seemingly senseless place.

La 4e de couv. indique : "The concept of plate tectonics is relatively new - it was only in the 1960s that the idea that continents drifted with respect to one another came to be accepted. Plate tectonics now forms one of geology's basic principles and explains much of the large-scale structure and phenomena we see on Earth today. In this Very Short Introduction Peter Molnar explores the impact that plate tectonics has had on our understanding of Earth : how the ocean floor forms, widens, and disappears ; why earthquakes and volcanoes are found in distinct zones ; and how the great mountain ranges of the world were built. As the Himalaya continues to grow, the Atlantic widens, and new ocean floor is forming, the mechanisms of plate tectonics continue to alter the surface of our planet."

Scientific understanding of fluid flow in rock fracturesâ€"a process underlying contemporary earth science problems from the search for petroleum to the controversy over nuclear waste storageâ€"has grown significantly in the past 20 years. This volume presents a comprehensive report on the state of the field, with an interdisciplinary viewpoint, case studies of fracture sites, illustrations, conclusions, and research recommendations. The book addresses these questions: How can fractures that are significant hydraulic conductors be identified, located, and characterized? How do flow and transport occur in fracture systems? How can changes in fracture systems be predicted and controlled? Among other topics, the committee provides a geomechanical understanding of fracture formation, reviews methods for detecting subsurface fractures, and looks at the use of hydraulic and tracer tests to investigate fluid flow. The volume examines the state of conceptual and mathematical modeling, and it provides a useful framework for understanding the complexity of fracture changes that occur during fluid pumping and other engineering practices. With a practical and multidisciplinary outlook, this volume will be welcomed by geologists, petroleum geologists, geoengineers, geophysicists, hydrologists, researchers, educators and students in these fields, and public officials involved in geological projects.

The author participated in 38 sea going expeditions including the first manned-submersible project to explore the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. This book provides a comprehensive overview of the past 45 years of sea floor exploration. It summarizes the mineralogical and petrological composition of sea floor rocks, ocean floor volcanism in relation to the geological setting and the discovery of hydrothermal activity. In addition to learning about various scientific missions and their objectives, the reader is introduced to rift zones where the sea floor is being created, as well as to fracture zones, intraplate volcanoes, and the structural setting of subduction zones

Meso-Cenozoic Brazilian Offshore Magmatism: Geochemistry, Petrology and Tectonics presents detailed studies from different points-of-view on the geological—particularly magmatic—evolution of the Brazilian and South Atlantic Ocean offshore areas. This comprehensive book on geological events will help readers understand the holistic evolution of the area across geographical boundaries. Each chapter consists of an introduction, regional and local geology, methods, results, discussions, conclusions and supplementary material related to the geological development in island and seamounts in the Brazilian Platform and seafloor. Integrates independent studies and research of the Brazilian offshore magmatism and tectonics into a single book Includes new seamount and island data that was previously unavailable to the public Introduces case studies to provide real-world examples of volcanism and scientific evolution

Earthquakes are some of the most dynamic features of the Earth. This multidisciplinary volume presents an overview of earthquake processes and properties including the physics of dynamic faulting, fault fabric and mechanics, physical and chemical properties of fault zones, dynamic rupture processes, and numerical modeling of fault zones during seismic rupture. This volume examines questions such as: • What are the dynamic processes recorded in fault gouge? • What can we learn about rupture dynamics from laboratory experiments? • How do on-fault and off-fault properties affect seismic ruptures? • How do fault zones evolve over time? Fault Zone Dynamic Processes: Evolution of Fault Properties During Seismic Rupture is a valuable resource for scientists, researchers and students from across the geosciences interested in the earthquakes processes.

Considerable progress has been made recently in quantifying geometrical and physical properties of fault surfaces and adjacent fractured and granulated damage zones in active faulting environments. There has also been significant progress in developing rheologies and computational frameworks that can model the dynamics of fault zone processes. This volume provides state-of-the-art theoretical and observational results on the mechanics, structure and evolution of fault zones. Subjects discussed include damage rheologies, development of instabilities, fracture and friction, dynamic rupture experiments, and analyses of earthquake and fault zone data.