The Mechanics Of Earthquakes And Faulting

Our understanding of earthquakes and faulting processes has developed significantly since publication of the successful first edition of this book in 1990. This revised edition, first published in 2002, was therefore thoroughly up-dated whilst maintaining and developing the two major themes of the first edition. The first of these themes is the connection between fault and earthquake mechanics, including fault scaling laws, the nature of fault populations, and how these result from the processes of fault growth and interaction. The second major theme is the central role of the rate-state friction laws in earthquake mechanics, which provide a unifying framework within which a wide range of faulting phenomena can be interpreted. With the inclusion of two chapters explaining brittle fracture and rock friction from first principles, this book is written at a level which will appeal to graduate students and research scientists in the fields of seismology, physics, geology, geodesy and rock mechanics.

Our understanding of earthquakes and faulting processes has developed significantly since publication of the successful first edition of this book in 1990. This revised edition, first published in 2002, was therefore thoroughly up-dated whilst maintaining and developing the two major themes of the first edition. The first of these themes is the connection between fault and earthquake mechanics, including fault scaling laws, the nature of fault populations, and how these result from the processes of fault growth and interaction. The second major theme is the central role of the rate-state friction laws in earthquake mechanics, which provide a unifying framework within which a wide range of faulting phenomena can be interpreted. With the inclusion of two chapters explaining brittle fracture and rock friction from first principles, this book is written at a level which will appeal to graduate students and research scientists in the fields of seismology, physics, geology, geodesy and rock mechanics.

The mechanics of earthquake faulting is a multi-disciplinary scientific approach combining laboratory inferences and mathematical models with the analysis of recorded data from earthquakes, and is essential to the understanding of these potentially destructive events. The modern field of study can be said to have begun with the seminal papers by B. V. Kostrov in 1964 and 1966. This book presents lectures delivered at the summer school ‘The Mechanics of Earthquake Faulting’, held under the umbrella of the Enrico Fermi International School of Physics in Varenna, Italy, from 2 to 7 July 2018. The school was attended by speakers and participants from many countries. One of the most important goals of the school was to present the state-of-the-art of the physics of earthquakes, and the 10 lectures included here cover the most challenging aspects of the mechanics of faulting. The topics covered during the school give a very clear picture of the current state of the art of the physics of earthquake ruptures and also highlight the open issues and questions that are still under debate, and the book will be of interest to all those working in the field.

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.

Understanding Faults: Detecting, Dating, and Modeling offers a single resource for analyzing faults for a variety of applications, from hazard detection and earthquake processes, to geophysical exploration. The book presents the latest research, including fault dating using new mineral growth, fault reactivation, and fault modeling, and also helps bridge the gap between geologists and geophysicists working across fault-related disciplines. Using diagrams, formulae, and worldwide case studies to illustrate concepts, the book provides geoscientists and industry experts in oil and gas with a valuable reference for detecting, modeling, analyzing and dating faults. Presents cutting-edge information relating to fault analysis, including mechanical, geometrical and numerical models, theory and methodologies Includes calculations of fault sealing capabilities Describes how faults are detected, what fault models predict, and techniques for dating fault movement Utilizes worldwide case studies throughout the book to concretely illustrate key concepts

Glacially triggered faulting describes movement of pre-existing faults caused by a combination of tectonic and glacially induced isostatic stresses. The most impressive fault-scarps are found in northern Europe, assumed to be reactivated at the end of the deglaciation. This view has been challenged as new faults have been discovered globally with advanced techniques such as LiDAR, and fault activity dating has shown several phases of reactivation thousands of years after deglaciation ended. This book summarizes the current state-of-the-art research in glacially triggered faulting, discussing the theoretical aspects that explain the presence of glacially induced structures and reviews the geological, geophysical, geodetic and geomorphological investigation methods. Written by a team of international experts, it provides the first global overview of confirmed and proposed glacially induced faults, and provides an outline for modelling these stresses and features. It is a go-to reference for geoscientists and engineers interested in ice sheet-solid Earth interaction.