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

Faults are primary focuses of both fluid migration and deformation in the upper crust. The recognition that faults are typically heterogeneous zones of deformed material, not simple discrete fractures, has fundamental implications for the way geoscientists predict fluid migration in fault zones, as well as leading to new concepts in understanding seismic/aseismic strain accommodation. This book captures current research into understanding the complexities of fault-zone internal structure, and their control on mechanical and fluid-flow properties of the upper crust. A wide variety of approaches are presented, from geological field studies and laboratory analyses of fault-zone and fault-rock properties to numerical fluid-flow modelling, and from seismological data analyses to coupled hydraulic and rheological modelling. The publication aims to illustrate the importance of understanding fault-zone complexity by integrating such diverse approaches, and its impact on the rheological and fluid-flow behaviour of fault zones in different contexts.

Introduction to geologic fracture mechanics covering geologic structural discontinuities from theoretical and field-based perspectives.

This series, under the editorship of Professor H.J. Zwart, will deal with all topics within this field, such as: micro structures, large scale tectonics, experimental structural geology, fabrics, rock mechanics, and modelling in structural geology. The aim is to publish advanced level reference books to provide state-of-the-art reviews of these and other aspects of structural geology. This series will be of value to researchers and professionals in structural geology, rock mechanics, petroleum geology and tectonophysics.This first volume in the series deals with the mechanics of tectonic faulting and its central theme is the formation of faults in the tectonic stress field and the interaction between faults and stresses. The author, Dr. G. Mandl, was one of the top research people with Shell International Research. Part I of the book deals with the mechanical genesis of general fault features, such as fault shape and antithetic, precursory and secondary faulting and elaborates on these more general aspects within the context of specific tectono-mechanical models for extensional faulting and thrusting. Besides critical reviews, Part I contains a number of new or hitherto unpublished results, in particular on model experiments and numerical analyses. The central chapter of Part II presents a full introduction into mechanical theory and rock plasticity - the theory most adequate to tectonic faulting and therefore forming the backbone of the book. Besides presentations of basic concepts of stress and strain, special chapters are devoted to poro-elasticity and fluid flow through porous rocks. This branch of geomechanics requires a multidisciplinary approach that combines continuum mechanics, rock mechanics and structural geology, and applies theoretical, numerical and experimental methods, together with the study of field cases. The book has evolved from such multidisciplinary research and is written for structural geologists, petroleum geologists, engineering geologists, rock engineers and geophysicists whose work demands a similar approach. In addition, the book is intended to encourage mechanical engineers and even mathematicians to enter the fascinating and in parts still untilled fields of tectono-mechanical processes in the Earth's crust. The book is richly illustrated by drawings, photographs and reproductions of seismic records.

The dynamics of the earthquake rupture process are closely related to fault zone properties which the authors have intensively investigated by various observations in the field as well as by laboratory experiments. These include geological investigation of the active and fossil faults, physical and chemical features obtained by the laboratory experiments, as well as the seismological estimation from seismic waveforms. Earthquake dynamic rupture can now be modeled using numerical simulations on the basis of field and laboratory observations, which should be very useful for understanding earthquake rupture dynamics.Features:* First overview of new and improved techniques in the study of earthquake faulting* Broad coverage* Full colorBenefits:* A must-have for all geophysicists who work on earthquake dynamics* Single resource for all aspects of earthquake dynamics (from lab measurements to seismological observations to numerical modelling)* Bridges the disciplines of seismology, structural geology and rock mechanics* Helps readers to understand and interpret graphs and mapsAlso has potential use as a supplementary resource for upper division and graduate geophysics courses.

Earthquake fault zones exhibit hierarchical damage and granular structures with evolving geometrical and material properties. Understanding how repeated brittle deformation form the structures and how the structures affect subsequent earthquakes is a rich problem involving coupling of various processes that operate over broad space and time scales. The diverse state-of-the-art papers collected here show how insight can come from many fields including statistical physics, structural geology and rock mechanics at large scales; elasticity, friction and nonlinear continuum mechanics at intermediate scales; and fracture mechanics, granular mechanics and surface physics at small scales. This volume will be useful to students and professional researchers from Earth Sciences, Material Sciences, Engineering, Physics and other disciplines, who are interested in the properties of natural fault zones and the processes that occur between and during earthquakes.

Recent theoretical developments, acquisitions of large seismic and other data sets, detailed geological studies, and novel laboratory experiments offer new opportunities for advancing the understanding of fault zone and earthquake processes. The present and a follow up volume provide broad state-of-the-art perspectives on earthquakes and crustal fault zones. Subjects discussed in this volume include fluids and faulting, characterization of fault zone materials, seismic ground motion, geodetic deformation, seismicity and hazard, imaging fault zone structures, experiments on fault evolution, and damage-based rheologies for shear deformation. The volume will be useful to students and professional researchers from Earth Sciences, Material Sciences, Physics and other disciplines, who are interested in properties and processes of earthquakes and faults.