Publisher's Synopsis
Faulting of the Earth's crust occurs on time-scales of seconds to millions of years and involves mechanical processes operative over spatial scales ranging from 10-3m to 10-5m. Because of this vast range of spatial and temporal scales the study of earthquakes and faulting is fundamentally multidisciplinary, drawing from geologic studies of fault zone structure as well as theoretical and laboratory studies of crack mechanics.;How are these different processes and time-scales manifest in fault patterns, seismic radiation, and fault zones? How can our understanding of the individual processes and macroscopic phenomena be combined to yield a general understanding of faulting and earthquakes? This volume, which appears in two parts, focuses on these and related questions, highlighting the interdisciplinary nature of research on faulting and earthquakes. The volume grew out of an attempt to bring together recent work on issues such as the evolution with displacement of fault stability, the dynamics of earthquake rupture and earthquake scaling relations, the relation between fault zone structure and stability, the effect of fluids on failure criteria and fault properties, and the implications of microstructures in field and laboratory-scale fault zones for failure laws and the state of stress on faults.;Included are laboratory studies of the micromechanics of friction in fault zones, theoretical studies of dynamic rupture on faults obeying slip rate and state-variable friction laws, and detailed field studies of fault zone structures and properties.
