Rock Fractures in Geological Processes

Explores and explains fracture processes and fluid transport in the crust, with numerous worked examples, step-by-step calculations and practice exercises.

Rock fractures control many of Earth's dynamic processes, including plate-boundary development, tectonic earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and fluid transport in the crust. An understanding of rock fractures is also essential for effective exploitation of natural resources such as ground water, geothermal water, and petroleum. This book combines results from fracture mechanics, materials science, rock mechanics, structural geology, hydrogeology, and fluid mechanics to explore and explain fracture processes and fluid transport in the crust. Basic concepts are developed from first principles and illustrated with worked examples linking models of geological processes to real field observations and measurements. Many additional examples and exercises are provided online, allowing readers to practise formulating and quantitative testing of models. Rock Fractures in Geological Processes is designed for courses at the advanced undergraduate and graduate level but also forms a vital resource for researchers and industry professionals concerned with fractures and fluid transport in the Earth's crust.

1. Introduction; 2. Stress; 3. Displacement and strain; 4. Relation between stress and strain; 5. Loading of brittle rock to failure; 6. Stress concentration; 7. Theories of brittle failure of rocks; 8. Extension fractures and shear fractures; 9. Displacements and driving stresses of fractures; 10. Toughness and fracture mechanics; 11. Field analysis of extension fractures; 12. Field analysis of faults; 13. Evolution of extension fractures; 14. Evolution of faults; 15. Fluid transport in rocks - the basics; 16. Fluid transport in faults; 17. Fluid transport in hydrofractures; Index.

This book investigates fracture processes and fluid transport in the crust. Building from basic concepts, and illustrated with worked examples, it provides step-by-step calculations enabling readers to practise formulating and testing models. With many additional examples and exercises online, it is a vital resource for students, researchers and industry professionals.

Agust Gudmundsson holds a University of London Chair of Structural Geology at Royal Holloway. He has a PhD in Tectonophysics from the University of London and has previously held positions as research scientist at the University of Iceland, Professor at the University of Bergen, Norway, and Professor and Chair at the University of Göttingen, Germany. Professor Gudmundsson's research interests include volcanotectonics, seismotectonics, and fluid transport in rock fractures and reservoirs. He has published more than 130 research papers on these and related topics, is on the editorial boards of Terra Nova, Tectonophysics, the Journal of Geological Research, and the Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research, and is a fellow of the Iceland Academy of Sciences and Academia Europaea. The book draws on Professor Gudmundsson's extensive experience in field, analytical, and numerical studies of crustal fractures and of teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in structural geology, geodynamics, hydrogeology, rock mechanics, reservoir geoscience, seismotectonics, and volcanotectonics.