Rock Fractures in Geological Processes Rock fractures largely control many of the Earth’s dynamic processes. Examples include plate-boundary formation and development, tectonic earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, and fluid transport in the crust. How rock fractures form and develop is of fundamental impor- tance in many theoretical and applied fields of earth sciences and engineering, such as vol- canology, seismology, hydrogeology, petroleum geology, natural hazards, and engineering geology. An understanding of rock fractures is essential for effective exploitation of many of the Earth’s natural resources including 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 pro- cesses and fluid transport in the crust. Basic concepts are developed from first principles and are illustrated with numerous worked examples that link models of geological pro- cesses to real field observations and measurements. Calculations in the worked examples are presented in detail with simple steps that are easy to follow – providing the readers with the skills to formulate and quantitatively test their own models, and to practise their new skills using real data in a range of applications. Review questions and numerical exer- cises are given at the end of each chapter, and further homework problems are available at www.cambridge.org/gudmundsson. Solutions to all numerical exercises are available to instructors online. Rock Fractures in Geological Processes is designed for courses at the advanced- undergraduate and beginning-graduate level, but also forms a vital resource for researchers and industry professionals concerned with fractures and fluid transport in the Earth’s crust. Agust Gudmundsson holds a University of London Chair of structural geology at Royal Holloway. He has a Ph.D. in Tectonophysics from the University of London and has previ- ously held positions as research scientist at the University of Iceland, professor and Chair at the University of Bergen, Norway, and professor and Chair at the University of Göttingen, Germany. Professor Gudmundsson’s research interests include volcanotectonics, seismo- tectonics, 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, Journal of Geological Research, and Journal of Volcanology & 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. www.cambridge.org © in this web service Cambridge University Press Cambridge University Press 978-0-521-86392-6 - Rock Fractures in Geological Processes Agust Gudmundsson Frontmatter More information