Geology topics

R.P. Young

Publications and source records attributed to R.P. Young.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS2009

Premonitory acoustic emissions and stick-slip in natural and smooth-faulted Westerly granite

A stick-slip event was induced in a cylindrical sample of Westerly granite containing a preexisting natural fault by loading at constant confining pressure of 150 MPa. Continuously recorded acoustic emission (AE) data and computer tomography (CT)-generated images of the fault plane were combined to provide a detailed examination of microscale processes operating on the fault. The dynamic stick-slip event, considered to be a laboratory analog of an earthquake, generated an ultrasonic signal that was recorded as a large-amplitude AE event. First arrivals of this event were inverted to determine the nucleation site of slip, which is associated with a geometric asperity on the fault surface. CT images and AE locations suggest that a variety of asperities existed in the sample because of the intersection of branch or splay faults with the main fault. This experiment is compared with a stick-slip experiment on a sample prepared with a smooth, artificial saw-cut fault surface. Nearly a thousand times more AE were observed for the natural fault, which has a higher friction coefficient (0.78 compared to 0.53) and larger shear stress drop (140 compared to 68 MPa). However at the measured resolution, the ultrasonic signal emitted during slip initiation does not vary significantly between the two experiments, suggesting a similar dynamic rupture process. We propose that the natural faulted sample under triaxial compression provides a good laboratory analogue for a field-scale fault system in terms of the presence of asperities, fault surface heterogeneity, and interaction of branching faults. ?? 2009.

Journal of Geophysical Research B: Solid Earth↗

USGS2006

Fracture in Westerly granite under AE feedback and constant strain rate loading: Nucleation, quasi-static propagation, and the transition to unstable fracture propagation

New observations of fracture nucleation are presented from three triaxial compression experiments on intact samples of Westerly granite, using Acoustic Emission (AE) monitoring. By conducting the tests under different loading conditions, the fracture process is demonstrated for quasi-static fracture (under AE Feedback load), a slowly developing unstable fracture (loaded at a 'slow' constant strain rate of 2.5 ?? 10-6/s) and an unstable fracture that develops near instantaneously (loaded at a 'fast' constant strain rate of 5 ?? 10-5/s). By recording a continuous ultrasonic waveform during the critical period of fracture, the entire AE catalogue can be captured and the exact time of fracture defined. Under constant strain loading, three stages are observed: (1) An initial nucleation or stable growth phase at a rate of ??? 1.3 mm/s, (2) a sudden increase to a constant or slowly accelerating propagation speed of ??? 18 mm/s, and (3) unstable, accelerating propagation. In the ??? 100 ms before rupture, the high level of AE activity (as seen on the continuous record) prevented the location of discrete AE events. A lower bound estimate of the average propagation velocity (using the time-to-rupture and the existing fracture length) suggests values of a few m/s. However from a low gain acoustic record, we infer that in the final few ms, the fracture propagation speed increased to 175 m/s. These results demonstrate similarities between fracture nucleation in intact rock and the nucleation of dynamic instabilities in stick slip experiments. It is suggested that the ability to constrain the size of an evolving fracture provides a crucial tool in further understanding the controls on fracture nucleation. ?? Birkha??user Verlag, Basel, 2006.

Conference Paper↗

USGS2005

Observations of premonitory acoustic emission and slip nucleation during a stick slip experiment in smooth faulted Westerly granite

To investigate laboratory earthquakes, stick-slip events were induced on a saw-cut Westerly granite sample by triaxial loading at 150 MPa confining pressure. Acoustic emissions (AE) were monitored using an innovative continuous waveform recorder. The first motion of each stick slip was recorded as a large-amplitude AE signal. These events source locate onto the saw-cut fault plane, implying that they represent the nucleation sites of the dynamic failure stick-slip events. The precise location of nucleation varied between events and was probably controlled by heterogeneity of stress or surface conditions on the fault. The initial nucleation diameter of each dynamic instability was inferred to be less than 3 mm. A small number of AE were recorded prior to each macro slip event. For the second and third slip events, premonitory AE source mechanisms mimic the large scale fault plane geometry. Copyright 2005 by the American Geophysical Union.

Geophysical Research Letters↗