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USGS · 70016872

Quasi-static fault growth and shear fracture energy in granite

D.A. Lockner·J.D. Byerlee·V. Kuksenko·A. Ponomarev·A. Sidorin
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Abstract

The failure process in a brittle granite sample can be stabilized by controlling axial stress to maintain a constant rate of acoustic emission. As a result, the post-failure stress curve can be followed quasistatically, extending to hours the fault growth process which normally would occur violently in a fraction of a second. Using a procedure originally developed to locate earthquakes, acoustic emission arrival-time data are inverted to obtain three-dimensional locations of microseisms. These locations provide a detailed view of fracture nucleation and growth.

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D.A. Lockner, J.D. Byerlee, V. Kuksenko, A. Ponomarev, A. Sidorin. 1991. Quasi-static fault growth and shear fracture energy in granite. https://doi.org/10.1038/350039a0

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