AGU Session T57: What Can Fault Rocks Tell Us About Earthquake Mechanics?

On behalf of Jamie Kirkpatrick (UCSC) and Heather Savage (Columbia):

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Dear all

We invite you to submit an abstract to session T57 "What Can Fault Rocks Tell Us About Earthquake Mechanics?" at the AGU Fall meeting in San Francisco (5th to 9th December).

The aim of the session is to emphasize field and micro-scale observations of fault rocks in active or exhumed faults that give insight into coseismic processes, especially those that provide constraints from meso- to macroscopic scale fault structures (e.g. exposure length scales).

http://sites.agu.org/fallmeeting/scientific-program/session-search/847

T57: What Can Fault Rocks Tell Us About Earthquake Mechanics?

Recent observations suggest fault strength and slip rate are dependent on the micro- and mesoscopic structure of faults. Lab studies of intact fault rock and analog materials have demonstrated that fault strength depends on the composition, distribution and internal structure of fault rocks. These parameters vary over length scales ranging from the grain scale to meters or more. Field and microscope observations are therefore crucial to quantify geometric, compositional and mechanical variations that control earthquake nucleation and coseismic conditions. We seek contributions that explore earthquake processes by integrating geological observations with lab experiments, seismological observations and theoretical investigations.

Invited Speakers:
Åke Fagereng, University of Cape Town
Pratigya Polissar, Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
Kohtaro Ujiie, University of Tsukuba

Conveners:
Jamie Kirkpatrick, jkirkpat@ucsc.edu
Heather Savage, hsavage@ldeo.colmbia.edu
Christie Rowe, christie.rowe@mcgill.ca