Rock Fractures in Geological Processes

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.

'This is an exceptionally comprehensive and timely book. Fractures and fracturing provide the key controls on virtually all of the important geological processes in the lithosphere and yet are commonly marginalized in traditional structural geology texts. This book redresses that imbalance and is therefore an extremely welcome and overdue addition to the literature. It covers rock fractures at all scales, and every aspect of rock fracturing from basic theory to field applications. It features detailed analysis of real field data and many helpful worked examples. It will prove invaluable to advanced undergraduates and graduate students as well as to geological researchers. It should be on everyone's bookshelf.' Philip Meredith, University College London

• 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.