Geosc 508  (3.0 credits)                 Spring Term, 2007

Mechanics of Earthquakes and Faulting

 

Instructor:

Prof. Chris Marone

 

536 Deike,  8-7964

 

cjm@geosc.psu.edu

 

 

Text/Reading:

Scholz, C.H., The Mechanics of Earthquakes and Faulting, 2nd ed., Cambridge, 2002.  

 

Handouts and papers from the literature.

 

 

Class meetings:

W F 8:30A – 9:45A  541 Deike Building

 

 

Problem sets:

Problem sets will be given periodically.

 

 

Student Presentations:

One class meeting per week will involve student presentations.  At the beginning of term these will involve material from the text.  Please come to the class meeting prepared (with overheads, powerpoint, or detailed notes to use for the blackboard) to lead a discussion of the material.  Later in the term, we will have one project presentation per week.

 

 

Exams:

Take-home final.

 

 

Project/Paper:

A one page summary of your course project is due the week of Feb 26th.  The project will involve data gathering via laboratory experiments or a related area and can be on any aspect of the course.

 

 

Grades:

The course grade will be determined from: problem sets, class presentations, project/project presentation, and the exam.

 

 

Additional reading:

 

 

Mandl, G., Mechanics of Tectonic Faulting, Elsevier, 1988.  Especially useful for Mohr stress analysis, field examples, and fault mechanics.

 

Bowden, F. P. and D. Tabor, The Friction and Lubrication of Solids, Part I (1950), and Part II, (1964) Oxford Press.

 

Lawn, B. R., Fracture of brittle solids, Cambridge, 1993.

 

Stacey, F. D., Physics of the Earth, Brookfield Press, Brisbane, Australia, 1992.    May be useful for background information and example problems.

 

Nye, J. F., Physical Properties of Crystals, Oxford, 1957. Useful for general background in crystal physics and tensor analysis.