David L. Goldsby

Associate Professor - Research

Research Interests

Publications

Recent Abstracts and Presentations

Students

Courses

Synergistic Activities

CV

Current and Recent Projects

Image Galleries: Classroom, Lab, Research, Field

ROCK FRICTION DATA REPOSITORY

Brown Geological Sciences Faculty Pages

Contact information

Department of Geological Sciences

Brown University

324 Brook Street

Box 1846

Providence, RI 02912

ph: (401) 863-1922

fax: (401) 863-2058

email: David_Goldsby@brown.edu

CV (click to download)

Education

B.S., Eastern Illiniois University, 1987

M.S., Indiana University, 1990

Ph.D., University of Minnesota, 1997

Research Interests

My overall research interest is in mineral and rock physics, with an emphasis on the rheological behavior of Earth and planetary materials. I am an experimental geophysicist, that is, I apply modern theories and methods of materials science to understand geophysical processes at large scales. In the next five years, my goal is to focus on experiments designed to further our understanding of deformation mechanisms in the Earth and other planets. Experiments are conducted at high confining pressure and at ambient pressure, at high temperatures in the case of materials like olivine and at cryogenic emperatures in the case of ice and other cryomaterials. Experiments employ methods developed in materials science for fabricating and testing of materials, such as hot isostatic pressing of fine-grained samples to explore grain size-sensitive creep, and nanoindentation testing to explore deformation processes at small scales. One particular focus of my research has been grain size-sensitive flow of materials, a creep behavior which involves grain boundary sliding. This flow behavior dominates at lower stresses than for dislocation creep, and therefore can control the rheological behavior of materials in low-deviatoric-stress natural environments, such as in glaciers and icy satellites, as well as in the interiors of the Earth and other planets.

Within the broader scope of mineral and rock physics, there are several specific research topics I am currently studying:

1) the rheological behavior of pure and impure ices relevant to flow of glaciers, ice sheets, and icy satellites of the outer solar system,

2) the tribological behavior of rocks relevant to earthquake mechanics, and

3) low-temperature creep of geologic materials relevant to the frictional properties of rocks and the strength of the lithosphere

Publications

Goldsby, D.L., and Tullis, T.E., Flash heating leads to low frictional strength of crustal rocks at earthquake slip rates, Science, 334, 216-218, 2011. download pdf

Li, Q., Tullis, T.E., Goldsby, D.L. and Carpick, R.W., Frictional ageing from interfacial bonding and the origins of rate and state friction, Nature, in press. download pdf

McCarthy, C., Cooper, R.F., Goldsby, D.L., Durham, W.B., and Kirby, S.H., Transient and steady-state creep response of ice-I/magnesium sulfate hydrate eutectic aggregates, J. Geophys. Res.-Planets, 116, doi:10.1029/2010JE003689, 2011. download pdf

Kohli, A.H., Goldsby, D.L. Hirth, J.G. and Tullis, T.E., Flash weakening of serpentinite at near-seismic slip rates, J. Geophys. Res., 116, 18 pp., doi:10.1029/2010JB007833, 2011. download pdf

Sakaguchi, A., Chester, F., Curewitz, D., Fabbri, O., Goldsby, D.L., Kimura, G., Li, C.-F., Masaki, Y., Screaton, E., Tsutsumi, A., Ujiie, K., Yamaguchi, A., Seismic slip propagation to the updip end of plate boundary subduction interface faults: Vitrinite reflectance geothermometry on Integrated Ocean Drilling Program NanTro SEIZE cores, Geology, 39, 395-398, doi:10.1130/G31642.1, 2011. download pdf

Durham, W. B., Prieto-Ballesteros, O., Goldsby, D.L. and Kargel, J., Rheological and thermal properties of icy materials, Space Sci. Rev., 153, 273-298, doi: 10.1007/s11214-009-9619-1, 2010. download pdf

Kimura, G., Screaton, E.J., Curewitz, D. and the Expedition 316 Scientists, NanTroSEIZE Stage 1A: NanTroSEIZE Shallow Megasplay and Frontal Thrusts, IODP Prel. Rept., 316, doi:10.2204/iodp.pr.316.2008, 2008. download pdf

Kimura, G., Screaton, E.J., Curewitz, D. and the Expedition 316 Scientists, Expedition Report for NanTroSEIZE Stage 1A: NanTroSEIZE Shallow Megasplay and Frontal Thrusts, IODP Expedition Report, 2009.  download pdf

Beeler, N.M., Tullis, T.E. and Goldsby, D.L., Constitutive relationships and physical basis of fault strength due to flash heating, J. Geophys. Res., 113, doi:10.1029/2007JB004988, 2008. download pdf

Walsh, J.B. and Goldsby, D.L., Modeling the mechanics of rate and state friction with linear viscoelasticity, J. Geophys. Res., 113, B09408, doi:10.1029/2007JB005160, 2008. download pdf

Goldsby, D.L., Superplastic flow of ice relevant to glacier and ice sheet mechanics, invited book chapter in Glaciology and Earth's Changing Environment, edited by P. Knight, Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, 527 pp., 2006. download pdf

Goldsby, D.L., A. Rar, G.M. Pharr, and T.E. Tullis, Nanoindention creep of quartz, with implications for rate and state-variable friction laws relevant to earthquake mechanics, J. Mater. Res., 19, 357-365, 2004. download pdf

DiToro, G., Goldsby, D.L., and Tullis, T.E., Friction falls toward zero at seismic slip rates, Nature, 427, 436-439, 2004. download pdf

Milliken, R. E., Mustard, J. F. and Goldsby, D. L., Viscous flow features on the surface of Mars: Observations from high-resolution Mars Orbiter Camera (MOC) images, J. Geophys. Res. 108, 5057, 10.1029/2002JE002005, 2003. download pdf

Goldsby, D.L. and Kohlstedt, D.L., Reply to “Comments on ‘Superplastic deformation of ice: experimental observations’ ” by P. Duval and M. Montagnat, J. Geophys. Res., 107, 2313, doi:10.1029/ 2002JB001842, 2002. download pdf

Goldsby, D.L., and T.E. Tullis, Low frictional strength of quartz rocks at subseismic slip rates, Geophys. Res. Lett., 29, 1844, doi:10.1029/2002GL015240, 2002. download pdf

Dunand, D.C., Schuh, C., and Goldsby, D.L., Pressure-induced transformation plasticity of H2O ice, Phys.  Rev. Lett., 86, 668-661, 2001. download pdf

Goldsby, D.L. and D.L. Kohlstedt, Superplastic deformation of ice: Experimental observations, J. Geophys. Res., 106, 11017-11030, 2001. download pdf

Peltier, W.R., D.L. Goldsby, D.L. Kohlstedt, and L. Tarasov, Ice-age ice-sheet rheology: constraints from the Last Glacial Maximum form of the Laurentide ice sheet, Annals Glaciol., 30, 163-176, 2000.

Pappalardo, R.T., Head, J.W., Greeley, R., Sullivan, R.J., Pilcher, C., Schubert, G., Moore, W.B., Carr, M.H., Moore, J.M., Belton, M.J.S. and Goldsby, D.L., Geological evidence for solid state convection in Europa's ice shell, Nature, 391, 365-368, 1998. download pdf

Goldsby, D.L., and Kohlstedt, D.L., Grain boundary sliding in fine-grained Ice I, Scripta Mat., 37, 9, 1399-1406, 1997. download pdf

Goldsby, D.L., and D.L. Kohlstedt, Diffusion creep in ice, Proc. U.S. Rock Mech. Symp., 199-206, 1995. download pdf

Recent Abstracts and Presentations

Coming soon

Students

Arjun Kohli, Brown University '10

Stephanie Vickers, Northern Illinois University '09, NASA Intern at Brown in Summer 2009

Ailish Kress, Brown University

Courses Taught in the Department of Geological Sciences

GEOL0058 Foundations of Physical Hydrology

GEOL0160 Solid Earth Geophysics (filled in for Prof. Don Forsyth)

GEOL2910G Dynamics of Ice Sheets and Glaciers

Current and Recent Projects

Ice Mechanics

1. Development of Crystallographic Preferred Orientations During Superplastic Flow of Ice, NSF

2. The Rheological Behavior of Impurity-Bearing Water Ice, NASA

3. Rheological and Other Physical Properties of Partially Molten Ammonia-Water Ices, NASA

Friction Mechanics

1. Quasi-Static Friction Experiments to Understand the Physical Basis for Rate and State Friction, NSF, USGS

2. Frictional Behavior of Rocks and Minerals at Earthquake Slip Rates, USGS, SCEC

3. Frictional Strength and Stability of Subduction Zone Materials Recovered from NanTroSEIZE Drilling, JOI

Nanoindentation mechanics of geological materials

1. Low-Temperature Creep Behavior of Geologic Materials Determined by Indentation

2. Nanoindentation Creep of Geologic Materials, with Implications for Rate and State Friction Laws, NSF

Image Galleries

Experimental Ice and Rock Mechanics Lab

Available facilities:

* One-atmosphere high-resolution cryogenic creep apparatus

* Cryogenic sample fabrication laboratory

* One-atmosphere high-temperature creep apparatus

* High-pressure rotary-shear friction apparatus (10 kb maximum confining pressure) with pore pressure control, currently configured for slip rates of 1 nm/s (plate rate) to ~2 cm/s

* High-temperature microindentation apparatus ("hot hardness tester")

Facilities under construction:

* Cryogenic one-atmosphere creep apparatus (simultaneous torsion and compression, 0.3 kb maximum confining pressure)

* High-speed sliding modification to high-pressure rotary-shear friction apparatus (for sliding in excess of earthquake slip rates, ~1 m/s)

Indentation Images

NanTroSEIZE Subduction Zone Drilling in the Nankai Trough, Japan

Engabreen, Norway

Collaborators

Prof. George Pharr, University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Lab

Dr. Erik Herbert, University of Tennessee

Dr. William Durham, MIT

Prof. Robert Carpick, Penn

Dr. Qunyang Li, Penn

Prof. Giulio Di Toro, University of Padua

Prof. Terry Tullis, Brown

Dr. Nicholas Beeler, USGS

Prof. Greg Hirth, Brown

Prof. Dave Prior, University of Liverpool

Prof. Reid Cooper, Brown

Dr. Joseph Walsh, MIT (retired)

Temporary Data Repository for Pharr and Herbert

Revised: November 2011