A variety of projects can be done by students as dictated by their interests, given the constraints of facilities and expertese. Projects can be done primarily under my supervision or with the joint supervision and collaboration with other faculty at Brown and elsewhere as appropriate. The non-exhaustive list below gives an idea of some of the projects that are either in advanced or preliminary stages of planning, and they give some idea of possibilities.

Friction at Elevated Temperature.

We will soon begin a study of the effect of temperature on friction, using a new internal furnace. Temperature is an important parameter for two reasons. First,  earthquake nucleation typically begins at a depth where the ambient temperature is elevated (200-300 degrees C on the San Andreas fault). Second, temperature is a variable that can be used to try to distinguish between possible operative processes responsible for the direct and evolution effects in rate and state friction.

Earthquake Prediction.

There are some interesting new results from China suggesting that it might be possible to predict earthquakes by comparing the rate of small earthquakes during the loading or unloading part of the cycle of Earth tides. The idea, called Load Unload Response Ratio (LURR), has some physical basis in the mechanical behavior of rocks, but since many studies have shown little or no correlation between earthquake occurrence and Earth tides, one's tendency is to be skeptical. We are considering an independent test of the idea.  It is a more viable hypothesis than the one we evaluated concerning stresses from free oscillations, since the tidal stresses are much larger. 

Study of samples from a drill hole into the San Andres Fault.

One component of the EarthScope Project is SAFOD (San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth). For several years I have been one of many people involved in planning this project to drill into the San Andres Fault at a depth of about 4 km. One of the parts of this project will be to sample the materials from the fault zone and to measure their frictional behavior and  permeability. We are part of the team that plans to do this work. EarthScope was not funded for the up coming fiscal year, but if it goes forward in the next fiscal year as seem quite possible, we will become involved in making such measurements.

Field studies of pseudotachylites.

I am beginning a collaboration with

Quantitative Image Analysis of the Textures of our Deformed Samples.