Background

How does the Earth deform? What are the stresses supported at tectonic plate boundaries? What are the processes controlling whether deformation in the Earth's crust is localised along faults, or distributed throughout the volume? Or if deformation is slow and steady, or catastrophically fast, as in earthquakes?

We contribute to answering these questions by bringing quantitative constraints on the brittle and ductile strength of rocks, analysing the grain-scale deformation processes and measuring the evolution of key rock physical properties (fluid flow, elasticity, seismic properties) during deformation and faulting. This approach is primarily experimental, and uses dedicated equipment that allow us to test rock specimens under the high pressure and temperature conditions of the Earth's lithosphere.

Such laboratory results form the basis of large scale geodynamical models (e.g., rheological parameters) and fault dynamics simulations (e.g., frictional parameters, thermo-hydro-mechanical properties). The properties of rocks measured in the laboratory are also of fundamental importance for our understanding and potential prediction of the impact of human activities on crustal deformation (e.g., geological storage, geothermal exploitation, induced seismicity).

Key scientific questions

What is the strength of rocks across the brittle-ductile transition?

What is the role of fluids in the deformation of the lithosphere? 

What are the detectable geophysical signatures of rock deformation processes?

Related projects

Dynamics of rock deformation at the brittle-plastic transition

ROCKDEATH | Role of fluids in rock deformation and the earthquake cycle