Stress and Deformation: Part II

(D&R, 304-319; 126-149)

1. Anderson's Theory of Faulting

2. Rheology (mechanical behavior of rocks)
- Elastic: Hooke's Law
- Plastic
- Viscous
3. Brittle-Ductile transition

Rocks in the crust are generally in a state of

compressive stress

Based on Coulomb's Law of Failure, at what

angle would you expect faults to form with
respect to 1?

Recall Coulomb's
Law of Failure
In compression,
what is the
observed angle
between the
fracture surface
and 1 ()?
~30
degrees!

c = critical shear stress required for failure

0 = cohesive strength
tan = coefficient of internal friction
N = normal stress

Anderson's Theory of Faulting

The Earth's surface is a free surface (contact

between rock and atmosphere), and cannot be
subject to shear stress. As the principal stress
directions are directions of zero shear stress,
they must be parallel (2 of them) and
perpendicular (1 of them) to the Earth's
surface. Combined with an angle of failure of
30 degrees from 1, this gives:

conjugate
normal faults

conjugate thrust faults

A closer look at rock rheology (mechanical

behavior of rocks)

Elastic strain: deformation is recoverable

instantaneously on removal of stress like a spring

An isotropic, homogeneous elastic material

follows Hooke's Law
Hooke's Law: = Ee
E (Young's Modulus): measure of material
"stiffness"; determined by experiment

Elastic limit: no longer a linear

relationship between stress and
strain- rock behaves in a
different manner

Yield strength: The differential

stress at which the rock is no
longer behaving in an elastic
fashion

Mechanics of faulting

What happens at higher confining

pressure and higher differential stress?
Plastic behavior produces
an irreversible change in
shape as a result of
rearranging chemical
bonds in the crystal latticewithout failure!
Ductile rocks are rocks
that undergo a lot of plastic
deformation
E.g., Soda can rings!

Ideal plastic behavior

Strength increases with confining

pressure

Strength decreases with increasing fluid pressure

Strength increases
with increasing strain
rate

Role of lithology ( rock type) in strength and

ductility (in brittle regime; upper crust)

STRONG
ultramafic and mafic rocks
granites
schist
dolomite
limestone
quartzite
WEAK

Role of lithology in
strength and ductility
(in ductile regime;
deeper crust)

Temperature
decreases strength

Viscous (fluid)
behavior

Rocks can flow

like fluids!

For an ideal Newtonian fluid:

differential stress = viscosity X strain rate
viscosity: measure of resistance to flow

The brittle-ductile
transition

The implications

Earthquakes no deeper than transition

Lower crust can flow!!!
Lower crust decoupled from upper crust

Important terminology/concepts
Anderson's theory of faulting
significance of conjugate faults
rheology
elastic behavior
Hooke's Law
Young's modulus
Poisson's ratio
brittle behavior
elastic limit
yield strength
plastic behavior (ideal)
power law creep
strain hardening and softening
factors controlling strength of rocks
brittle-ductile transition
viscous behavior
ideal Newtonian fluid