ERC Consolidator Grant · 2022
Role of fluids in rock deformation and the earthquake cycle
The dynamics of the solid Earth, e.g., the initiation of plate tectonics, the strength of plate boundaries, and the formation and evolution of mountains, is directly controlled by the chemical and physical action of water. In the shallow (brittle) part of the lithosphere, fluid pressure counteracts the lithostatic pressure and weakens faults. At greater depth, the chemical activity of water makes rocks plastically weaker, and is also responsible for metamorphic reactions that induce weakening. Fluids have been invoked to explain observations of tremor and slow slip at depth, and a large fraction of crustal seismicity is attributed to upward fluid flow, inducing earthquake swarms. Yet we…
From the public funding record at EU CORDIS. Describes the funded project, not the reviews below.