This interdisciplinary effort will examine geologic processes, such as hydrogeologic processes of coupled fracture growth and fluid flow, that are directly influenced by the spatial structure and evolution of rack fractures. Modelling will incorporate physical models of fracture formation and stochastic process models. This award supports the cross-disciplinary efforts and the development of a research collaboration involving quantitative modelling in the geosciences. In particular, the mathematician, statistician and the geoscientists will focus their attention on developing a physically-based stochastic model for rock fractures. This will meld probabilistic ideas with geologic understanding to address the phenomena of rock fractures and fluid flow through them.