This project provides funding for travel and registration support to U.S. based early-career professionals and students to attend the Gordon Research Conference " Feedback Processes in Rock Deformation", which will be held in Andover, NH from August 19-24, 2012. The Rock Deformation conference series highlights the latest research and future trends in brittle and ductile rock mechanics, with experimental, field and theoretical contributions. The broad goals are to assess the understanding of the nature and controls on rock strength, fracture, friction, ductile deformation, and both fluid and melt flow during natural tectonic loading. This particular conference focuses on feedback mechanisms, which are very important in controlling the rates and mechanisms of rock deformation. Positive feedbacks lead to accelerating rates, and commonly to spatial focusing whereas negative feedbacks commonly cause decelerating, spatially distributed deformation and reaction. Major topics addressed at this conference include: (1) mechanisms of failure in geological materials at high confining pressure; (2) fluid-assisted slip, earthquakes and fracture; (3) reaction-driven cracking; (4) localized fluid transport (feedbacks involving chemical reaction; mechanical feedbacks); and (5) dynamic triggering of earthquakes.
This conference addresses many cutting-edge frontier research topics in tectonics, geophysics, and related fields. The conference theme has special relevance for extraction of unconventional hydrocarbon resources, implementation of enhanced geothermal systems, geological carbon capture and storage, and understanding seismic hazards. The conference would promote the participation of students, early career scientists, and researchers from underrepresented groups in the earth sciences.
The Gordon Research Conference on Rock Deformation was held at Proctor Academy Andover, New Hampshire, August 19-24, 2012. The Conference was well-attended with 124 participants (attendees list attached). The attendees represented the spectrum of endeavor in this field coming from academia, industry, and government laboratories, both U.S. and foreign scientists, senior researchers, young investigators, and students. Of the 124 attendees, 66 voluntarily responded to a general inquiry regarding ethnicity which appears on our registration forms. Of the 66 respondents, 8% were Minorities – 2% Hispanic, 6% Asian and 0% African American. Approximately 27% of the participants at the 2011 meeting were women. In designing the formal speakers program, emphasis was placed on current unpublished research and discussion of the future target areas in this field. There was a conscious effort to stimulate lively discussion about the key issues in the field today. Time for formal presentations was limited in the interest of group discussions. In order that more scientists could communicate their most recent results, poster presentation time was scheduled. Attached is a copy of the formal schedule and speaker program and the poster program. In addition to these formal interactions, "free time" was scheduled to allow informal discussions. Such discussions are fostering new collaborations and joint efforts in the field. Thank you for your support of this Conference. As you know, in the interest of promoting the presentation of unpublished and frontier-breaking research, Gordon Research Conferences does not permit publication of meeting proceedings.
