The PI will carry out experimental and theoretical analyses of fractures that are dominantly of the opening mode to understand the fundamental relationships between fracture geometry and the loading conditions responsible for fracture growth. The goal is methods that would enable the structural geologist working on sedimentary strata to infer the state of paleostress, strain, and fluid pressure from maps of the two- dimensional geometry of joint traces on bedding planes and cross sections, and from observations of the detailed three-dimensional geometry of segmented joints. Such inferences would be quite helpful for interpreting the structural and tectonic history (sequence and kinematics of deformational events) for a particular rock mass, and for establishing the genetic relationships (if any) between crustal-scale folds or faults and the outcrop-scale joints in their vicinity.
