Theory of Earthquake Premonitory and Fracture Processes

The authors of this monograph made an attempt to join the physical laws governing processes that lead to rock damage and fracturing with the geophysical models of fault zones and models of premonitory processes before seismic events. Readers obtain a concise overview on current achievements and new trends in the theory of earthquake preparation and fracture processes. The monograph brings a consistent approach to the continuum description of complex deformation, fracture nucleation and fracturing in rocks. It is made up of six parts related to the following: physics of fracturing; dislocation and crack models of faults; earthquake premonitory and rebound theory; deformation and geometry; earthquake thermodynamics; deformations in micromorphic materials. A continuum approach is mainly used, its most general form being related to the theory of continuum distribution of dislocations. However, the models related to discrete dislocations and to propagation of a single crack are also discussed, especially in relation to some earthquake premonitory phenomena. The authors, Japanese, Polish and US scientists, are renown authorities in fracture mechanics and earthquake source physics. They present their own results and contributions in a frame of the defined scope of the monograph. Much attention is paid to the interaction of different physical fields and objects, like defects, that could also manifest themselves in different precursory phenomena. The results refer mainly to earthquakes, but many applications to mining events are also included. As the book explains the general concepts of fracturing problems in materials with dense defect population and brings a general synopsis of deformation analysis, it will mainly be of interest to scientists and advanced students of geophysics and fracture mechanics. It will be especially helpful for those engaged in problems of source processes in seismic events - earthquakes and mining tremors.