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Oh, cool!
Stress is basically how much the rocks are being squeezed, and in which direction. If we can know that, and also know how *strong* the rocks are, we can estimate whether they will break.
But it's super hard to measure... 1/n
Stress is basically how much the rocks are being squeezed, and in which direction. If we can know that, and also know how *strong* the rocks are, we can estimate whether they will break.
But it's super hard to measure... 1/n
When rocks *do* break (#earthquake!), we can use that to estimate stress. If you know the direction of slip, you can do even better. This even works for earthquakes that occurred long ago, if they left scratches on the fault!
rickallmendinger.net/faultkin
2/n
rickallmendinger.net/faultkin
2/n
Or, if you have a lot of money and time, you can drill into the Earth and measure the orientation of maximum squeezing based on how the borehole deforms.
#boreholebreakouts
3/n
jgs.lyellcollection.org/content/162/1/…
#boreholebreakouts
3/n
jgs.lyellcollection.org/content/162/1/…
