The Role of Hydrous Fluids in Fault Processes: An Experimental Study

The proposed project seeks to understand how hydrothermal reactions in fault zones affect various physical properties such as fault strength and permeability. The project will be conducted by performing high pressure experiments which simulate natural conditions. I will also develop new analytical techniques to characterize the microstructural evolution of faults, with a focus on understanding how any changes alter the hydrologic behaviour of the fault. This study will shed much needed information related to the mechanisms of earthquake nucleation, and to the formation mechanism of fault-hosted gold deposits.