Dr. Sabine den Hartog has developed a model that can help geophysicists better predict when and
Earthquakes occur while moving along faults in the weakest part of the crust, which usually contains phyllosilicates - a type of mineral that consists of tiny, very thin plates.
At the moment, scientists have recreated the movement alongfaults in their laboratories in order to try to understand the processes occurring at the micro level, which lead to earthquakes. Although the experiments helped scientists better understand the processes of faults and earthquakes, they do not give a complete picture. The reason is simple - in the laboratory it is difficult to recreate difficult conditions at a depth in the earth's crust.
Dr. Den Hartog and her University staffLiverpool and Utrecht University wanted to be able to predict the friction force of phyllosilicates, and not rely on laboratory experiments. Friction is the force required to move along a fault.
Fault zones are usually formed in places with highconcentration of phyllosilicates. Therefore, scientists have created a model so that they can predict the friction force of phyllosilicates under conditions that cannot be achieved in the laboratory.
They analyzed the zones of artificial fracture.on a microscopic scale. This was necessary to identify the processes that occurred during the experiment. We are talking about the splitting of platinum phyllosilicate minerals.
Based on the data, scientists formulated a numberequations to predict how the friction force of phyllosilicates varies under various conditions - whether it is humidity or the speed of a fault. This allows you to make forecasts in conditions not available in the laboratory, which greatly simplifies modeling of the movement of faults in natural conditions, including earthquakes.
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