Field Trip

A field trip is scheduled on Sunday, 17 October 2010, leaving from Boston College at 9:00am.

Regular Field Trip (Lunch Included):  $55
Sudent Field Trip (Lunch Included):   $35

Fault-related rocks in eastern Massachusetts: how is fault movement accommodated at various crustal levels? 

Yvette D. Kuiper and John E. Ebel

On this field trip, we will examine fault-related rocks in eastern Massachusetts at various crustal levels. At shallow crustal levels rocks are deformed by brittle mechanisms. We will visit examples of cataclasite, and pseudotachylite, which are commonly associated with stick-slip behavior and earthquakes. From shallow to mid- and deep crustal levels, rocks behave in a progressively more ductile manner, until partial melting occurs. We will see various examples of mylonite and ultramylonite, and migmatitic (partially melted) gneiss. While these rock types are deformed by ductile processes, and not commonly associated with earthquakes, we will discuss the possibility of earthquake generation in the ductile domain.