The Physics of Rock Failure and Earthquakes

Mitiyasu Ohnaka has been a Professor Emeritus at the Earthquake Research Institute (ERI), University of Tokyo, since his retirement in 2001. Previously, he worked at the ERI in the fields of rock physics, experimental seismology and the physics of earthquakes, from 1970 onwards, as well as holding various positions such as Honorary Professor at University College London, and invited lecturer or visiting scholar at many worldwide institutions, including the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Professor Ohnaka also worked widely in Japan, supervising researchers and students, and delivering undergraduate and postgraduate lectures, at institutions from the University of Tokyo to Yamagata University and more. He is the co-author of The Physics of Earthquake Generation, Earthquakes and Faults and The Role of Water in Earthquake Generation (these three in Japanese) and Theory of Earthquake Premonitory and Fracture Processes (1995). Professor Ohnaka was Executive Committee member of the International Association of Seismology and Physics of the Earth's Interior (IASPEI) from 1991 to 1995, and also Chair of the Sub-Commission on Modeling the Earthquake Source from 1991 to 2001 in IASPEI. He is a member of the Seismological Society of Japan and the American Geophysical Union.

1. Introduction; 2. Fundamentals of rock failure physics; 3. Laboratory-derived constitutive relations for shear failure; 4. Constitutive laws for earthquake ruptures; 5. Earthquake generation processes; 6. Physical scale dependence; 7. Large earthquake generation cycles and accompanying seismic activity; References; Index.