- Docente: Francesco Mulargia
- Credits: 8
- SSD: GEO/10
- Language: Italian
- Teaching Mode: Traditional lectures
- Campus: Bologna
- Corso: First cycle degree programme (L) in Geological Sciences (cod. 0437)
Learning outcomes
Give the capability to describe in a quantitative - yet simplified - way the physical processes which rule what Geology observes. Students will acquire the capability to describe mathematically landslides, land deformation, faulting, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, etc.
Course contents
The forces that generate earthquakes, faults and landslides: the bases of static continuum mechanics. Tensor and matrix calculus. Stress tensor. Principal stresses. Eigenvalue equations. Strain tensor. Generalized Hooke's law. Faulting as fracture. Basics of fracture mechanics. The estimate of the tensor stress field from the in situ observation of faulting. Earthquakes: focal mechanism and basic parameters. How to locate them. Microzonation. Gravimetry. Gravimetric surveys. Isostasy. Geomagnetism. The origin of the Earth's magnetic field. Magnetic properties of rocks.
Readings/Bibliography
C. M. R. FOWLER, The solid earth: an introduction to global geophysics, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1990. F. MULARGIA, Un'introduzione alla meccanica delle faglie, CLUEB, Bologna, 2000. W.M. TELFORD, L.P. GELDART, Applied Geophysics, Cambridge University Press, 1976.
Teaching methods
Continuous interaction with students to verify the degree of learning. Practice of the written exam.
Assessment methods
Written and oral exam. Passing the written exam gives access to the oral. To access the written exam students must have attended at least 50% of the lectures. Attendance to the is verified by the teacher.
Teaching tools
Direct derivation of the mathematics at the blackboard.
Office hours
See the website of Francesco Mulargia