Personal Web page

Phone: 979.845.3296
Fax: 979.845.6162
chesterf@geo.tamu.edu

Room 130, Halbouty

Course Offerings:

Current Students

Hiroko Kitajima

Dissertation project: Sediment consolidation and fluid flow processes in Nankai and Cascadia subduction zones.

Anne Herrin

Thesis project: Experimental study of shear and compaction band formation in Berea sandstone

Dr. Frederick M. Chester

Professor of Geology & Geophysics

Frederick Chester's research focuses on the mechanics of fracture and faulting, physics of the earthquake source, fault-rock fabrics, granular and poroplastic behaviors, fluid-flow properties of deformed rock, deformation assisted by fluid-rock reactions, and constitutive modeling of the brittle-to-plastic transition through experimental rock deformation, field study, and theoretical modeling. Current work includes participation in deep scientific drilling of seismogenic faults at continental transform (SAFOD) and subduction (NanTroSEIZE) margins. Teaching interests include Earth system science, structural geology, geomechanics, experimental rock deformation, physics of the Earth's interior, and earthquake faulting.

Ph.D. Geophysics, Texas A&M University, 1987.

M.S. Geology, Texas A&M University, 1983.

B.A. Geology/Geophysics, University California Santa Barbara, 1980.

Research specialty: structural geology, rock mechanics

Research:

Experience:

  • Professor of Geology & Geophysics, Texas A&M University, 2002 (Associate Professor 1997-2002).
  • Associate Professor of Geophysics, Department of Earth & Atmospheric Sciences, Saint Louis University, 1994 (Assistant Professor 1990-1994).
  • Associate Research Scientist, Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory, Columbia University, 1989.
  • Post-Doctoral Fellow, Lamont-Doherty Geological Observatory, Columbia University, 1988.

Publications: (Complete List)

  • Chester, F. M., Chester, J. S., Kronenberg, A. K., and Hajash, A., Subcritical creep compaction of quartz sand at diagenetic conditions: Effects of water and grain size, J. Geophys. Res., 112, B06203, doi:10.1029/2006JB004317, 2007.
  • Chester, J. S., Chester, F. M., and Kronenberg, A. K., Fracture surface energy of the Punchbowl fault, San Andreas system, Nature, 437, 133-136, 2005.
  • Ramsey, J. M., and Chester, F. M., Hybrid fracture and the transition from extension fracture to shear fracture, Nature, 428, 63-66, 2004.
  • Chester, F. M., and J. S. Chester, Ultracataclasite structure and friction processes of the San Andreas fault, Tectonophysics, 295, 199-221, 1998.
  • Chester, F. M., J. P. Evans, and R. L. Biegel, Internal Structure and Weakening Mechanisms of the San Andreas Fault, J. Geophys. Res., 98, 771-786, 1993.
  • Chester, F. M., The brittle-ductile transition in a deformation-mechanism map for halite, Tectonophysics, 154, 125-136, 1988.

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