Dr. Fred Chester

Bio

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.

Research Interests

• Fracture and Faulting
• Mechanical and Fluid-flow Properties of Granular Materials
• Geologic Constraints on the Physics of Earthquake Rupture
• Structural-Petrologic Characterization of the San Andreas Fault Zone (SAFOD)

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.

Selected Publications

• Kitajima, H., J. S. Chester, F. M. Chester, and T. Shimamoto (2010), High‐speed friction of disaggregated ultracataclasite in rotary shear: Characterization of frictional heating, mechanical behavior, and microstructure evolution, J. Geophys. Res., 115, B08408, doi:10.1029/2009JB007038.
• Karner, S. L., A. K. Kronenberg, F. M. Chester, J. S. Chester, and A. Hajash, Jr. (2008), Hydrothermal deformation of granular quartz sand, J. Geophys. Res., 113, B05404, doi:10.1029/2006JB004710.
• 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.

Links

• Center for Tectonophysics, TAMU
• SAFOD
• NanTroSEIZE