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Franciscus M Aben
Geophysicist
Post-doctoral researcher at University College London Welcome to my website. I am an experimental rock physicist with a particular interest in the seismic cycle, fault mechanics, and earthquake rupture processes. Here you can find my latest research, updates on shenanigans in the lab, publications, and supporting video material.
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News & tweets
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Videos
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Laboratory seismology:
Controlled shear rupture in a Lanhelin granite sample (100 mm length by 40 mm diameter) over the course of around 10 hours yields a lot of acoustic emissions (i.e., nano-seismic events). The source locations of these AEs are shown as black points within this slice perpendicular to the failure zone. We used the information hidden in the arrival times of the AE waves in conjunction with ultrasonic surveys (i.e., seismic surveys) to obtain a P-wave tomography, shown by the colours. We thus see the rupture propagating, whilst creating a zone of reduced P-wave velocity due to off-fault fracture damage. Stress-strain curve corresponds to time interval shown. See Aben et al., 2019 GRL. |
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Pulverised rock: A public outreach video that I produced during my Ph.D. time in Grenoble, as part of the Marie Curie ITN FlowTrans. It tells the story of pulverised fault damage zone rock, and what we may learn from them. |
Peer-reviewed publications
- Aben, F.M., and Brantut, N. (submitted)
Dilatancy stabilises shear failure in rock.
[get arXiv preprint] - Brantut, N., and Aben, F.M. (2021)
Fluid pressure heterogeneity during fluid flow in rocks: New laboratory measurement device and method.
Geophysical Journal International, 225(2), 968–983 - Aben, F.M., Brantut, N., Mitchell, T.M. (2020)
Off‐fault damage characterisation during and after experimental quasi‐static and dynamic rupture in crustal rock from laboratory P‐wave tomography and microstructures.
Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 125(8)
[Supplementary Information] - Aben, F.M., Doan, M.-L., Mitchell, T.M. (2020)
Variation of hydraulic properties due to dynamic fracture damage: Implications for fault zones
Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 125(4)
[Supplementary Information] - Ostermijer, G., Mitchell, T.M., Aben, F.M., Dorsey, M.T, Browning, J., Rockwell, T.K., Fletcher, J.M., Ostermeijer, F. (2020)
Damage zone heterogeneity on seismogenic faults in crystalline rock; a field study of the Borrego Fault, Baja California
Journal of Structural Geology, 137, 104016 - Aben, F.M., Brantut, N, Mitchell, T.M., David, E. (2019)
Rupture energetics in crustal rock from laboratory-scale seismic tomography
Geophysical Research Letters, 46(13), 7337-7344
[Supplementary Information] - Aben, F.M., Doan, M.-L., Gratier, J.-P., Renard, F. (2017)
Experimental postseismic recovery of fractured rocks assisted by calcite sealing
Geophysical Research Letters, 44(14), 7228-7238 - Aben, F.M., Doan, M.-L., Gratier, J.-P., Renard, F. (2017)
High strain rate deformation of porous sandstone and the asymmetry of earthquake damage in shallow fault zones
Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 463, 81-91 - Fondriest, M., Doan, M.-L., Aben, F.M., Fusseis, F., Mitchell, T.M., Voorn, M., Secco, M., Di Toro, G., (2017)
Static versus dynamic fracturing in shallow carbonate fault zones
Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 461 - Aben, F.M., Doan, M.-L., Gratier, J.-P. and Renard, F. (2017)
Coseismic damage generation and pulverization in fault zones: insights from dynamic Split-Hopkinson Pressure Bar experiments
In: M.Y. Thomas, T.M. Mitchell, and H.S. Bhat (eds.), Fault Zone Dynamic Processes: Evolution of Fault Properties During Seismic Rupture, Wiley, Hoboken, NJ. - Aben, F.M., Doan, M.-L., Mitchell, T.M., Toussaint, R., Reuschle, T., Fondriest, M., Gratier, J.-P., Renard, F. (2016)
Dynamic fracturing by successive coseismic loadings leads to pulverization in active fault zones
Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 121 - Aben, F.M., Dekkers, M.J., Bakker, R.R., van Hinsbergen, D.J.J., Zachariasse, W.J., Tate, G.W., McQuarrie, N., Harris, R., Duffy, B. (2014)
Untangling inconsistent magnetic polarity records through an integrated rock magnetic analysis: A case study on Neogene sections in East Timor
Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 15(6), 2531-2554
Curriculum Vitae
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Svalbard snowscooter adventure
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Ongoing projects and collaborations
Feedback between fluids and faulting througout the seismic cycle: An experimental approach
(current Post-doc project, NERC funded, PI: Dr. Nicolas Brantut, UCL)
We measure the local pore fluid pressure during rock deformation. Among others, these measurements shed light on the stabilisation of shear rupture, and provide estimates for hydraulic properties in heterogeneous deforming rock.
Collaborators: Dr. Nicolas Brantut (PI), Dr. Peter Fokker & Dr. Thibaut Candela (TNO Utrecht, the Netherlands).
Effective moduli and Thomsen’s parameters of randomly packed spheres under triaxial stress conditions
For dry and saturated granular aggregates (for instance, sandstone), we derive analytical relations between the physical parameters at the grain scale and the effective moduli measured at the reservoir scale, and how these change with varying stress conditions. Planned experimental work provides the verification of the analytical results.
Collaborators: Dr. Suzanne Hangx (Utrecht University, the Netherlands) and Dr. Nicolas Brantut (UCL)
Breaking news for earthquakes: Integrating field and laboratory results with earthquake rupture simulations to study damage and ground motion
(funded by: UCL Cities Partnership Programme with Paris, PI: Frans Aben)
Earthquake rupture simulations that allow for dynamic off-fault damage will be linked and calibrated with laboratory experimental results on dynamic fracture damage.
Collaborators: Dr. Marion Thomas (ISTeP, Sorbonne University, Paris), Prof. Dr. Harsha Bhat (Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris), Dr. Tom Mitchell (UCL)
Is there large scale heat transfer by fluid flow along the San Andreas fault, Mojave section?
We work on geological evidence from pulverised damage zone rock that indicates heat transfer by hydrothermal fluids, and use simulations of upper crustal fluid flow in a fault zone setting to give constraints on the conditions for such hydrothermal fluid flow pulses.
Collaborators: Dr. Tom Mitchell (UCL), Kathryn Anderson, Prof. Tom Rockwell (San Diego State University, USA), Dr. Boris Galvan, Prof. Stephen Miller (Université de Neuchatel, Switserland)
(current Post-doc project, NERC funded, PI: Dr. Nicolas Brantut, UCL)
We measure the local pore fluid pressure during rock deformation. Among others, these measurements shed light on the stabilisation of shear rupture, and provide estimates for hydraulic properties in heterogeneous deforming rock.
Collaborators: Dr. Nicolas Brantut (PI), Dr. Peter Fokker & Dr. Thibaut Candela (TNO Utrecht, the Netherlands).
Effective moduli and Thomsen’s parameters of randomly packed spheres under triaxial stress conditions
For dry and saturated granular aggregates (for instance, sandstone), we derive analytical relations between the physical parameters at the grain scale and the effective moduli measured at the reservoir scale, and how these change with varying stress conditions. Planned experimental work provides the verification of the analytical results.
Collaborators: Dr. Suzanne Hangx (Utrecht University, the Netherlands) and Dr. Nicolas Brantut (UCL)
Breaking news for earthquakes: Integrating field and laboratory results with earthquake rupture simulations to study damage and ground motion
(funded by: UCL Cities Partnership Programme with Paris, PI: Frans Aben)
Earthquake rupture simulations that allow for dynamic off-fault damage will be linked and calibrated with laboratory experimental results on dynamic fracture damage.
Collaborators: Dr. Marion Thomas (ISTeP, Sorbonne University, Paris), Prof. Dr. Harsha Bhat (Ecole Normale Superieure, Paris), Dr. Tom Mitchell (UCL)
Is there large scale heat transfer by fluid flow along the San Andreas fault, Mojave section?
We work on geological evidence from pulverised damage zone rock that indicates heat transfer by hydrothermal fluids, and use simulations of upper crustal fluid flow in a fault zone setting to give constraints on the conditions for such hydrothermal fluid flow pulses.
Collaborators: Dr. Tom Mitchell (UCL), Kathryn Anderson, Prof. Tom Rockwell (San Diego State University, USA), Dr. Boris Galvan, Prof. Stephen Miller (Université de Neuchatel, Switserland)