Geology Professor Jim Evans Rocks

Geology Professor Jim Evans Rocks

Geology is more than simply looking at rocks and contributes to many important discoveries, including Utah State University Geology professor Jim Evans's findings published May 13 by the American Geophysical Union.

" We are excited about having the research noticed by AGU — it is a pretty prestigious place to have work published," said Evans. "We want to continually get our research results out for people to read and use."

Evan's findings were published as a result of rock samples he collected in 1998, taken from deep in the Active Fault Survey Tunnel in Japan. The tunnel crosses an active fault and shows the structure at a depth level not often studied. The level is in a region between an earthquake’s starting point and the surface of the Earth.

"The structure we see there suggests that the slip on an earthquake would be on a narrow zone with lots of fractures next to the slip zone where the water percolates downward," said Evans. "It helps us understand how earthquake energy gets to the surface and affects buildings."

Evan's findings were a combined effort between Utah State University, University of Utah and the University of Tokyo in Japan. Work is still being done on the rock samples in Japan.