STRESS INDUCED CHANGES IN THE ELECTRICAL-MAGNETIC PROPERTIES OF ROCK CORESHUANG

Abstract

The Standard Lattice Model predicts that under high stress, the outer most electrons of the Si-O bonds of a rock get ejected into the lattice's interstitial space. This loosely bound exoelectron cloud will, in a battery's electric field, have a direct current (DC) I; it will also absorb electromagnetic (EM) waves which result in an alternating current (AC) component in the induced current. Both effects have been measured. At high stress just before fracture, the DC current shows a slow rise due to electron tunneling followed by a sudden rise due to the breaking bond electrons. The AC current's voltage amplitude shows a drop as the current increases, and returns to normal after fracture when the current decreases to normal. This is the conservation of energy:absorbed wave energy E=V×I, AC current power. This AC fracture result demonstrates that EM waves can be used to actively probe the changes in highly stressed crust zones.