Dugald Carmichael schrieb:
> ...and I trust that everyone is
> studiously ignoring the lapses into _argumentum ad hominem_.
I hope that my open letter was not understood as an invective against a
colleague. It was, however, the strongest possible means to urge a former
advisor and still sincerely respected colleague to get moving. All I need is
someone who finally takes it upon himself to think it through, and - I insist -
Rob is one of the best minds in this professional group. Why he continues to
remain silent is beyond me.
I received a few emails saying that this discussion is not really relevant to
the average structural geologist. Sorry, folks - I do not expect this to become
instantly clear to everyone just because of this discussion, but it will have a
strong effect on the understanding of structures, from slaty cleavage to
regional tectonics(*). I just wish I could find a forum to prove it. This
listserver is not the right place for that, but it is the right place to shake
the ashes to find out where there is still glow.
Falk Koenemann
(*) I give one example which directly relates to current research. Presently
there is a big research project getting to work in California. Topic: to drill
a hole through the San Andreas Fault (SAF) at the level at which the quakes take
place. Reason: the regional max stress direction is oriented at ca. 80 degrees
to the SAF, it is expected to be at 45 degrees, and a heated discussion is going
on as to why the orientation is so weird - what the precise physical properties
of the SAF rocks are (see recent papers in GEOLOGY and NATURE). Relevance to Joe
Taxpayer: if the SAF is better understood it might be possible to predict quakes
in one of the most densely populated regions of the US of A.
The observed max stress direction all along the SAF from Cape Mendocino to Santa
Barbara is nearly identical to the orientation which my theoretical approach
predicts. Attached is a condensed, self-extracting file with figures (SAF.EXE, I
apologize for the size), please make up your own mind.
At the AGU 2000 meeting last December I talked to the project leader.
Unfortunately he was not excited to hear that there is nothing wrong with the
SAF, but a lot with the understanding of stress - now he got this 15 million USD
project funded from an administration not known for generosity towards science,
and then I come and tell him that he does not need that hole (including the
money for several hundred jobs), but he needs to sit down and learn a new stress
theory.
I cannot help it. It is necessary to get the evaluation done. There is no
sanctuary for endangered theories, and barking up the wrong tree does not pay
in the long run.
FKoe
_____________________________________________________________________
| Dr. Falk H. Koenemann Aachen, Germany |
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| Email: [log in to unmask] Phone: *49-241-75885 |
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| URL: http://home.t-online.de/home/peregrine/hp-fkoe.htm |
| stress elasticity deformation of solids plasticity strain |
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| The rain, it raineth on the Just |
| And on the Unjust fella. |
| But chiefly on the Just because |
| The Unjust stole the Just's umbrella. |
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