Electromagnetic emissions during dilating fracture of a rock

Abstract A lot of experiments on electromagnetic emissions (EMEs) have been reported under axial compressive fracture, shear fracture, indentation fracture and stick–slip (friction) in lab and blasting in situ, but there are rare reports on the in-lab experimental work on EMEs during dilating fracture of a rock which is helpful in studying and understanding EMEs related to slow earthquakes and the earthquakes due to volcanic activities and water level changes of reservoirs. Therefore, in the present paper in order to check whether there are detectable EMEs during dilating fracture of a rock in lab, dilating fracture experiments were conducted. The dry cuboid specimens of initially intact granodiorite and limestone were tested inside magnetic field free space (MFFS) at room temperature. We arranged evenly 20 EME antennas whose resonance frequencies range from 2.5 kHz to 540 kHz close to rock specimens. Our experimental results strongly indicate that detectable EMEs could generate during dilating fracture of a rock. They were recorded only associated with some but not all phases of fracture. Their waveforms often took on the trend that a peak arrived at first and then attenuated sharply and followed by a series of low-amplitude oscillations. The electromagnetic (EM) signals after eliminating the effects of EME antennae via deconvolution had the maximum peak-to-peak amplitudes of about 80.0 mV and 40.5 mV for granodiorite and limestone, respectively. Their main spectral components often concentrated in the band of several kHz to ∼60 kHz and of several kHz to ∼280 kHz. The emission of electrons and charged particles from fracture surfaces and/or micro-fracture electrification could be possible mechanisms for our experimental results.