PROJECT | visualisations for research on seismically induced kinking in quartz.

DETAILS | bent (or kinked) veins of quartz from an ancient earthquake fault in the Austrian Alps were discovered through analysis to have fine internal layers (deformation lamellae) and structures which formed prior or during the earthquake. These quartz grains had been essentially ‘pre-weakened’ in specific directions. Identifying these microscopic ‘wrinkle patterns’ provides inside into how rocks respond to sudden, violent shifts deep underground. 

(personal project based on research by Dr. Michel Bestmann, Department of Geology, University of Vienna)