Abstract Hard rocks or crystalline (i.e., plutonic and metamorphic rocks) constitute the basement of all continents, are particularly exposed at surface in large shields Africa, India, North South America, Australia Europe. They were, still some cases, to deep weathering processes. The storativity hydraulic conductivity hard rocks, thus their groundwater resources, controlled by these processes...

Over the last several decades mechanical mining machines have developed into highly productive, light weight, mobile machines which are able to economically mine many soft rock ore bodies. Due to the utilization of disc cutters Tunnel Boring Machines, with great mass and limited mobility, have developed the ability to cut the hardest rocks at high production rates. Technological advancements ha...

The applicability of Artificial Neural Networks for predicting the stress-strain response of jointed rocks at varied confining pressures, strength properties and joint properties (frequency, orientation and strength of joints) has been studied in the present paper. The database is formed from the triaxial compression tests on different jointed rocks with different confining pressures and differ...

[1] We examine the frictional behavior of a range of lithified rocks used as analogs for fault rocks, cataclasites and ultracataclasites at seismogenic depths and compare them with gouge powders commonly used in experimental studies of faults. At normal stresses of ∼50 MPa, the frictional strength of lithified, isotropic hard rocks is generally higher than their powdered equivalents, whereas fo...

Illegal fishing with explosives has damaged coral reefs throughout Southeast Asia. In addition to killing fish and other organisms, the blasts shatter coral skeletons, leaving fields of broken rubble that shift in the current, abrading or burying new coral recruits, and thereby slowing or preventing reef recovery. Successful restoration and rehabilitation efforts can contribute to coral reef co...