title: High-pressure mechanical instability in rocks.
abstract: At a confining pressure of a few kilobars, deformation of many sedimentary rocks, altered mafic rocks, porous volcanic rocks, and sand is ductile, in that instabilities leading to audible elastic shocks are absent. At pressures of 7 to 10 kilobars, however, unstable faulting and stick-slip in certain of these rocks was observed. This high pressure-low temperature instability might be responsible for earthquakes in deeply buried sedimentary or volcanic sequences.
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Byerlee
authors.forename: W F
authors.initials: WF
authors.lastname: Brace