This volume is a state of the art look at our understandingof joint development in the crust. Answers are provided forsuch questions as the mechanisms by which joints are initiated,the factors controlling the path they follow during the propagationprocess, and the processes responsible for the arrest of joints.Many of the answers to these questions can be inferred fromthe geometry of joint surface morphology and joint patterns.Joints are a record of the orientation of stress at the timeof propagation and as such they are also useful records of ancientstress fields, regional and local. Because outcrop and subsurfaceviews of joints are limited, statistical techniques are requiredto characterize joints and joint sets. Finally, joints are subjectto post-propagation stresses that further localize deformationand are the focus for the development of new structures.
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This 250-word extract was created in the absence of an abstract.
