Exploding rocks

This modelling is motivated by recent experimental work, in which a vertical column of rock under large pressure is suddenly depressurised, so that it explodes, in a sequence of horizontal fractures that forms from the top down. The resulting blocks are lifted off and ejected. This experiment provides a framework for understanding the way in which catastrophic explosion can occur, and is motivated by the corresponding phenomenon of magmatic explosion during Vulcanian eruptions. We summarise a theoretical model built to describe these results, and show that it is capable of describing both the primary sequence of fracturing, and the secondary intra-block fracturing. © 2009 American Institute of Physics.