Research website Google Scholar
Dr. Nicholas C. Davatzes studies the development of fault zones, their physical properties, and the stresses in the earth that drive their movement. His research incorporates fieldwork to study the anatomy of ancient faults, laboratory rock mechanics experiments, borehole studies of stress in the earth, and numerical analysis of faulting mechanics. His goal is to investigate how the physical properties of fault zones arise from the processes that deform rock during faulting.
Dr. Davatzes is currently part of the U.S. Enhanced Geothermal Systems project that seeks to tap the massive heat of the earth to provide an abundant clean energy resource.
Dr. Davatzes currently teaches undergraduate and graduate quantitative structural geology and geomechanics.