dilatancy
Posted by John Vidale on March 28, 2006 at 01:14:18:

a granular solid swelling a bit before faulting. The grains have to re-arrange a bit before they can slide past each other to allow fault slip.

Follow Ups:
     ● Re: dilatancy - Cathryn  21:52:32 - 3/29/2006  (35372)  (0)