Superstatistical view of stress-induced electric current fluctuations in rocks

The concepts of non-extensive statistical physics, which have recently been applied in the study of complex systems, have been used here to analyse stress-induced electric current data in triaxially deformed Carrara marble samples. The fluctuations of electric current appear to follow a q -Gaussian distribution, with the PDF exhibiting ‘fat tails’. The application of super-statistical techniques to these electric current fluctuations shows to good approximation that they can be described by local Gaussian processes with fluctuating variance.