Superstatistical view of stress-induced electric current fluctuations in rocks

• Application of superstatistics to stress stimulated current fluctuations in rock complex systems.
• Complexity of stress induced currents and cracks in rocks.
• Connection with q-Gaussian and Tsallis statistical physics.

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 qq-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.