A team effort across several universities (Otago, EHT, Durham and Johannes Gutenberg Universitat-Mainz) has resulted in a publication accepted in the Journal of Geophysical Research entitled Seismic anisotropy and its impact on imaging the shallow Alpine Fault: an experimental and modeling perspective. We show that microfractures in Alpine Fault protomylonite rocks can remain open at all depths of the brittle crust. Such conclusion is based on laboratory data, microimaging and numerical models, and explains that microfractures could be responsible for  the low velocity zone and high seismic reflectivity observed at the Alpine Fault.