A major technological limit on the in situ retorting of oil shale is the effective rubbling of the rock. Consequently, efficient and economical recovery of oil from shale is dependent directly on developing a more sophisticated blasting technology. Crucial to this technology is understanding the behavior of the explosive. Calculations of pressures and shock-front positions are developed and compared graphically to the aquarium-test experimental data for two different diameter explosive configurations for ammonium nitrate/fuel oil (ANFO). Once the explosive reaction is understood, analytical and computational methods can be developed to simulate the blasting of the rock. Such computer modeling will allow the phenomenology of blasting to be studied and will eliminate the need for many expensive field tests. The basis for using predictive modeling and its application to predict rock fracturing is explained, and comparisons of calculations to field experimental data are presented. Also discussed is the theory of effective-elastic-moduli reduction in a transversely isotropic material containing penny-shaped cracks. It is applied to the bedded crack model in which all cracks are in the horizontal (bedding) plane of the material, as they are in oil shale. The technique equates the total body strain to the sum of the straining of the material matrix and the additional strain caused by the opening and shearing of cracks. Finally, the permeability of explosively fractured oil shale is related to the statistical distribution of cracks in the rock and their instability as stress levels increase. An expression for the specific permeability of oil shale under high stresses is derived. 22 figures.