RUPTURE MECHANISM AND INTERFACE SEPARATION IN FOAM RUBBER MODELS OF EARTHQUAKES - A POSSIBLE SOLUTION TO THE HEAT-FLOW PARADOX AND THE PARADOX OF LARGE OVERTHRUSTS

Spontaneous stick-slip along the interface between stressed foam rubber blocks is a simple analog of earthquake rupture and stick-slip. Results from this model are used to elucidate the role of normal stress variations along the interface in the stick-slip process. Observations indicate significant normal interface vibrations and separation during slip, suggesting that dynamic changes in normal stress (rather than a drop in the coefficient of friction) may control stick-slip, as suggested, for example, by Tolstoi, Oden and Martins and Brune and co-workers. Observations of particle trajectories indicate that stick-slip shear motion is associated with various degrees of fault separation. For an asymmetric model, the motion is consistent with slipping motion of the type suggested by Schallamach and Price. For a symmetric model, the motion is similar to that suggested by Comninou and Dundurs. If interface waves of this type, involving separation during slip, occur in earthquakes, they may be a solution to the heat flow paradox, since a major part of the slip occurs during separation and during low normal stress. Thus frictional heat generation is reduced. Normal interface vibrations during stick-slip may explain the high comer frequency of P wave spectra and the generally high levels of P wave spectra beyond the corner frequency. Schallamach-Comninou type waves are consistent with the partial stress drop-abrupt locking-self healing models of Brune and Heaton.