Critical behaviour and the evolution of fault strength during earthquake cycles

被引:33
作者
Heimpel, M
机构
[1] Institut für Geophysik, Universität Göttingen
关键词
D O I
10.1038/42232
中图分类号
O [数理科学和化学]; P [天文学、地球科学]; Q [生物科学]; N [自然科学总论];
学科分类号
07 ; 0710 ; 09 ;
摘要
The problem of how fault rheology and heterogeneity interact to produce the observed scaling of earthquakes (such as the power-law moment-frequency relationship) remains largely unsolved. Rock friction experiments have elucidated the properties of smooth faults(1-3), but seem insufficient to explain the observed complexity of real fault dynamics(4,5). The recognition of a connection between fault-related processes and critical phenomena in other physical systems, together with numerical models of repeated earthquakes, have resulted in significant progress in the theoretical interpretation of earthquake scaling(4-14). But fault rheology and heterogeneity have so far been treated separately. Here I attempt to unify the requirements of fault rheology and heterogeneity using numerical calculations of quantized slip in an elastic continuum, I show that cyclical fault strength evolves naturally by means of a statistical selection for high-strength fault patches (asperities), resulting in the accumulation and eventual failure of those asperities, The applicability of these results to real fault systems is supported by a recent analysis of time-dependent earthquake statistics(15). These results imply that self-similarity and criticality on a fault emerge during an earthquake cycle, and suggest that the character of local seismicity can be useful in earthquake forecasting by revealing how advanced a fault is within its cycle.
引用
收藏
页码:865 / 868
页数:4
相关论文
共 25 条
[1]  
ANDREWS DJ, 1980, J GEOPHYS RES, V85, P3876
[2]   EARTHQUAKES AS A SELF-ORGANIZED CRITICAL PHENOMENON [J].
BAK, P ;
TANG, C .
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-SOLID EARTH AND PLANETS, 1989, 94 (B11) :15635-15637
[3]   THE ROLES OF TIME AND DISPLACEMENT IN THE EVOLUTION EFFECT IN ROCK FRICTION [J].
BEELER, NM ;
TULLIS, TE ;
WEEKS, JD .
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS, 1994, 21 (18) :1987-1990
[4]   Stress, slip, and earthquakes in models of complex single-fault systems incorporating brittle and creep deformations [J].
Ben-Zion, Y .
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-SOLID EARTH, 1996, 101 (B3) :5677-5706
[5]   CLOSURE OF ROCK JOINTS [J].
BROWN, SR ;
SCHOLZ, CH .
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH-SOLID EARTH AND PLANETS, 1986, 91 (B5) :4939-4948
[6]  
BURRIDGE R, 1967, B SEISMOL SOC AM, V57, P341
[7]   MODELING OF ROCK FRICTION .1. EXPERIMENTAL RESULTS AND CONSTITUTIVE EQUATIONS [J].
DIETERICH, JH .
JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, 1979, 84 (NB5) :2161-2168
[9]   Statistical physics, seismogenesis, and seismic hazard [J].
Main, I .
REVIEWS OF GEOPHYSICS, 1996, 34 (04) :433-462
[10]   SCALING OF THE CRITICAL SLIP DISTANCE FOR SEISMIC FAULTING WITH SHEAR STRAIN IN FAULT ZONES [J].
MARONE, C ;
KILGORE, B .
NATURE, 1993, 362 (6421) :618-621