Earthquake mechanism and predictability shown by a laboratory fault |
| |
| Authors: | Chi-Yu King |
| |
| Institution: | (1) U.S. Geological Survey, 94025 Menlo Park, California, U.S.A. |
| |
| Abstract: | Slip events generated in a laboratory fault model consisting of a circulinear chain of eight spring-connected blocks of approximately equal weight elastically driven to slide on a frictional surface are studied. It is found that most of the input strain energy is released by a relatively few large events, which are approximately time predictable. A large event tends to roughen stress distribution along the fault, whereas the subsequent smaller events tend to smooth the stress distribution and prepare a condition of simultaneous criticality for the occurrence of the next large event. The frequency-size distribution resembles the Gutenberg-Richter relation for earthquakes, except for a falloff for the largest events due to the finite energy-storage capacity of the fault system. Slip distributions, in different events are commonly dissimilar. Stress drop, slip velocity, and rupture velocity all tend to increase with event size. Rupture-initiation locations are usually not close to the maximum-slip locations. |
| |
| Keywords: | Earthquake prediction fault slip stress drop friction chaotic self-organized criticality fractal |
| 本文献已被 SpringerLink 等数据库收录！ |
|
