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Journal ArticleDOI

Evidence for and implications of self-healing pulses of slip in earthquake rupture

01 Nov 1990-Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors (Elsevier)-Vol. 64, Iss: 1, pp 1-20
TL;DR: In this article, a qualitative model is presented that produces self-healing slip pulses, which is the key feature of the model is the assumption that friction on the fault surface is inversely related to the local slip velocity, and the model has the following features: high static strength of materials (kilobar range), low static stress drops (in the range of tens of bars).
About: This article is published in Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors.The article was published on 1990-11-01. It has received 901 citations till now. The article focuses on the topics: Slip (materials science) & Earthquake rupture.
Citations
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Book
25 Jan 1991
TL;DR: The connection between faults and the seismicity generated is governed by the rate and state dependent friction laws -producing distinctive seismic styles of faulting and a gamut of earthquake phenomena including aftershocks, afterslip, earthquake triggering, and slow slip events.
Abstract: This essential reference for graduate students and researchers provides a unified treatment of earthquakes and faulting as two aspects of brittle tectonics at different timescales. The intimate connection between the two is manifested in their scaling laws and populations, which evolve from fracture growth and interactions between fractures. The connection between faults and the seismicity generated is governed by the rate and state dependent friction laws - producing distinctive seismic styles of faulting and a gamut of earthquake phenomena including aftershocks, afterslip, earthquake triggering, and slow slip events. The third edition of this classic treatise presents a wealth of new topics and new observations. These include slow earthquake phenomena; friction of phyllosilicates, and at high sliding velocities; fault structures; relative roles of strong and seismogenic versus weak and creeping faults; dynamic triggering of earthquakes; oceanic earthquakes; megathrust earthquakes in subduction zones; deep earthquakes; and new observations of earthquake precursory phenomena.

3,802 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, a review of the relationship between friction and the properties of earthquake faults is presented, as well as an interpretation of the friction state variable, including its interpretation as a measure of average asperity contact time and porosity within granular fault gouge.
Abstract: This paper reviews rock friction and the frictional properties of earthquake faults. The basis for rate- and state-dependent friction laws is reviewed. The friction state variable is discussed, including its interpretation as a measure of average asperity contact time and porosity within granular fault gouge. Data are summarized showing that friction evolves even during truly stationary contact, and the connection between modern friction laws and the concept of “static” friction is discussed. Measurements of frictional healing, as evidenced by increasing static friction during quasistationary contact, are reviewed, as are their implications for fault healing. Shear localization in fault gouge is discussed, and the relationship between microstructures and friction is reviewed. These data indicate differences in the behavior of bare rock surfaces as compared to shear within granular fault gouge that can be attributed to dilation within fault gouge. Physical models for the characteristic friction distance are discussed and related to the problem of scaling this parameter to seismic faults. Earthquake afterslip, its relation to laboratory friction data, and the inverse correlation between afterslip and shallow coseismic slip are discussed in the context of a model for afterslip. Recent observations of the absence of afterslip are predicted by the model.

1,714 citations


Cites background from "Evidence for and implications of se..."

  • ...…that friction laws that exhibit true aging are, under some conditions, required to reproduce certain features of dynamic faulting, including Gutenberg-Richter–like frequency-magnitude statistics (Rice 1993) and slip-pulse rupture propagation (Heaton 1990, Perrin et al 1995, Beeler & Tullis 1996)....

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  • ...…1986, 1992, Stuart & Tullis 1995, Roy & Marone 1996, Tullis 1996, Dieterich & Kilgore 1996a) to coseismic rupture (Tse & Rice 1986, Okubo 1989, Cochard & Madariaga 1994, Ben-Zion & Rice 1995, 1997, Boatwright & Cocco 1996) and earthquake afterslip (Marone et al 1990, Wennerberg & Sharp 1997)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
01 Jan 1998-Nature
TL;DR: A gradient from near-primary, through old-growth secondary and plantation forests to complete clearance, for eight animal groups in the Mbalmayo Forest Reserve, south-central Cameroon is examined, indicating the huge scale of the biological effort required to provide inventories of tropical diversity, and to measure the impacts of tropical forest modification and clearance.
Abstract: Despite concern about the effects of tropical forest disturbance and clearance on biodiversity1,2, data on impacts, particularly on invertebrates, remain scarce3,4,5,6,7,8. Here we report a taxonomically diverse inventory on the impacts of tropical forest modification at one locality. We examined a gradient from near-primary, through old-growth secondary and plantation forests to complete clearance, for eight animal groups (birds, butterflies, flying beetles, canopy beetles, canopy ants, leaf-litter ants, termites and soil nematodes) in the Mbalmayo Forest Reserve, south-central Cameroon. Although species richness generally declined with increasing disturbance, no one group serves as a good indicator taxon9,10,11,12 for changes in the species richness of other groups. Species replacement from site to site (turnover) along the gradient also differs between taxonomic groups. The proportion of ‘morphospecies’ that cannot be assigned to named species and the number of ‘scientist-hours’ required to process samples both increase dramatically for smaller-bodied taxa. Data from these eight groups indicate the huge scale of the biological effort required to provide inventories of tropical diversity, and to measure the impacts of tropical forest modification and clearance.

1,119 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Fault zones and fault systems have a key role in the development of the Earth's crust and control the mechanics and fluid flow properties of the crust, and the architecture of sedimentary deposits in basins as discussed by the authors.

1,057 citations


Cites background from "Evidence for and implications of se..."

  • ...The slip history during large earthquakes appears to take the form of a slip pulse rather than a self-similar crack-like rupture (Heaton, 1990)....

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Journal ArticleDOI
James R. Rice1
TL;DR: In this article, the authors suggest that the most relevant weakening processes in large crustal events are thermal, and to involve thermal pressurization of pore fluid within and adjacent to the deforming fault core, which reduces the effective normal stress and hence also the shear strength for a given friction coefficient.
Abstract: [1] Field observations of mature crustal faults suggest that slip in individual events occurs primarily within a thin shear zone, <1–5 mm, within a finely granulated, ultracataclastic fault core. Relevant weakening processes in large crustal events are therefore suggested to be thermal, and to involve the following: (1) thermal pressurization of pore fluid within and adjacent to the deforming fault core, which reduces the effective normal stress and hence also the shear strength for a given friction coefficient and (2) flash heating at highly stressed frictional microcontacts during rapid slip, which reduces the friction coefficient. (Macroscopic melting, or possibly gel formation in silica-rich lithologies, may become important too at large enough slip.) Theoretical modeling of mechanisms 1 and 2 is constrained with lab-determined hydrologic and poroelastic properties of fault core materials and lab friction studies at high slip rates. Predictions are that strength drop should often be nearly complete at large slip and that the onset of melting should be precluded over much (and, for small enough slip, all) of the seismogenic zone. A testable prediction is of the shear fracture energies that would be implied if actual earthquake ruptures were controlled by those thermal mechanisms. Seismic data have been compiled on the fracture energy of crustal events, including its variation with slip in an event. It is plausibly described by theoretical predictions based on the above mechanisms, within a considerable range of uncertainty of parameter choices, thus allowing the possibility that such thermal weakening prevails in the Earth.

1,035 citations


Cites background or methods from "Evidence for and implications of se..."

  • ...[2005] based on slip inversions by Heaton [1990]; the G values are averages of Gmin and Gmax (= 2 Gmin) of Rice et al. [2005], i.e., G = 1.5 Gmin = 0.75 Gmax; 2, Tinti et al. [2005]; 2a, average of two models, G values ±16% of mean; 2b, average of two models, G values ±11% of mean; 2c, average of four models, of which one is an average of...

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  • ...[13] To choose V, note that Heaton [1990] reports seismic slip inversions for seven shallow earthquakes, giving for each the average slip and average slip duration at a generic point on the fault....

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  • ...[2005] based on slip inversions by Heaton [1990]; the G values are averages of Gmin and Gmax (= 2 Gmin) of Rice et al. [2005], i....

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  • ...[2005] based on slip inversions by Heaton [1990]; the G values are averages of Gmin and Gmax (= 2 Gmin) of Rice et al....

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References
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, it is shown that to answer several questions of physical or engineering interest, it is necessary to know only the relatively simple elastic field inside the ellipsoid.
Abstract: It is supposed that a region within an isotropic elastic solid undergoes a spontaneous change of form which, if the surrounding material were absent, would be some prescribed homogeneous deformation. Because of the presence of the surrounding material stresses will be present both inside and outside the region. The resulting elastic field may be found very simply with the help of a sequence of imaginary cutting, straining and welding operations. In particular, if the region is an ellipsoid the strain inside it is uniform and may be expressed in terms of tabu­lated elliptic integrals. In this case a further problem may be solved. An ellipsoidal region in an infinite medium has elastic constants different from those of the rest of the material; how does the presence of this inhomogeneity disturb an applied stress-field uniform at large distances? It is shown that to answer several questions of physical or engineering interest it is necessary to know only the relatively simple elastic field inside the ellipsoid.

11,784 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, an earthquake model is derived by considering the effective stress available to accelerate the sides of the fault, and the model describes near and far-field displacement-time functions and spectra and includes the effect of fractional stress drop.
Abstract: An earthquake model is derived by considering the effective stress available to accelerate the sides of the fault. The model describes near- and far-field displacement-time functions and spectra and includes the effect of fractional stress drop. It successfully explains the near- and far-field spectra observed for earthquakes and indicates that effective stresses are of the order of 100 bars. For this stress, the estimated upper limit of near-fault particle velocity is 100 cm/sec, and the estimated upper limit for accelerations is approximately 2g at 10 Hz and proportionally lower for lower frequencies. The near field displacement u is approximately given by u(t) = (σ/μ) βr(1 - e−t/r) where. σ is the effective stress, μ is the rigidity, β is the shear wave velocity, and τ is of the order of the dimension of the fault divided by the shear-wave velocity. The corresponding spectrum is Ω(ω)=σβμ1ω(ω2+τ−2)1/2(1) The rms average far-field spectrum is given by 〈 Ω(ω) 〉=〈 Rθϕ 〉σβμrRF(e)1ω2+α2(2) where 〈Rθϕ〉 is the rms average of the radiation pattern; r is the radius of an equivalent circular dislocation surface; R is the distance; F(e) = {[2 – 2e][1 – cos (1.21 eω/α)] +e2}1/2; e is the fraction of stress drop; and α = 2.21 β/r. The rms spectrum falls off as (ω/α)−2 at very high frequencies. For values of ω/α between 1 and 10 the rms spectrum falls off as (ω/α)−1 for e < ∼0.1. At low frequencies the spectrum reduces to the spectrum for a double-couple point source of appropriate moment. Effective stress, stress drop and source dimensions may be estimated by comparing observed seismic spectra with the theoretical spectra.

4,527 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, an empirical relation involving seismic moment M, energy E, magnitude M, and fault dimension L (or area S) is discussed on the basis of an extensive set of earthquake data (M_S ≧ 6) and simple crack and dynamic dislocation models.
Abstract: Empirical relations involving seismic moment M_o, magnitude M_S, energy E_S and fault dimension L (or area S) are discussed on the basis of an extensive set of earthquake data (M_S ≧ 6) and simple crack and dynamic dislocation models. The relation between log S and log M_o is remarkably linear (slope ∼ 2/3) indicating a constant stress drop Δσ; Δσ = 30, 100 and 60 bars are obtained for inter-plate, intra-plate and “average” earthquakes, respectively. Except for very large earthquakes, the relation M_S ∼ (2/3) log M_o ∼ 2 log L is established by the data. This is consistent with the dynamic dislocation model for point dislocation rise times and rupture times of most earthquakes. For very large earthquakes M_S ∼ (1/3) log M_o ∼ log L ∼ (1/3) log E_S. For very small earthquakes M_S ∼ log M_o ∼ 3 log L ∼ log E_S. Scaling rules are assumed and justified. This model predicts log E_S ∼ 1.5 M_S ∼ 3 log L which is consistent with the Gutenberg-Richter relation. Since the static energy is proportional to σL^3, where σ is the average stress, this relation suggests a constant apparent stress ησ where η is the efficiency. The earthquake data suggest ησ ~ 1/2 Δσ. These relations lead to log S ∼ M_S consistent with the empirical relation. This relation together with a simple geometrical argument explains the magnitude-frequency relation log N ∼ − M_S.

2,648 citations

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, it is shown that the strength of the population of points of contacts between sliding surfaces determines frictional strength and that the number of contacts changes continuously with displacements.
Abstract: Direct shear experiments on ground surfaces of a granodiorite from Raymond, California, at normal stresses of ∼6 MPa demonstrate that competing time, displacement, and velocity effects control rock friction. It is proposed that the strength of the population of points of contacts between sliding surfaces determines frictional strength and that the population of contacts changes continuously with displacements. Previous experiments demonstrate that the strength of the contacts increases with the age of the contacts. The present experiments establish that a characteristic displacement, proportional to surface roughness, is required to change the population of contacts. Hence during slip the average age of the points of contact and therefore frictional strength decrease as slip velocity increases. Displacement weakening and consequently the potential for unstable slip occur whenever displacement reduces the average age of the contacts. In addition to this velocity dependency, which arises from displacement dependency and time dependency, the experiments also show a competing but transient increase in friction whenever slip velocity increases. Creep of the sliding surface at stresses below that for steady state slip is also observed. Constitutive relationships are developed that permit quantitative simulation of the friction versus displacement data as a function of surface roughness and for different time and velocity histories. Unstable slip in experiments is controlled by these constitutive effects and by the stiffness of the experimental system. It is argued that analogous properties control earthquake instability.

2,478 citations

Book
01 Jan 1967

1,743 citations