Fault zone models, heat flow, and the depth distribution of earthquakes in the continental crust of the United States
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In this article, the authors show that the maximum depth of microseismic activity in various heat flow provinces of the conterminous United States generally correlates well with the frictional to quasi-plastic transition modeled for the different geotherms.Abstract:
Models of fault zones in continental crust, based on the analysis of rock deformation textures, suggest that the depth of seismic activity is controlled by the passage from a pressure-sensitive, dominantly frictional regime to strongly temperature-dependent, quasi-plastic mylonitization at greenschist and higher grades of metamorphism. Sufficient knowledge now exists concerning the frictional and rheological properties of quartz-bearing rocks to construct crude strength-depth curves for different geotherms. In such models, shear resistance peaks sharply at the inferred seismic-aseismic transition. The maximum depth of microseismic activity in various heat flow provinces of the conterminous United States generally correlates well with the frictional to quasi-plastic transition modeled for the different geotherms. Larger earthquakes ( M L > 5.5) also tend to nucleate near the base of the seismogenic zone. This region is postulated to have the highest concentration of distortional strain energy for stress levels at failure, and can be regarded as the prime asperity in crustal fault zones.read more
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References
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Journal ArticleDOI
Friction of Rocks
TL;DR: This paper showed that at low normal stress the shear stress required to slide one rock over another varies widely between experiments and at high normal stress that effect is diminished and the friction is nearly independent of rock type.
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Fault rocks and fault mechanisms
TL;DR: In this paper, physical factors likely to affect the genesis of the various fault rocks are examined in relation to the energy budget of fault zones, the main velocity modes of faulting and the type of fault, whether thrust, wrench, or normal.
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Limits on lithospheric stress imposed by laboratory experiments
W. F. Brace,David L. Kohlstedt +1 more
TL;DR: Byerlee's law, converted to maximum or minimum stress, is a good upper or lower bound to observed in situ stresses to 5 km, for pore pressure hydrostatic or subhydrostatic as discussed by the authors.
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The frequency-magnitude relation of microfracturing in rock and its relation to earthquakes
TL;DR: In this paper, the frequency-magnitude relation of microfracture deformation was studied and the dependence of the parameter b on rock type, stress, and confining pressure was found to depend primarily on stress.
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The dynamics of faulting
TL;DR: In this paper, it is shown mathematically that any system of forces, acting within a rock which for the time being is in equilibrium, resolves itself at any particular point into three pressures or tensions (or both combined), acting across three planes which are at right angles to one another.
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