Fault (geology)

About: Fault (geology) is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 26732 publications have been published within this topic receiving 744535 citations.

Remotely Triggered Seismicity on the United States West Coast following the Mw 7.9 Denali Fault Earthquake

Abstract: The Mw 7.9 Denali fault earthquake in central Alaska of 3 November 2002 triggered earthquakes across western North America at epicentral distances of up to at least 3660 km. We describe the spatial and temporal development of triggered activity in California and the Pacific Northwest, focusing on Mount Rainier, the Geysers geothermal field, the Long Valley caldera, and the Coso geothermal field. The onset of triggered seismicity at each of these areas began during the Love and Raleigh waves of the Mw 7.9 wave train, which had dominant periods of 15 to 40 sec, indicating that earthquakes were triggered locally by dynamic stress changes due to low-frequency surface wave arrivals. Swarms during the wave train continued for 4 min (Mount Rainier) to 40 min (the Geysers) after the surface wave arrivals and were characterized by spasmodic bursts of small (M 2.5) earthquakes. Dy- namic stresses within the surface wave train at the time of the first triggered earth- quakes ranged from 0.01 MPa (Coso) to 0.09 MPa (Mount Rainier). In addition to the swarms that began during the surface wave arrivals, Long Valley caldera and Mount Rainier experienced unusually large seismic swarms hours to days after the Denali fault earthquake. These swarms seem to represent a delayed response to the Denali fault earthquake. The occurrence of spatially and temporally distinct swarms of triggered seismicity at the same site suggests that earthquakes may be triggered by more than one physical process.

Slip patterns and earthquake populations along different classes of faults in elastic solids

Abstract: Numerical simulations of slip instabilities on a vertical strike-slip fault in an elastic half-space are performed for various models belonging to two different categories. The first category consists of inherently discrete cellular fault models. Such are used to represent fault systems made of segments (modeled by numerical cells) that can fail independently of one another. Their quasi-independence is assumed to provide an approximate representation of strong fault heterogeneity, due to geometric or material property disorder, that can arrest ruptures at segment boundaries. The second category consists of models having a well-defined continuum limit. These involve a fault governed by rate- and state-dependent friction and are used to evaluate what types of property heterogeneity could lead to the quasi-independent behavior of neighboring fault segments assumed in the first category. The cases examined include models of a cellular fault subjected to various complex spatial distributions of static to kinetic strength drops, and models incorporating rate- and state-dependent friction subjected to various spatial distributions of effective stress (normal stress minus pore pressure). The results indicate that gradual effective stress variations do not provide a sufficient mechanism for the generation of observed seismic response. Strong and abrupt fault heterogeneity, as envisioned in the inherently discrete category, is required for the generation of complex slip patterns and a wide spectrum of event sizes. Strong fault heterogeneity also facilitates the generation of rough rupture fronts capable of radiating high-frequency seismic waves. The large earthquakes in both categories of models occur on a quasi-periodic basis; the degree of periodicity increases with event size and decreases with model complexity. However, in all discrete segmented cases the models generate nonrepeating sequences of earthquakes, and the nature of the large (quasi-periodic) events is highly variable. The results indicate that expectations for regular sequences of earthquakes and/or simple repetitive precursory slip patterns are unrealistic. The frequency-size (FS) statistics of the small failure episodes simulated by the cellular fault models are approximately self-similar with b ≈ 1.2 and bA ≈ 1, where b and bA are b values based on magnitude and rupture area, respectively. For failure episodes larger than a critical size, however, the simulated statistics are strongly enhanced with respect to self-similar distributions defined by the small events. This is due to the fact that the stress concentrated at the edge of a rupture expanding in an elastic solid grows with the rupture size. When the fault properties (e.g., geometric irregularities) are characterized by a narrow range of size scales, the scaling of stress concentrations with the size of the failure zone creates a critical rupture area terminating the self-similar earthquake statistics. In such systems, events reaching the critical size become (on the average) unstoppable, and they continue to grow to a size limited by a characteristic model dimension. When, however, the system is characterized by a broad spectrum of size scales, the above phenomena are suppressed and the range of (apparent) self-similar FS statistics is broad and characterized by average b and bA values of about 1. The simulations indicate that power law extrapolations of low-magnitude seismicity will often underestimate the rate of occurrence of moderate and large earthquakes. The models establish connections between features of FS statistics of earthquakes (range of self-similar regimes, local maxima) and structural properties of faults (dominant size scales of heterogeneities, dimensions of coherent brittle zones). The results suggest that observed FS statistics can be used to obtain information on crustal thickness and fault zone structure.

Three-Dimensional Simulation of a Magnitude 7.75 Earthquake on the San Andreas Fault

Abstract: Simulation of 2 minutes of long-period ground motion in the Los Angeles area with the use of a three-dimensional finite-difference method on a parallel supercomputer provides an estimate of the seismic hazard from a magnitude 7.75 earthquake along the 170-kilometer section of the San Andreas fault between Tejon Pass and San Bernardino. Maximum ground velocities are predicted to occur near the fault (2.5 meters per second) and in the Los Angeles basin (1.4 meters per second) where large amplitude surface waves prolong shaking for more than 60 seconds. Simulated spectral amplitudes for some regions within the Los Angeles basin are up to 10 times larger than those at sites outside the basin at similar distances from the San Andreas fault.

Stress sensitivity of fault seismicity: A comparison between limited‐offset oblique and major strike‐slip faults

Abstract: We present a new three-dimensional inventory of the southern San Francisco Bay area faults and use it to calculate stress applied principally by the 1989 M = 7. 1 Loma Prieta earthquake and to compare fault seismicity rates before and after 1989. The major high-angle right-lateral faults exhibit a different response to the stress change than do minor oblique (right-lateral/thrust) faults. Seismicity on oblique-slip faults in the southern Santa Clara Valley thrust belt increased where the faults were unclamped. The strong dependence of seismicity change on normal stress change implies a high coefficient of static friction. In contrast, we observe that faults with significant offset (>50-100 km) behave differently; microseismicity on the Hayward fault diminished where right-lateral shear stress was reduced and where it was unclamped by the Loma Prieta earthquake. We observe a similar response on the San Andreas fault zone in southern California after the Landers earthquake sequence. Additionally, the offshore San Gregorio fault shows a seismicity rate increase where right-lateral/oblique shear stress was increased by the Loma Prieta earthquake despite also being clamped by it. These responses are consistent with either a low coefficient of static friction or high pore fluid pressures within the fault zones. We can explain the different behavior of the two styles of faults if those with large cumulative offset become impermeable through gouge buildup; coseismically pressurized pore fluids could be trapped and negate imposed normal stress changes, whereas in more limited offset faults, fluids could rapidly escape. The difference in behavior between minor and major faults may explain why frictional failure criteria that apply intermediate coefficients of static friction can be effective in describing the broad distributions of aftershocks that follow large earthquakes, since many of these events occur both inside and outside major fault zones.

Morphology of pyroclastic cones and tectonics

Abstract: The relationships between morphology and spatial distribution of 1315 Quaternary pyroclastic cones and coeval faulting of the volcanic substrate are analyzed in the following regions with different structural settings: Tepic Rift (Mexico), Ethiopian Rift, Mexican Volcanic Belt, Canary Archipelago, and Mount Etna. Field data and analog experiments of tephra cone emplacement and collapse enable the definition of a number of parameters which can be used to infer the geometry of the fracture feeding the magma to a pyroclastic cone. The strike of the feeding plane is directly related to: (1) the elongation of cone base and crater, (2) the location of depressions on the crater rim, and (3) the alignment of pyroclastic cones in relation to a given vent spacing. In addition, the strike and dip of faults affect the direction of cone breaching. These relationships are valid for volcanic substrate topographic surfaces with an inclination of less than 9° and are especially sensitive to fault escarpment and cone height, lava and cone density, and fault orientation with respect to the dip of the volcanic substrate topography. Relations 1 and 2 become more pronounced for regions undergoing extensional tectonics, where edifices also have a larger dimension. Whereas breaching in the direction of the fault dip is more widespread in regions under extension, breaching along the fault strike as well as the coincidence between fault strike and vent alignment are more frequent in regions with transcurrent or transtensional tectonics.