Numerical study on multi-scaling earthquake rupture

Characteristic scales of earthquake rupture from numerical models

Numerical models of earthquake rupture are used to investigate characteristic length scales and size distributions of repeated earthquakes on vertical, planar fault segments. The models are based on exact solutions of static three-dimensional (3-D) elasticity. Dynamical rupture is approximated by allowing the static stress field to expand from slip motions at a single velocity. To show how the ...

The Mechanics of Earthquake Rupture

Earthquake lights and rupture processes

A physical model of earthquake lights is proposed. It is suggested that the magnetic diffusion from the electric and magnetic fields source region is a dominant process, explaining rather high localization of the light flashes. A 3D numerical code allowing to take into account the arbitrary distribution of currents caused by ground motion, conductivity in the ground and at its surface, includin...

Scaling of earthquake fault parameters

The long-standing conflict between the predictions of elastic dislocation models and the observation that average coseismic slip increases with rupture length is resolved with application of a simple displacement-depth function and assumption that the base of the seismogenic zone does not result from the onset of viscous relaxation, but rather a transition to stable sliding in a medium that rem...

The role of fault continuity at depth in numerical simulations of earthquake rupture

We simulated dynamic rupture propagation along a branched fault, which is partially segmented by a slit. This is an analogy of a strike slip fault, which displays a jog structure on the ground surface but forms a continuous system at depth. We observed that rupture directivity can significantly change due to the existence of the fault slit and that the relative location of the slit to the hypoc...