The Length to which an Earthquake will go to Rupture: an Observational Note

Steven G. Wesnousky, & Glenn P. Biasi

In Preparation 2011, SCEC Contribution #1465

Using a database of 21 historical strike-slip surface rupture earthquakes, an apparent upper limit is observed in the number of steps through which an earthquake is likely to rupture. The number of ruptures is also observed to decrease as a function of the number of steps through which the respective earthquakes propagated. The observations may be important for assessing the expected length of earthquake ruptures where fault sections interact on mapped fault systems.

Citation
Wesnousky, S. G., & Biasi, G. P. (2011). The Length to which an Earthquake will go to Rupture: an Observational Note. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, (in preparation).