Earthquake sequence calculations with dynamic weakening mechanisms

Hiroyuki Noda, Nadia Lapusta, & James R. Rice

Published 2011, SCEC Contribution #1491

There are multiple lines of evidences that major faults which host large earthquakes (e.g., San Andreas fault) are operating at much lower shear stresses than what is predicted by Byerlee’s law and a litho- and hydro-static stress state. Recent lab-experimental studies suggest that a fault weakens dramatically at coseismic slip rates. We have taken the experimentally derived dynamic weakening into account in the earthquake sequence simulations, and have revealed that the overall stress level at which a fault operates is controlled by the frictional resistance at coseismic slip rates, not that at low slip rates near the plate velocity.


Key Words
cycles, stress drops, focal mechanism, diffusion, pressure, three-dimensional models, friction, fluid dynamics, simulation, hydraulic diffusivity, temperature, rupture, pore pressure, mathematical methods, shear, heating, heterogeneity, earthquakes, faults

Citation
Noda, H., Lapusta, N., & Rice, J. R. (2011). Earthquake sequence calculations with dynamic weakening mechanisms. , : Springer.