Deformations resulting from the movements of a shear or tensile fault in an anisotropic half space

Earlier solutions (Bull. Seismol. Soc. Amer. 1985; 75 :1135–1154; Bull. Seismol. Soc. Amer. 1992; 82 :1018–1040) of deformations caused by the movements of a shear or tensile fault in an isotropic half-space for finite rectangular sources of strain nucleus have been extended for a transversely isotropic half-space. Results of integrating previous solutions (Int. J. Numer. Anal. Meth. Geomech. 2001; 25 (10): 1175–1193) of deformations due to a shear or tensile fault in a transversely isotropic half-space for point sources of strain nucleus over the fault plane are presented. In addition, a boundary element (BEM) model (POLY3D:A three-dimensional, polygonal element, displacement discontinuity boundary element computer program with applications to fractures, faults, and cavities in the Earth's crust. M.S. Thesis, Stanford University, Department of Geology, 1993; 62) is given. Different from similar researches (e.g. Thomas), the Akaike's view on Bayesian statistics (Akaike Information Criterion Statistics. D. Reidel Publication: Dordrecht, 1986) is applied for inverting deformations due to a fault to obtain displacement discontinuities on the fault plane. An example is given for checking displacements predicted by proposed analytical expressions. Another example is generated for the use of proposed BEM model. It demonstrates the effectiveness of this model in exploring displacement behaviours of a fault. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.