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Slip Sequences in Laboratory Experiments Resulting from Inhomogeneous Shear as Analogs of Earthquakes Associated with a Fault Edge
Authors:Shmuel M. Rubinstein  Itay Barel  Ze’ev Reches  Oleg M. Braun  Michael Urbakh  Jay Fineberg
Affiliation:(1) The Racah Institute of Physics, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Givat Ram, 91904 Jerusalem, Israel;(2) The School of Chemistry, Tel Aviv University, 69978 Tel Aviv, Israel;(3) School of Geology and Geophysics, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73019, USA;(4) Institute of Physics, National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, Kiev, 03028, Ukraine;
Abstract:Faults are intrinsically heterogeneous with common occurrences of jogs, edges and steps. We therefore explore experimentally and theoretically how fault edges may affect earthquake and slip dynamics. In the presented experiments and accompanying theoretical model, shear loads are applied to the edge of one of two flat blocks in frictional contact that form a fault analog. We show that slip occurs via a sequence of rapid rupture events that initiate from the loading edge and are arrested after propagating a finite distance. Each successive event extends the slip size, transfers the applied shear across the block, and causes progressively larger changes of the contact area along the contact surface. Resulting from this sequence of events, a hard asperity is dynamically formed near the loaded edge. The contact area beyond this asperity is largely reduced. These sequences of rapid events culminate in slow slip events that precede a major, unarrested slip event along the entire contact surface. We suggest that the 1998 M5.0 Sendai and 1995 off-Etorofu earthquake sequences may correspond to this scenario. Our work demonstrates, qualitatively, how the simplest deviation from uniform shear loading may significantly affect both earthquake nucleation processes and how fault complexity develops.
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