Earthquakes nucleate as accelerating slip over a region of finite size. Understanding what controls the length and time scales of this process is important for assessing earthquake early-warning systems and for interpreting data obtained by monitoring earthquake-generating faults within tens to hundreds of meters of the source (such as at the 2.5-km-deep San Andreas Fault Observatory at Depth, or SAFOD; see Figure 1).
Theoretical models of earthquake nucleation require coupling the equations of elasticity with a constitutive law for the evolving strength of the fault surface. For more than 2 decades the most complete constitutive laws have been various incarnations of “rate- and state dependent friction”, meaning that the frictional strength depends upon the micromechanical state of the fault surface as well as the current slip speed. Despite this lengthy history, it is most likely that no numerical simulation has ever employed the “correct” constitutive law. This is because no proposed law fits even all the available experimental data, let alone the conditions of temperature, pressure, and fluid chemistry that might be appropriate in situ. To make matters worse, the strongly nonlinear nature of friction has made it very difficult to obtain an intuitive understanding of the differences between the underlying equations that people use. This combination of poorly-constrained constitutive laws and opaque equations is a significant impediment to extrapolating from numerical simulations to fault slip in the Earth.
Over the last several years, the work I have done with post-doc Jean-Paul Ampuero (now an assistant professor at Caltech) has gone a log way toward developing this intuitive understanding. Using standard methods of fracture mechanics, we now have analytic expressions for the length and time scales of nucleation under the most commonly-used law for the evolution of state (the “aging” law; see Figure 2). Under this law, nucleation zones can grow to be so large that they might often be detectable from the Earth’s surface. However, our analytical solutions also let one see immediately that the properties of the aging law that generate these large nucleation zones are directly contradicted by lab experiments. This has led to a collaboration with Chris Marone (Penn State), where we recently showed that lab data relevant to earthquake nucleation are much more consistent with the “slip” evolution law (Figure 3).
|
|
|
Figure 5. Mesh plot of the logarithm of the slip speed from a numerical simulation of a 3-D “slip” law nucleation zone. The slip direction is parallel to the x coordinate axis.
Our work shows that if lab results can be safely extrapolated to the Earth (a very big if!), the “slip” law is the proper law for studies of earthquake nucleation. Nucleation under the “aging” and “slip” laws is entirely different, taking the form of an expanding crack in the first case and a unidirectional slip pulse in the second (Figure 4). The extent of this difference is surprising in that both laws have been advertised as being adequate at some level. However, this difference is understandable in terms of the much larger fracture energy at the edge of the expanding nucleation zone implied by the “aging” law. Nucleation under the “slip” law is much less likely to be observable by surface instruments.
Related publications:
Planar impact experiments were employed to induce dynamic tensile failure in Bedford limestone. Rock discs were impacted with aluminum and polymethyl methacralate flyer plates at velocities of 10 to 25 m/s. This resulted in tensile stresses in the range of ~11 to 160 MPa. Tensile stress durations of 0.5 and 1.3 μs induced microcrack growth…
We compare 2-D, quasi-static earthquake nucleation on rate-and-state faults under both "aging" and "slip" versions of the state evolution law. For both versions mature nucleation zones exhibit 2 primary regimes of growth: Well above and slightly above steady state, corresponding respectively to larger and smaller fault weakening rates. Well…
Nonvolcanic tremor is an important component of the slow slip processes which load faults from below, but accurately locating tremor has proven difficult because tremor rarely contains clear P or S wave arrivals. Here we report the observation of coherence in the shear and compressional waves of tremor at widely separated stations which allows…
Abstract The variations in the response of different state evolution laws to large velocity increases can dramatically alter the style of earthquake nucleation in numerical simulations. But most velocity step friction experiments do not drive the sliding surface far enough above steady state to probe this relevant portion of the parameter space…
A new state evolution law has recently been proposed by Nagata et al. (2012) that includes a dependence upon stressing rate through a laboratory derived proportionality constant c. It has been claimed that this law, while retaining the time-dependent healing of the Dieterich (or Aging) law, can also match the symmetric response of the Ruina (or…
The popular constitutive formulations of rate-and-state friction offer two end-member views on whether friction evolves only with slip (Slip law) or with time even without slip (Aging law). While rate stepping experiments show support for the Slip law, laboratory-observed frictional behavior near zero slip rates has traditionally been inferred…
The duration of each subevent of 48 earthquakes with magnitude larger than 5.5 and depth greater than 100 km was determined from stacked traces of broadband records of Global Seismograph Network stations. We fitted the source time function by one or more triangles convolved with attenuation. We found that global stacks of displacement…
Abstract We employ 130 low-frequency earthquake (LFE) templates representing tremor sources on the plate boundary below southern Vancouver Island to examine LFE magnitudes. Each template is assembled from hundreds to thousands of individual LFEs, representing over 269,000 independent detections from major episodic-tremor-and-slip (ETS) events…
Abstract We have recently suggested that the nearly constant duration of low-frequency earthquakes (LFEs) (and, equivalently, the band limitation of tectonic tremor) manifests a moment-duration scaling that is fundamentally different from regular earthquakes and is most easily explained as rupture on asperities of roughly constant dimension. In…
Since the discovery of slow slip events along subduction zone interfaces worldwide, dense geodetic and seismic networks have illuminated detailed characteristics of these events and associated tremor. High-resolution observations of tremor, where the spatial-temporal evolution is presumed to reflect that of the underlying slow slip events, show…
Rate‐ and state‐dependent friction (RSF) equations are commonly used to describe the time‐dependent frictional response of fault gouge to perturbations in sliding velocity. Among the better‐known versions are the Aging and Slip laws for the evolution of state. Although the Slip law is more successful, neither can predict all the robust features…
We consider the thermal history and dynamics of magma emplacement in giant feeder dikes associated with continental flood basalts. For driving pressure gradients inferred for giant dike swarms, thicknesses of <10 m would enable dikes to transport magma laterally over the distances observed in the field (up to thousands of kilometers) without…
We consider solidification of hot fluid flowing through a rigid-wall channel of infinite extent. The calculated ?thermal arrest? lengths are used to investigate the role of magma freezing in limiting the propagation distance of lateral dike intrusions. Our results demonstrate that for reasonable parameters the propagation distances of meter…
High confining pressure fracture tests of Indiana limestone [Abou-Sayed, 1977] and Iidate granite [Hashida et al., 1993] were simulated using boundary element techniques and a Dugdale-Barenblatt (tension-softening) model of the fracture process zone. Our results suggest a substantial (more than a factor of 2) increase in the fracture energy of…
We investigate the dynamics of viscous pressure losses associated with lateral magma transport in volcanic rift zones by performing (1) coupled elastic-hydrodynamic simulations of downrift magma flow in dikes and (2) analog experiments mimicking lateral dike propagation in the presence of an along-rift topographic slope. It is found that near…
FREQUENT shallow earthquakes within the rift zones of the Hawaiian volcano Kilauea have been interpreted as resulting from stress changes associated with a shallow magma conduit system1,2. Here, by using a precise earthquake relocation technique3, we show that what had been imaged as a diffuse cloud of seismicity in the Upper East Rift in 1991…
We use borehole strain and seismic data to show that slow slip and tremor in central Cascadia are correlated on a range of time scales shorter than 1 day. The recorded strain rate is our proxy for the slow slip moment rate, and the seismic amplitude is our proxy for the tremor amplitude. We find that, on average, the strain rate is higher when…
We investigate the behavior of simulated slow slip events using a rate and state friction model that is steady state velocity weakening at low slip speeds but velocity strengthening at high slip speeds. Our simulations are on a one-dimensional (line) fault, but we modify the elastic interactions to mimic the elongate geometry frequently…
We examine tidal modulation and back-propagating fronts in simulated slow slip events using a rate and state friction law that is steady state velocity weakening at low slip rates and velocity strengthening at high slip rates. Tidal forcing causes a quasi-sinusoidal modulation of the slip rate during the events, with the maximum moment rate…
Several studies have shown that the seismic tremor in episodic tremor and slip is tidally modulated, suggesting a sensitivity to the rather small tidal stresses. We address whether the slip rate in slow slip events is also tidally modulated by examining data from six borehole strainmeters in northwest Washington and southern Vancouver Island…
The November 30, 1974, ML = 5.5 and November 16, 1983, ML = 6.6 earthquakes generated left-stepping, en echelon ground cracks within the Kaoiki seismic zone, on the southeast flank of Mauna Loa volcano, Hawaii. The general trend of the ruptures, N48°-55°E, parallels a nodal plane of the main shocks' focal mechanisms. The ruptures themselves…
We use seismic waveform cross correlation to determine the relative positions of 2747 microearthquakes near Mount Lewis, California, that have waveforms recorded from 1984 to 1999. These earthquakes include the aftershock sequence of the 1986 ML5.7 Mount Lewis earthquake. Approximately 90% of these aftershocks are located beyond the tips of the…
Eruptions on the ice moon Enceladus provide access to materials from Enceladus’ ocean. The mechanism that drives and sustains the eruptions is unclear, and it is also not known what sets the rate of volcanism. We found that a simple model in which the erupting fissures are underlain by slots that connect the surface to the ocean can explain the…
Abstract Whether rate- and state-dependent friction evolution is primarily slip dependent or time dependent is not well resolved. Although slide-hold-slide experiments are traditionally interpreted as supporting the aging law, implying time-dependent evolution, recent studies show that this evidence is equivocal. In contrast, the slip law…
In the vicinity of episodic aseismic transients in several subduction zones, the presence of interstitial fluids and near-lithostatic pore pressure has been proposed to interpret seismic observations of high P to S wave speed ratio and high Poisson's ratio. Under such conditions, fault stabilization by dilatancy-induced suction during increased…
[1] The recurrence intervals for 194 repeating clusters on the Calaveras fault follow a power‐law decay relation with elapsed time after the 1984 M6.2 Morgan Hill, California, mainshock. The decay rates of repeating aftershocks in the immediate vicinity of a high‐slip patch that failed during the mainshock systematically exceed those that…
Abstract In this study, we analyze high-resolution tremor catalogs from northern Cascadia, Guerrero, and northern Kii Peninsula. We find that tremor often occurs in short bursts that repeatedly occupy the same source area within a slow slip event. We hypothesize that these bursts are driven by loading from slow slip in areas surrounding the…
Abstract Slow slip events exhibit significant complexity in slip evolution and variations in recurrence intervals. Behavior that varies systematically with recurrence interval is likely to reflect different extents of fault healing between these events. Here we use high-resolution tremor catalogs beneath Guerrero, Mexico, to investigate the…
Abstract Episodic tremor and slip (ETS) in subduction zones is generally interpreted as the manifestation of shear slip near the base of earthquake-generating portion of the plate interface. Here we devise a new method of cross-correlating stacked Array of Arrays seismic data that provides greatly improved tremor locations, a proxy for the…
Stress inversion methods employed by structural geologists for estimating a regional stress tensor from populations of faults containing slickenlines rely on the basic assumption that slip on each fault plane occurs in the direction of maximum resolved regional shear stress. This premise ignores directional differences in fault compliance…
Recent relocation and focal mechanism analyses of deep earthquakes beneath Kilauea volcano, Hawaii indicate that seismicity is concentrated on a horizontal fault zone at a depth of 30 km, with seaward slip of the upper block on a low-angle plane. We discuss whether the observed localization of the earthquakes can be explained primarily by…
Field observations indicate that dikes form and grow in magma source regions, but the mechanics of this process are poorly understood. I derive time-dependent and self-similar solutions for the growth of buoyant dikes fed by porous flow in partially molten rock. The host rock is treated as poroelastic; for basaltic (but not rhyolitic) dikes,…
We apply a new method to obtain accurate locations of tremor sources beneath southern Vancouver Island. Unlike more standard "cross-time" methods, which compare waveforms from different time windows at the same station, this "cross-station" method compares waveforms from the same time window at widely separated stations. It performs well,…
Zhou et al. (2012) proposed that longitudinal dunes in the Qaidam Basin, China, formed like yardangs: by erosion into sediment that was not deposited by those dunes. Because erosion occurs on the upwind fl anks of most migrating dunes (Rubin and Hunter, 1982, 1985), the key to demonstrating a yardang-like origin is to show that the dunes did…
The mechanism of magma transport at depth influences direction magma moves, the distance it travels before freezing, the degree to which it communicates chemically with the host rock, the form of surficial volcanism, and ultimately the growth of oceanic and continental crust. Commonly envisioned transport processes include porous flow in…
Whether a dike can propagate far from a magma reservoir depends upon the competition between the rate at which propagation widens the dike and the rate at which freezing constricts the aperture available for magma flow. Various formulations are developed for a viscous fluid at temperature Tm intruding a growing crack in an elastic solid. The…
Field observations indicate that zones of inelastic deformation produced at the tips of propagating dikes can be much larger than those produced at the tips of tensile cracks in laboratory experiments. This is in direct conflict with the concept that fracture toughness and fracture energy are rock properties, independent of crack size and…
Dikes beginning to propagate away from a magma source are thin and grow slowly, and thus are susceptible to freezing. A self-similar solution is obtained for a dike propagating down a temperature gradient when the wallrock and magma temperatures are equal at the chamber wall. The solution applies only to the special case of a single-component…
A striking observation from both Cascadia and Japan is that the tremor associated with slow slip often migrates along strike at speeds close to 10 km/d but updip and downdip at speeds approaching 100 km/h. In this paper I adopt the view that the friction law appropriate for these regions is unknown, and I ask what constraints the observed…
Field observations and geodetic data indicate that dike intrusion in volcanic rift zones typically generates normal faulting and graben subsidence at the Earth's surface. Elastic models indicate that two-dimensional (infinite strike length) dikes do not lower the ground surface above the dike and that normal faults do not lower the surface…
Planar impact experiments were employed to induce dynamic tensile failure in Bedford limestone. Rock discs were impacted with aluminum and polymethyl methacralate (PMMA) flyer plates at velocities of 10 to 25 m/s. Tensile stress magnitudes and duration were chosen so as to induce a range of microcrack growth insufficient to cause complete…
For a wide range of conditions, earthquake nucleation zones on rate- and state-dependent faults that obey either of the popular state evolution laws expand as they accelerate. Under the "slip" evolution law, which experiments show to be the more relevant law for nucleation, this expansion takes the form of a unidirectional slip pulse. In…
There are several ways of generating episodic slow slip events in models of rate-and-state friction. Here I explore the possibility that they arise on velocity-weakening faults whose length is "tuned" in some sense. Unlike spring-block sliders, which have a unique critical stiffness for instability, elastically deformable faults have…
Observations of eroded volcanic rift zones indicate that dikes in Iceland are typically several times thicker than those in Hawaii. Geodetic and seismic observations of active rifts, however, suggest that dike heights in the two regions are similar. Provided the elastic properties of the rift zones are the same, this implies that dikes are…