Scaling in natural and laboratory earthquakes

Nielsen, S.; Spagnuolo, E.; Smith, S.; Violay, M.; Di Toro, G.; Bistacchi, A.

doi:10.1002/2015gl067490

Scaling in natural and laboratory earthquakes

Nielsen, S.; Spagnuolo, E.; Smith, S.; Violay, M.; Di Toro, G.; Bistacchi, A.

Authors

Professor Stefan Nielsen stefan.nielsen@durham.ac.uk
Professor

E. Spagnuolo

S. Smith

M. Violay

G. Di Toro

A. Bistacchi

Abstract

Laboratory experiments reproducing seismic slip conditions show extreme frictional weakening due to the activation of lubrication processes. Due to a substantial variability in the details of the weakening transient, generalization of experimental results and comparison to seismic observations have not been possible so far. Here we show that during the weakening, shear stress τ is generally well matched by a power law of slip u in the form inline image (with 0.35 < α < 0.6). The resulting fracture energy Gf can be approximated by a power law in some aspects in agreement with the seismological estimates inline image. It appears that Gf and inline image are comparable in the range 0.01 < u < 0.3 m. However, inline image surpasses Gf at larger slips: at u≈10 m, inline image and Gf≈106. Possible interpretations of this misfit involve the complexity of damage and weakening mechanisms within mature fault zone structures.

Citation

Nielsen, S., Spagnuolo, E., Smith, S., Violay, M., Di Toro, G., & Bistacchi, A. (2016). Scaling in natural and laboratory earthquakes. Geophysical Research Letters, 43(4), 1504-1510. https://doi.org/10.1002/2015gl067490

Journal Article Type	Article
Acceptance Date	Jan 29, 2016
Online Publication Date	Feb 20, 2016
Publication Date	Feb 28, 2016
Deposit Date	Apr 7, 2016
Publicly Available Date	Aug 20, 2016
Journal	Geophysical Research Letters
Print ISSN	0094-8276
Electronic ISSN	1944-8007
Publisher	Wiley
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	43
Issue	4
Pages	1504-1510
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1002/2015gl067490

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Copyright Statement
Nielsen, S., Spagnuolo, E., Smith, S., Violay, M., Di Toro, G. & Bistacchi, A. (2016). Scaling in natural and laboratory earthquakes. Geophysical Research Letters 43(4): 1504-1510, DOI: 10.1002/2015GL067490. To view the published open abstract, go to http://dx.doi.org and enter the DOI.