TY - JOUR
T1 - An experimentally-based friction law for high-velocity, long-displacement slip-pulse events during earthquakes
AU - Liao, Zonghu
AU - Reches, Ze'ev
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 Elsevier B.V.
PY - 2019/6/1
Y1 - 2019/6/1
N2 - Large earthquakes initiate at small nucleation sites and propagate as rupture fronts along the host fault. It is inherently challenging to resolve the complexity of fault rupture at depth, and therefore, the evolution of frictional strength during earthquakes is commonly analyzed in laboratory experiments. We experimentally demonstrate here that this evolution depends simultaneously on all slip kinematic components: displacement, velocity and acceleration. We incorporate these components in shear experiments with slip-histories that resemble the theoretical expectations for earthquake slip. These experiments led to a new friction law that fits fault behavior during high-velocity/long-displacement slip. Our numerical simulations of dynamic rupture along a planar fault that obeys this friction law reproduced a range of earthquake source features including slip-pulse, Yoffe function, Gaussian velocity, and spontaneous slip arrest. Finally, we demonstrate that this experimentally-based friction law can realistically simulate the propagation and arrest of natural earthquakes.
AB - Large earthquakes initiate at small nucleation sites and propagate as rupture fronts along the host fault. It is inherently challenging to resolve the complexity of fault rupture at depth, and therefore, the evolution of frictional strength during earthquakes is commonly analyzed in laboratory experiments. We experimentally demonstrate here that this evolution depends simultaneously on all slip kinematic components: displacement, velocity and acceleration. We incorporate these components in shear experiments with slip-histories that resemble the theoretical expectations for earthquake slip. These experiments led to a new friction law that fits fault behavior during high-velocity/long-displacement slip. Our numerical simulations of dynamic rupture along a planar fault that obeys this friction law reproduced a range of earthquake source features including slip-pulse, Yoffe function, Gaussian velocity, and spontaneous slip arrest. Finally, we demonstrate that this experimentally-based friction law can realistically simulate the propagation and arrest of natural earthquakes.
KW - earthquake experiments
KW - fault weakening
KW - friction law
KW - slip-pulse
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85063688157&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.epsl.2019.03.032
DO - 10.1016/j.epsl.2019.03.032
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AN - SCOPUS:85063688157
SN - 0012-821X
VL - 515
SP - 209
EP - 220
JO - Earth and Planetary Science Letters
JF - Earth and Planetary Science Letters
ER -