TY - JOUR
T1 - Mechanisms of slip nucleation during earthquakes
AU - Reches, Ze'ev
PY - 1999/7/30
Y1 - 1999/7/30
N2 - Slip nucleation during earthquakes is apparently analogous to rupture nucleation within an intact rock sample subjected to triaxial loading. The observations indicate that both these nucleation processes initiate within a relatively small volume and in both the slip propagates unstably along a quasi-planar surface. In both processes a single, pre-existing, shear fracture cannot nucleate the large-scale slip, and in both a 'process zone' that includes several interacting fractures in a small volume are required to initiate the unstable slip. Both processes require rupture of intact rocks, generate complex fracture geometry, and are associated with intense energy-release rate during slip. Recent observations and analyses are used to correlate rupture nucleation in laboratory tests with nucleation events of large earthquakes. It is proposed that earthquake nucleation occurs by the interaction among multiple fractures within a small volume that develops into unstable yielding of the healed fault zone.
AB - Slip nucleation during earthquakes is apparently analogous to rupture nucleation within an intact rock sample subjected to triaxial loading. The observations indicate that both these nucleation processes initiate within a relatively small volume and in both the slip propagates unstably along a quasi-planar surface. In both processes a single, pre-existing, shear fracture cannot nucleate the large-scale slip, and in both a 'process zone' that includes several interacting fractures in a small volume are required to initiate the unstable slip. Both processes require rupture of intact rocks, generate complex fracture geometry, and are associated with intense energy-release rate during slip. Recent observations and analyses are used to correlate rupture nucleation in laboratory tests with nucleation events of large earthquakes. It is proposed that earthquake nucleation occurs by the interaction among multiple fractures within a small volume that develops into unstable yielding of the healed fault zone.
KW - Earthquakes
KW - Friction
KW - Propagation
KW - Rock mechanics
KW - Rupture
KW - Slip rates
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0033618239&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/S0012-821X(99)00122-3
DO - 10.1016/S0012-821X(99)00122-3
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AN - SCOPUS:0033618239
SN - 0012-821X
VL - 170
SP - 475
EP - 486
JO - Earth and Planetary Science Letters
JF - Earth and Planetary Science Letters
IS - 4
ER -