On‐Fault Geological Fingerprint of Earthquake Rupture Direction

A geological fingerprint of low-viscosity fault fluids mobilized during an earthquake

[1] The absolute value of stress on a fault during slip is a critical unknown quantity in earthquake physics. One of the reasons for the uncertainty is a lack of geological constraints in real faults. Here we calculate the slip rate and stress on an ancient fault in a new way based on rocks preserved in an unusual exposure. The study area consists of a fault core on Kodiak Island that has a ser...

The Mechanics of Earthquake Rupture

Earthquake lights and rupture processes

A physical model of earthquake lights is proposed. It is suggested that the magnetic diffusion from the electric and magnetic fields source region is a dominant process, explaining rather high localization of the light flashes. A 3D numerical code allowing to take into account the arbitrary distribution of currents caused by ground motion, conductivity in the ground and at its surface, includin...

Validation of the rupture properties of the 2001 Kunlun, China (Ms= 8.1), earthquake from seismological and geological observations

S U M M A R Y We determine the finite-fault slip distribution of the 2001 Kunlun earthquake (M s = 8.1) by inverting teleseismic waveforms, as constrained by geological and remote sensing field observations. The spatial slip distribution along the 400-km-long fault was divided into five segments in accordance with geological observations. Forward modelling of regional surface waves was performe...

Complex earthquake rupture and local tsunamis

[1] In contrast to far-field tsunami amplitudes that are fairly well predicted by the seismic moment of subduction zone earthquakes, there exists significant variation in the scaling of local tsunami amplitude with respect to seismic moment. From a global catalog of tsunami runup observations this variability is greatest for the most frequently occurring tsunamigenic subduction zone earthquakes...