A Physical Understanding of the Earthquake Source Mechanism

An earthquake source mechanism is described from the standpoint that the dynamic characteristics of friction play a more important role in the dislocation motion than the boundary condition does. By considering an earthquake dislocation as a slip motion in a mechanical system involving friction, which depends upon velocity during slip, a displacement time function G(t)=1-exp(-t/τ)(1+t/τ) which satisfies the necessary continuity criterion is derived. The rise time of the source time function, which must be directly dominated by the physical conditions on the source region, is straightforward estimated from the time constant