Fling-step and forward directivity are two important characteristics of near-field earthquakes. Forward directivity occurs when the rupture propagates toward the site and arises in fault‐normal direction for strike‐slip faults. Fling-step is the consequence of permanent ground displacement imposed by near-field earthquakes and arises in strike-slip faults in the strike parallel direction. Fling...

The geometry of faults is usually thought to be more complicated at the surface than at depth and to control the initiation, propagation and arrest of seismic ruptures1–6. The fault system that runs from southern California into Mexico is a simple strike-slip boundary: the west side of California and Mexico moves northwards with respect to the east. However, the Mw 7.2 2010 El Mayor–Cucapah ear...

U the physics of complex phenomena such as earthquakes is a formidable challenge. Because we are constrained by our inability to do experiments on earthquake faults, we turn to computers as our earthquake laboratories. Computer simulations of earthquakes help us to test theoretical models and allow us to generate catalogs of synthetic earthquake events. In this column, we discuss several models...

The NNW-trending Dena Fault, with 140 km length, cuts the major structures of Zagros Fold-Thrust Belt in Borujen region. The fault has divided the region in two zones, in which different structural, andmorphological features as well assedimentation and seismtectonic characteristics have developed. This study presents a new interpretation for the kinematics of Dena Fault based on field evidence....

One of the more enigmatic features of the Earth’s style of mantle convection is plate tectonics itself, in particular the existence of strike-slip, or toroidal, motion. Toroidal motion is uncharacteristic of basic thermal convection, but necessarily forms through the interaction of convective flow and nonlinear rheological mechanisms. Recent studies have implied that the empirically determined ...

Fault slip rate estimates along the Altyn Tagh and Kunlun strike-slip faults in northern Tibet vary considerably between short-term geodetic and long-term geologic studies. Here we reanalyze and model all global positioning system (GPS) data from northern Tibet to determine if these differences might be explained by previously unmodeled transient processes associated with the earthquake cycle, ...

Pliocene and Quaternary tectonic structures mainly consisting of segmented northwest–southeast normal faults, and associated seismicity in the central Betics do not agree with the transpressive tectonic nature of the Africa–Eurasia plate boundary in the Ibero-Maghrebian region. Active extensional deformation here is heterogeneous, individual segmented normal faults being linked by relay ramps a...