Variability of dynamic source parameters inferred from kinematic models of past earthquakes

We analyse the scaling and distribution of average dynamic source properties (fracture energy, static, dynamic and apparent stress drops) using 31 kinematic inversion models from 21 crustal earthquakes. Shear-stress histories are computed by solving the elastodynamic equations while imposing the slip velocity of a kinematic source model as a boundary condition on the fault plane. This is achieved using a 3-D finite difference method in which the rupture kinematics are modelled with the staggered-grid-split-node fault representation method of Dalguer & Day. Dynamic parameters are then estimated from the calculated stress-slip curves and averaged over the fault plane. Our results indicate that fracture energy, static, dynamic and apparent stress drops tend to increase with magnitude. The epistemic uncertainty due to uncertainties in kinematic inversions remains small (ϕ∼0.1 in log10 units), showing that kinematic source models provide robust information to analyse the distribution of average dynamic source parameters. The proposed scaling relations may be useful to constrain friction law parameters in spontaneous dynamic rupture calculations for earthquake source studies, and physics-based near-source ground-motion prediction for seismic hazard and risk mitigatio

The transition of dynamic rupture styles in elastic media under velocity-weakening friction

Although kinematic earthquake source inversions show dominantly pulse-like subshear rupture behavior, seismological observations, laboratory experiments and theoretical models indicate that earthquakes can operate with different rupture styles: either as pulses or cracks, that propagate at subshear or supershear speeds. The determination of rupture style and speed has important implications for ground motions and may inform about the state of stress and strength of active fault zones. We conduct 2D in-plane dynamic rupture simulations with a spectral element method to investigate the diversity of rupture styles on faults governed by velocity-and-state-dependent friction with dramatic velocity-weakening at high slip rate. Our rupture models are governed by uniform initial stresses, and are artificially initiated. We identify the conditions that lead to different rupture styles by investigating the transitions between decaying, steady state and growing pulses, cracks, sub-shear and super-shear ruptures as a function of background stress, nucleation size and characteristic velocity at the onset of severe weakening. Our models show that small changes of background stress or nucleation size may lead to dramatic changes of rupture style. We characterize the asymptotic properties of steady state and self-similar pulses as a function of background stress. We show that an earthquake may not be restricted to a single rupture style, but that complex rupture patterns may emerge that consist of multiple rupture fronts, possibly involving different styles and back-propagating fronts. We also demonstrate the possibility of a super-shear transition for pulse-like ruptures. Finally, we draw connections between our findings and recent seismological observations

Dynamic earthquake rupture modelled with an unstructured 3-D spectral element method applied to the 2011 M9 Tohoku earthquake

An important goal of computational seismology is to simulate dynamic earthquake rupture and strong ground motion in realistic models that include crustal heterogeneities and complex fault geometries. To accomplish this, we incorporate dynamic rupture modelling capabilities in a spectral element solver on unstructured meshes, the 3-D open source code SPECFEM3D, and employ state-of-the-art software for the generation of unstructured meshes of hexahedral elements. These tools provide high flexibility in representing fault systems with complex geometries, including faults with branches and non-planar faults. The domain size is extended with progressive mesh coarsening to maintain an accurate resolution of the static field. Our implementation of dynamic rupture does not affect the parallel scalability of the code. We verify our implementation by comparing our results to those of two finite element codes on benchmark problems including branched faults. Finally, we present a preliminary dynamic rupture model of the 2011 M_w 9.0 Tohoku earthquake including a non-planar plate interface with heterogeneous frictional properties and initial stresses. Our simulation reproduces qualitatively the depth-dependent frequency content of the source and the large slip close to the trench observed for this earthquake

Dynamic earthquake rupture modelled with an unstructured 3-D spectral element method applied to the 2011 M9 Tohoku earthquake

An important goal of computational seismology is to simulate dynamic earthquake rupture and strong ground motion in realistic models that include crustal heterogeneities and complex fault geometries. To accomplish this, we incorporate dynamic rupture modelling capabilities in a spectral element solver on unstructured meshes, the 3-D open source code SPECFEM3D, and employ state-of-the-art software for the generation of unstructured meshes of hexahedral elements. These tools provide high flexibility in representing fault systems with complex geometries, including faults with branches and non-planar faults. The domain size is extended with progressive mesh coarsening to maintain an accurate resolution of the static field. Our implementation of dynamic rupture does not affect the parallel scalability of the code. We verify our implementation by comparing our results to those of two finite element codes on benchmark problems including branched faults. Finally, we present a preliminary dynamic rupture model of the 2011 Mw 9.0 Tohoku earthquake including a non-planar plate interface with heterogeneous frictional properties and initial stresses. Our simulation reproduces qualitatively the depth-dependent frequency content of the source and the large slip close to the trench observed for this earthquak

Source properties of dynamic rupture pulses with off-fault plasticity

Large dynamic stresses near earthquake rupture fronts may induce an inelastic response of the surrounding materials, leading to increased energy absorption that may affect dynamic rupture. We systematically investigate the effects of off-fault plastic energy dissipation in 2-D in-plane dynamic rupture simulations under velocity-and-state-dependent friction with severe weakening at high slip velocity. We find that plasticity does not alter the nature of the transitions between different rupture styles (decaying versus growing, pulse-like versus crack-like, and subshear versus supershear ruptures) but increases their required background stress and nucleation size. We systematically quantify the effect of amplitude and orientation of background shear stresses on the asymptotic properties of self-similar pulse-like ruptures: peak slip rate, rupture speed, healing front speed, slip gradient, and the relative contribution of plastic strain to seismic moment. Peak slip velocity and rupture speed remain bounded. From fracture mechanics arguments, we derive a nonlinear relation between their limiting values, appropriate also for crack-like and supershear ruptures. At low background stress, plasticity turns self-similar pulses into steady state pulses, for which plastic strain contributes significantly to the seismic moment. We find that the closeness to failure of the background stress state is an adequate predictor of rupture speed for relatively slow events. Our proposed relations between state of stress and earthquake source properties in the presence of off-fault plasticity may contribute to the improved interpretation of earthquake observations and to pseudodynamic source modeling for ground motion prediction

The SCEC/USGS Dynamic Earthquake Rupture Code Verification Exercise

Numerical simulations of earthquake rupture dynamics are now common, yet it has been difficult to test the validity of thesesimulations because there have been few field observations and no analytic solutions with which to compare the results. This paper describes the Southern California Earthquake Center/U.S. Geological Surve(SCEC/USGS) Dynamic Earthquake Rupture Code Verification Exercise, where codes that simulate spontaneous rupture dynamics in three dimensions are evaluated and the results produced by these codes are compared using Web-based tools. This is the first time that a broad and rigorous examination of numerous spontaneous rupture codes has been performed—a significant advance in this science. The automated process developed to attain this achievement provides for a future where testing of codes is easily accomplished. Scientists who use computer simulations to understand earthquakes utilize a range of techniques. Most of these assume that earthquakes are caused by slip at depth on faults in the Earth, but hereafter the strategies vary. Among the methods used in earthquake mechanics studies are kinematic approaches and dynamic approaches. The kinematic approach uses a computer code that prescribes the spatial and temporal evolution of slip on the causative fault (or faults). These types of simulations are very helpful, especially since they can be used in seismic data inversions to relate the ground motions recorded in the field to slip on the fault(s) at depth. However, these kinematic solutions generally provide no insight into the physics driving the fault slip or information about why the involved fault(s) slipped that much (or that little). In other words, these kinematic solutions may lack information about the physical dynamics of earthquake rupture that will be most helpful in forecasting future events. To help address this issue, some researchers use computer codes to numerically simulate earthquakes and construct dynamic, spontaneous rupture (hereafter called “spontaneous rupture”) solutions. For these types of numerical simulations, rather than prescribing the slip function at each location on the fault(s), just the friction constitutive properties and initial stress conditions are prescribed. The subsequent stresses and fault slip spontaneously evolve over time as part of the elasto-dynamic solution. Therefore, spontaneous rupture computer simulations of earthquakes allow us to include everything that we know, or think that we know, about earthquake dynamics and to test these ideas against earthquake observations

Influence of fore-arc structure on the extent of great subduction zone earthquakes

Author Posting. © American Geophysical Union, 2007. This article is posted here by permission of American Geophysical Union for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Journal of Geophysical Research 112 (2007): B09301, doi:10.1029/2007JB004944.Structural features associated with fore-arc basins appear to strongly influence the rupture processes of large subduction zone earthquakes. Recent studies demonstrated that a significant percentage of the global seismic moment release on subduction zone thrust faults is concentrated beneath the gravity lows resulting from fore-arc basins. To better determine the nature of this correlation and to examine its effect on rupture directivity and termination, we estimated the rupture areas of a set of Mw 7.5–8.7 earthquakes that occurred in circum-Pacific subduction zones. We compare synthetic and observed seismograms by measuring frequency-dependent amplitude and arrival time differences of the first orbit Rayleigh waves. At low frequencies, the amplitude anomalies primarily result from the spatial and temporal extent of the rupture. We then invert the amplitude and arrival time measurements to estimate the second moments of the slip distribution which describe the rupture length, width, duration, and propagation velocity of each earthquake. Comparing the rupture areas to the trench-parallel gravity anomaly (TPGA) above each rupture, we find that in 11 of the 15 events considered in this study the TPGA increases between the centroid and the limits of the rupture. Thus local increases in TPGA appear to be related to the physical conditions along the plate interface that favor rupture termination. Owing to the inherently long timescales required for fore-arc basin formation, the correlation between the TPGA field and rupture termination regions indicates that long-lived material heterogeneity rather than short timescale stress heterogeneities are responsible for arresting most great subduction zone ruptures.A. Llenos was supported by a National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate fellowship

Data Files from The Importance of the Dynamic Source Effects on Strong Ground Motion during the 1999 Chi-Chi, Taiwan, Earthquake: Brief Interpretation of the Damage Distribution on Buildings

[[sponsorship]]地球科學研究所[[note]]已出版;[SCI];有審查制度;具代表性[[note]]http://gateway.isiknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcAuth=Drexel&SrcApp=hagerty_opac&KeyRecord=0037-1106&DestApp=JCR&RQ=IF_CAT_BOXPLO

Variability of Dynamic Source Parameters Inferred from Kinematic Models of Past Earthquakes

ISSN:0956-540XISSN:1365-246