Properties of Dynamic Earthquake Ruptures With Heterogeneous Stress Drop

Earthquake rupture is a notoriously complex process, at all observable scales. We introduce a simplified semi-dynamic crack model to investigate the connection between the statistical properties of stress and those of macroscopic source parameters such as rupture size, seismic moment, apparent stress drop and radiated energy. Rupture initiation is treated consistently with nucleation on a linear slip-weakening fault, whereas rupture propagation and arrest are treated according to the Griffith criterion. The available stress drop is prescribed as a spatially correlated random field and is shown to potentially sustain a broad range of magnitudes. By decreasing the amplitude of the stress heterogeneities or increasing their correlation length the distribution of earthquake sizes presents a transition from Gutenberg- Richter to characteristic earthquake behavior. This transition is studied through a mean-field analysis. The bifurcation to characteristic earthquake behavior is sharp, reminiscent of a first-order phase transition. A lower roll-off magnitude observed in the Gutenberg-Richter regime is shown to depend on the correlation length of the available stress drop, rather than being a direct signature of the nucleation process. More generally, we highlight the possible role of the stress correlation length scale on deviations from earthquake source self-similarity. The present reduced model is a building block towards understanding the effect of structural and dynamic fault heterogeneities on the scaling of source parameters and on basic properties of seismicity

Earthquake source characteristics from dynamic rupture with constrained stochastic fault stress

One of the challenging tasks in predicting near-source ground motion for future earthquakes is to anticipate the spatiotemporal evolution of the rupture process. The final size of an event but also its temporal properties (propagation velocity, slip velocity) depend on the distribution of shear stress on the fault plane. Though these incipient stresses are not known for future earthquakes, they might be sufficiently well characterized in a stochastic sense. We examine the evolution of dynamic rupture in numerical models of a fault subjected to heterogeneous stress fields with varying statistical properties. By exploring the parameter space of the stochastic stress characterization for a large number of random realizations we relate generalized properties of the resulting events to the stochastic stress parameters. The nucleation zone of the simulated earthquake ruptures in general has a complex shape, but its average size is found to be independent of the stress field parameterization and is determined only by the material parameters and the friction law. Furthermore, we observe a sharp transition in event size from small to system-wide events, governed mainly by the standard deviation of the stress field. A simplified model based on fracture mechanics is able to explain this transition. Finally, we find that the macroscopic rupture parameters ( e. g., moment, moment rate, seismic energy) of our catalog of model quakes are generally consistent with observational data

Ground motion and macroseismic intensities of a seismic event related to geothermal reservoir stimulation below the city of Basel—observations and modelling

To stimulate a geothermal reservoir below the city of Basel, Switzerland, fluid was injected in December 2006 at high pressure into a 5 km deep borehole. This stimulation led to an increase in local seismicity with the largest seismic event (ML = 3.4) occurring on 2006 December 8. The event was widely felt by the local population, slight non-structural damage to buildings was reported and ultimately this event was the cause to put the geothermal project on hold. In this study, we present recorded ground motion and determinations of macroseismic intensity of the ML 3.4 event as well as simulations of seismic wave propagation and a model to predict macroseismic intensities. As the two models are based on different simplifying assumptions and different underlying physical processes, the predicted intensity distributions exhibit differences in their details. However, the first-order characteristics of the observed macroseismic intensity distribution are well matched. Based on this result, we compute intensities also for hypothetical scenarios of earthquakes with larger magnitude

REV-ERBα influences the stability and nuclear localization of the glucocorticoid receptor

REV-ERBα (encoded by Nr1d1) is a nuclear receptor that is part of the circadian clock mechanism and regulates metabolism and inflammatory processes. The glucocorticoid receptor (GR, encoded by Nr3c1) influences similar processes, but is not part of the circadian clock, although glucocorticoid signaling affects resetting of the circadian clock in peripheral tissues. Because of their similar impact on physiological processes, we studied the interplay between these two nuclear receptors. We found that REV- ERBα binds to the C-terminal portion and GR to the N-terminal portion of HSP90α and HSP90β, a chaperone responsible for the activation of proteins to ensure survival of a cell. The presence of REV-ERBα influences the stability and nuclear localization of GR by an unknown mechanism, thereby affecting expression of GR target genes, such as IκBα (Nfkbia) and alcohol dehydrogenase 1 (Adh1). Our findings highlight an important interplay between two nuclear receptors that influence the transcriptional potential of each other. This indicates that the transcriptional landscape is strongly dependent on dynamic processes at the protein level

The mammalian circadian timing system: from gene expression to physiology

Many physiological processes in organisms from bacteria to man are rhythmic, and some of these are controlled by self-sustained oscillators that persist in the absence of external time cues. Circadian clocks are perhaps the best characterized biological oscillators and they exist in virtually all light-sensitive organisms. In mammals, they influence nearly all aspects of physiology and behavior, including sleep-wake cycles, cardiovascular activity, endocrinology, body temperature, renal activity, physiology of the gastro-intestinal tract, and hepatic metabolism. The master pacemaker is located in the suprachiasmatic nuclei, two small groups of neurons in the ventral part of the hypothalamus. However, most peripheral body cells contain self-sustained circadian oscillators with a molecular makeup similar to that of SCN (suprachiasmatic nucleus) neurons. This organization implies that the SCN must synchronize countless subsidiary oscillators in peripheral tissues, in order to coordinate cyclic physiology. In this review, we will discuss some recent studies on the structure and putative functions of the mammalian circadian timing system, but we will also point out some apparent inconsistencies in the currently publicized model for rhythm generatio

Normalisation against circadian and age-related disturbances enables robust detection of gene expression changes in liver of aged mice

The expression of some genes is affected by age. To detect such age-related changes, their expression levels are related to constant marker genes. However, transcriptional noise increasing with advancing age renders difficult the identification of real age-related changes because it may affect the marker genes as well. Here, we report a selection procedure for genes appropriate to normalise the mouse liver transcriptome under various conditions including age. These genes were chosen from an initial set of 16 candidate genes defined based on a RNA-sequencing experiment and published literature. A subset of genes was selected based on rigorous statistical assessment of their variability using both RNA-sequencing and Nanostring hybridization experiments. The robustness of these marker genes was then verified by the analysis of 130 publicly available data sets using the mouse liver transcriptome. Altogether, a set of three genes, Atp5h, Gsk3β, and Sirt2 fulfilled our strict selection criteria in all assessments, while four more genes, Nono, Tprkb, Tspo, and Ttr passed all but one assessment and were included into the final set of marker genes to enhance robustness of normalisation against outliers. Using the geometric mean of expression of the genes to normalise Nanostring hybridization experiments we reliably identified age-related increases in the expression of Casein kinase 1δ and 1ϵ, and Sfpq, while the expression of the glucose transporter Glut2 decreased. The age- related changes were verified by real-time PCR and Western blot analysis. As conclusion, proper normalisation enhances the robustness of quantitative methods addressing age-related changes of a transcriptome

Altered sleep homeostasis in rev-erbα knockout mice

Study Objectives: The nuclear receptor REV-ERBα is a potent, constitutive transcriptional repressor critical for the regulation of key circadian and metabolic genes. Recently, REV-ERBα's involvement in learning, neurogenesis, mood, and dopamine turnover was demonstrated suggesting a specific role in central nervous system functioning. We have previously shown that the brain expression of several core clock genes, including Rev-erbα, is modulated by sleep loss. We here test the consequences of a loss of REV-ERBα on the homeostatic regulation of sleep.Methods: EEG/EMG signals were recorded in Rev-erbα knockout (KO) mice and their wild type (WT) littermates during baseline, sleep deprivation, and recovery. Cortical gene expression measurements after sleep deprivation were contrasted to baseline.Results: Although baseline sleep/wake duration was remarkably similar, KO mice showed an advance of the sleep/wake distribution relative to the light-dark cycle. After sleep onset in baseline and after sleep deprivation, both EEG delta power (1–4 Hz) and sleep consolidation were reduced in KO mice indicating a slower increase of homeostatic sleep need during wakefulness. This slower increase might relate to the smaller increase in theta and gamma power observed in the waking EEG prior to sleep onset under both conditions. Indeed, the increased theta activity during wakefulness predicted delta power in subsequent NREM sleep. Lack of Rev-erbα increased Bmal1, Npas2, Clock, and Fabp7 expression, confirming the direct regulation of these genes by REV-ERBα also in the brain.Conclusions: Our results add further proof to the notion that clock genes are involved in sleep homeostasis. Because accumulating evidence directly links REV-ERBα to dopamine signaling the altered homeostatic regulation of sleep reported here are discussed in that context

The nuclear receptor REV-ERBα regulates Fabp7 and modulates adult hippocampal neurogenesis

The function of the nuclear receptor Rev-erbα (Nr1d1) in the brain is, apart from its role in the circadian clock mechanism, unknown. Therefore, we compared gene expression profiles in the brain between wild-type and Rev-erbα knock-out (KO) animals. We identified fatty acid binding protein 7 (Fabp7, Blbp) as a direct target of repression by REV-ERBα. Loss of Rev-erbα manifested in memory and mood related behavioral phenotypes and led to overexpression of Fabp7 in various brain areas including the subgranular zone (SGZ) of the hippocampus, where neuronal progenitor cells (NPCs) can initiate adult neurogenesis. We found increased proliferation of hippocampal neurons and loss of its diurnal pattern in Rev-erbα KO mice. In vitro, proliferation and migration of glioblastoma cells were affected by manipulating either Fabp7 expression or REV-ERBα activity. These results suggest an important role of Rev-erbα and Fabp7 in adult neurogenesis, which may open new avenues for treatment of gliomas as well as neurological diseases such as depression and Alzheimer

Relation between stress heterogeneity and aftershock rate in the rate-and-state model

We estimate the rate of aftershocks triggered by a heterogeneous stress change, using the rate-and-state model of Dieterich [1994].We show that an exponential stress distribution Pt(au) ~exp(-tautau_0) gives an Omori law decay of aftershocks with time ~1/t^p, with an exponent p=1-A sigma_n/tau_0, where A is a parameter of the rate-and-state friction law, and \sigma_n the normal stress. Omori exponent p thus decreases if the stress "heterogeneity" tau_0 decreases. We also invert the stress distribution P(tau) from the seismicity rate R(t), assuming that the stress does not change with time. We apply this method to a synthetic stress map, using the (modified) scale invariant "k^2" slip model [Herrero and Bernard, 1994]. We generate synthetic aftershock catalogs from this stress change.The seismicity rate on the rupture area shows a huge increase at short times, even if the stress decreases on average. Aftershocks are clustered in the regions of low slip, but the spatial distribution is more diffuse than for a simple slip dislocation. Because the stress field is very heterogeneous, there are many patches of positive stress changes everywhere on the fault.This stochastic slip model gives a Gaussian stress distribution, but nevertheless produces an aftershock rate which is very close to Omori's law, with an effective p<=1, which increases slowly with time. We obtain a good estimation of the stress distribution for realistic catalogs, when we constrain the shape of the distribution. However, there are probably other factors which also affect the temporal decay of aftershocks with time. In particular, heterogeneity of A\sigma_n can also modify the parameters p and c of Omori's law. Finally, we show that stress shadows are very difficult to observe in a heterogeneous stress context.Comment: In press in JG

The earthquake of 250 a.d. in Augusta Raurica, A real event with a 3D site-effect?

The Roman city Augusta Raurica is located East of Basel, Switzerland. One important topic of the city's history concerns the hypothesis of an earthquake striking the city in the middle of the third century a.d. This idea had been formulated according to archaeological features and findings, but had not been tested so far. A selection of the archaeological features were reviewed and dated in order to test the hypothesis of a single event. However, archaeological investigations do not draw a conclusive picture; it could not be proven that all features of possible destruction date to the same event. Detailed seismological investigations were performed. These included geological and geotechnical mapping of the unconsolidated sediments. Important parameters such as the thickness and composition of the unconsolidated sediments, the terrain topography and the topography of the bedrock surface were mapped. Ambient vibration H/V measurements provided the fundamental frequency of resonance for the unconsolidated sediments. The velocity of shear waves traveling through sediments is the controlling parameter for amplification of seismic waves. This material property is estimated using the relation between the ellipticity of the fundamental mode Rayleigh wave and the H/V curve. From all information we compiled a three-dimensional model of the surface geology. This model is used to simulate earthquake ground motion and amplification effects in the city, and to map the variability of the amplification. In the part of the city where possible earthquake damage was recognized, amplification occurs in the frequency band of building resonance (2-8Hz). In the other part of the city amplification occurs much above the building's resonance. From 1D modelling we estimate a difference in spectral amplification of about a factor of 2.5 to 3 between the two parts of the city. This corresponds approximately to a difference in macroseismic intensity of one unit. 3D modelling showed a large variability of ground motion within very close distance in the part of the city where possible earthquake damage was recognized. The maximum amplification reaches values up to a factor of nine, which is due to 3D effects and the choice of using vertically incident waves. Finally, all paleoseismological findings in the area of Basel were reviewed in order to find indications of a large event in the time-period of interest. Paleoseismological findings provide no hints to a large earthquake in the third century. If we assume that an earthquake caused at least part of the identified damage in Augusta Raurica, we have to assign to this event a magnitude Mw of about 6.0 or even lower, that is much smaller than the value of 6.9 that is actually in the Swiss earthquake catalogue. The earthquake source of this event must then be very close to the site of Augusta Raurica and a strong site-effect occurred in one part of the cit