The break of earthquake asperities imaged by distributed acoustic sensing.

Rupture imaging of megathrust earthquakes with global seismic arrays revealed frequency-dependent rupture signatures, but the role of high-frequency radiators remains unclear. Similar observations of the more abundant crustal earthquakes could provide critical constraints but are rare without ultradense local arrays. Here we use distributed acoustic sensing technology to image the high-frequency earthquake rupture radiators.

A unified perspective of seismicity and fault coupling along the San Andreas Fault.

The San Andreas Fault (SAF) showcases the breadth of possible earthquake sizes and occurrence behavior; in particular, the central SAF is a microcosm of such diversity. This section also exhibits the spectrum of fault coupling from locked to creeping. Here, we show that the observations of aseismic slip, temporal clustering of seismicity, and spatial variations in earthquake size distributions are tightly connected.

Fault rock heterogeneity can produce fault weakness and reduce fault stability.

Geological heterogeneity is abundant in crustal fault zones; however, its role in controlling the mechanical behaviour of faults is poorly constrained. Here, we present laboratory friction experiments on laterally heterogeneous faults, with patches of strong, rate-weakening quartz gouge and weak, rate-strengthening clay gouge. The experiments show that the heterogeneity leads to a significant reduction in strength and frictional stability in comparison to compositionally identical faults with homogeneously mixed gouges.

Dynamic rupture initiation and propagation in a fluid-injection laboratory setup with diagnostics across multiple temporal scales.

Fluids are known to trigger a broad range of slip events, from slow, creeping transients to dynamic earthquake ruptures. Yet, the detailed mechanics underlying these processes and the conditions leading to different rupture behaviors are not well understood. Here, we use a laboratory earthquake setup, capable of injecting pressurized fluids, to compare the rupture behavior for different rates of fluid injection, slow (megapascals per hour) versus fast (megapascals per second).

Propagation of large earthquakes as self-healing pulses or mild cracks.

Observations suggest that mature faults host large earthquakes at much lower levels of stress than their expected static strength. Potential explanations are that the faults are quasi-statically strong but experience considerable weakening during earthquakes, or that the faults are persistently weak, for example, because of fluid overpressure. Here we use numerical modelling to examine these competing theories for simulated earthquake ruptures that satisfy the well known observations of 1-10 megapascal stress drops and limited heat production.

Illuminating the physics of dynamic friction through laboratory earthquakes on thrust faults.

Large, destructive earthquakes often propagate along thrust faults including megathrusts. The asymmetric interaction of thrust earthquake ruptures with the free surface leads to sudden variations in fault-normal stress, which affect fault friction. Here, we present full-field experimental measurements of displacements, particle velocities, and stresses that characterize the rupture interaction with the free surface, including the large normal stress reductions.

Repeating microearthquake sequences interact predominantly through postseismic slip.

Studying small repeating earthquakes enables better understanding of fault physics and characterization of fault friction properties. Some of the nearby repeating sequences appear to interact, such as the 'San Francisco' and 'Los Angeles' repeaters on the creeping section of the San Andreas Fault. It is typically assumed that such interactions are induced by static stress changes due to coseismic slip.

Deeper penetration of large earthquakes on seismically quiescent faults.

Why many major strike-slip faults known to have had large earthquakes are silent in the interseismic period is a long-standing enigma. One would expect small earthquakes to occur at least at the bottom of the seismogenic zone, where deeper aseismic deformation concentrates loading. We suggest that the absence of such concentrated microseismicity indicates deep rupture past the seismogenic zone in previous large earthquakes.

Stable creeping fault segments can become destructive as a result of dynamic weakening.

Faults in Earth's crust accommodate slow relative motion between tectonic plates through either similarly slow slip or fast, seismic-wave-producing rupture events perceived as earthquakes. These types of behaviour are often assumed to be separated in space and to occur on two different types of fault segment: one with stable, rate-strengthening friction and the other with rate-weakening friction that leads to stick-slip. The 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake with moment magnitude M(w) = 9.

Under the hood of the earthquake machine: toward predictive modeling of the seismic cycle.

Advances in observational, laboratory, and modeling techniques open the way to the development of physical models of the seismic cycle with potentially predictive power. To explore that possibility, we developed an integrative and fully dynamic model of the Parkfield segment of the San Andreas Fault. The model succeeds in reproducing a realistic earthquake sequence of irregular moment magnitude (M(w)) 6.

Pulse-like and crack-like ruptures in experiments mimicking crustal earthquakes.

Theoretical studies have shown that the issue of rupture modes has important implications for fault constitutive laws, stress conditions on faults, energy partition and heat generation during earthquakes, scaling laws, and spatiotemporal complexity of fault slip. Early theoretical models treated earthquakes as crack-like ruptures, but seismic inversions indicate that earthquake ruptures may propagate in a self-healing pulse-like mode. A number of explanations for the existence of slip pulses have been proposed and continue to be vigorously debated.