Recent large-scale seismological observations have shown that off-fault strain localization and foreshock migration could serve as an early warning of an impending earthquake. However, this process is still largely unknown. In this study, state-of-the-art friction experiments were conducted in a oil-confined biaxial shear apparatus to investigate the link between stick-slip nucleation and off-fault deformation. Our findings indicate that there is a direct link between stick-slip nucleation and off-fault deformation, provided that the fault is conditionally unstable ( - < 0). Inelastic off-fault deformation may trigger unstable slip by decreasing the stiffness of the surrounding rock volume, which favors earthquake nucleation. Additionally, the study presents laboratory observation of precursory strain localization around a fault during stick-slip cycles. These findings suggest that volumetric deformation processes could be a main factor in the nucleation of large ruptures and strain localization could be a reliable harbinger of large earthquakes.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11469960 | PMC |
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/s43247-024-01756-2 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Off-fault deformation feedback and strain localization precursor during laboratory earthquakes.
Commun Earth Environ
October 2024
LEMR ENAC, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Recent large-scale seismological observations have shown that off-fault strain localization and foreshock migration could serve as an early warning of an impending earthquake. However, this process is still largely unknown. In this study, state-of-the-art friction experiments were conducted in a oil-confined biaxial shear apparatus to investigate the link between stick-slip nucleation and off-fault deformation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFComplex tsunamigenic near-trench seafloor deformation during the 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake.
Nat Commun
June 2023
Key Laboratory of Submarine Geosciences, Second Institute of Oceanography, Ministry of Natural Resources, Hangzhou, China.
The near-trench coseismic rupture behaviour of the 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake remains poorly understood due to the scarcity of near-field observations. Differential bathymetry offers a unique approach to studying offshore coseismic seafloor deformation but has a limited horizontal resolution. Here we use differential bathymetry estimates with improved horizontal resolutions to investigate near-trench coseismic slip behaviours in the 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDueling dynamics of low-angle normal fault rupture with splay faulting and off-fault damage.
Nat Commun
April 2023
Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, Munich, Germany.
Despite a lack of modern large earthquakes on shallowly dipping normal faults, Holocene M> 7 low-angle normal fault (LANF; dip<30°) ruptures are preserved paleoseismically and inferred from historical earthquake and tsunami accounts. Even in well-recorded megathrust earthquakes, the effects of non-linear off-fault plasticity and dynamically reactivated splay faults on shallow deformation and surface displacements, and thus hazard, remain elusive. We develop data-constrained 3D dynamic rupture models of the active Mai'iu LANF that highlight how multiple dynamic shallow deformation mechanisms compete during large LANF earthquakes.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe cryptic seismic potential of the Pichilemu blind fault in Chile revealed by off-fault geomorphology.
Nat Commun
June 2022
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24-25, Potsdam, Germany.
The first step towards assessing hazards in seismically active regions involves mapping capable faults and estimating their recurrence times. While the mapping of active faults is commonly based on distinct geologic and geomorphic features evident at the surface, mapping blind seismogenic faults is complicated by the absence of on-fault diagnostic features. Here we investigated the Pichilemu Fault in coastal Chile, unknown until it generated a Mw 7.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSurface ruptures and off-fault deformation of the October 2016 central Italy earthquakes from DInSAR data.
Sci Rep
February 2022
Dipartimento di Fisica e Geologia, Centro InteRUniversitario per l'analisi Sismotettonica Tridimensionale (CRUST), Università degli studi di Perugia, 06123, Perugia, Italy.
Large magnitude earthquakes produce complex surface deformations, which are typically mapped by field geologists within the months following the mainshock. We present detailed maps of the surface deformation pattern produced by the M. Vettore Fault System during the October 2016 earthquakes in central Italy, derived from ALOS-2 SAR data, via DInSAR technique.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!