Systematic observations of the slip pulse properties of large earthquake ruptures

Geophysical Research Letters
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Abstract

In earthquake dynamics there are two end member models of rupture: propagating cracks and self-healing pulses. These arise due to different properties of faults and have implications for seismic hazard; rupture mode controls near-field strong ground motions. Past studies favor the pulse-like mode of rupture; however, due to a variety of limitations, it has proven difficult to systematically establish their kinematic properties. Here we synthesize observations from a database of >150 rupture models of earthquakes spanning M7–M9 processed in a uniform manner and show the magnitude scaling properties of these slip pulses indicates self-similarity. Further, we find that large and very large events are statistically distinguishable relatively early (at ~15 s) in the rupture process. This suggests that with dense regional geophysical networks strong ground motions from a large rupture can be identified before their onset across the source region.

Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Systematic observations of the slip pulse properties of large earthquake ruptures
Series title Geophysical Research Letters
DOI 10.1002/2017GL074916
Volume 44
Issue 19
Year Published 2017
Language English
Publisher AGU
Contributing office(s) Geologic Hazards Science Center
Description 8 p.
First page 9691
Last page 9698
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