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AGU: Journal of Geophysical Research, Solid Earth

 

Keywords

  • inelastic porosity change
  • slip strengthening
  • pulse-like slip

Index Terms

  • Seismology: Theory
  • Seismology: Earthquake dynamics
  • Seismology: Computational seismology
  • Physical Properties of Rocks: Thermal properties
Abstract
Cited By (4)
 

Abstract

JOURNAL OF GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH, VOL. 113, B07304, 13 PP., 2008
doi:10.1029/2008JB005581

Nonlinear effects of temperature, fluid pressure, and inelastic porosity on dynamic fault slip and fault tip propagation: Emergence of slip strengthening and pulse-like fault slip

Takehito Suzuki

Earthquake Research Institute, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

Teruo Yamashita

Earthquake Research Institute, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

We theoretically study dynamic faulting, taking account of thermoporoelastic effects including inelastic porosity change; the porosity is assumed to increase with increasing fault slip. We first derive the analytical solutions for the changes of fluid pressure, temperature, and fault slip, assuming 1-D fault model. As found in our previous study, the evolution of these quantities is controlled by a single nondimensional parameter S u , a quantity proportional to the rate of increase in inelastic porosity multiplied by the thickness of shear heating zone. If we assume that temperature elevation remains below the melting temperature of fault rocks, S u is found be close to zero or greater than unity. Our 2-D simulation shows that pulse-like slip appears when S u is greater than unity, which is a necessary consequence of the emergence of slip strengthening, while slip weakening caused by thermal pressurization arises when S u is close to zero. The applied shear stress is entirely released when S u is close to zero, while it is released only partially when S u is greater than unity, so that the latter will be more reasonable according to seismological observations. The fault tip stress increases significantly with the fault extension in classical singular fault model. In contrast, the fault tip stress is only weakly dependent on the size of extending fault in our model when S u is greater than unity, so that the fault growth is more vulnerable to spatial perturbation of model parameters. Our present study indicates the importance of slip strengthening for the understanding of dynamic faulting.

Received 9 January 2008; accepted 20 May 2008; published 15 July 2008.

Citation: Suzuki, T., and T. Yamashita (2008), Nonlinear effects of temperature, fluid pressure, and inelastic porosity on dynamic fault slip and fault tip propagation: Emergence of slip strengthening and pulse-like fault slip, J. Geophys. Res., 113, B07304, doi:10.1029/2008JB005581.

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