Faults without friction?
Article Abstract:
The absence of friction heating in the San Andreas fault is explained by a granular model of the fault's brittle crust and dynamic weakening methods. The model assumes friction-less free rotation of particles and accurately simulates localized shear zones, elastodynamic failures, and stress rotation across the shear region as in earthquakes. According to dynamic weakening methods, the open displacement mode of earthquakes decrease perpendicular stress so that there is no friction. However, the significant decrease in stress predicted by dynamic methods is not observed during earthquakes.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 1996
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Weakness amidst strength
Article Abstract:
The motion of faults is currently thought to be made possible by fluid pressure which reduces the normal force between sheer surfaces, thus reducing the frictional resistance to their relative motion. Norman H. Sleep and Michael L. Blanpied have proposed a mechanism for the fluctuation of pore-fluid pressure during the earthquake cycle. However, they have not sufficiently accounted for the possibility of hydrofracturing, which would prevent the build-up of fluid pressure.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 1992
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Earthquakes and friction laws
Article Abstract:
More precise and predictive models for the earthquake mechanism are emerging, based on the observations that tectonic earthquakes rarely occur by the sudden appearances of new faults. Earthquakes are recognized as resulting from a stick-slip frictional instability. It is shown that the range of earthquake phenomena, including seismogenesis and seismic coupling, emerge as manifestations of the richness of the friction law.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 1998
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