2017/10/11 by Bertrand Rouet-Leduc, Bertrand Rouet‐Leduc, Claudia Hulbert +6 · 1 voice
Computer Science · Earth and Planetary Sciences · Physics and Astronomy · #Earthquake Detection and Analysis #Seismology and Earthquake Studies #earthquake and tectonic studies #physics.geo-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1002/2017gl076708
12 pages, 4 figures. Supplementary material not included
arxiv published 2017/10/11 · arxiv created 2018/01/18 · openalex publication_date 2018/01/30 · arxiv updated 2018/03/14 · openalex created_date 2018/03/29 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Nearly all aspects of earthquake rupture are controlled by the friction along the fault that progressively increases with tectonic forcing, but in general cannot be directly measured. We show that fault friction can be determined at any time, from the continuous seismic signal. In a classic laboratory experiment of repeating earthquakes, we find that the seismic signal follows a specific pattern with respect to fault friction, allowing us to determine the fault's position within its failure cycle. Using machine learning, we show that instantaneous statistical characteristics of the seismic signal are a fingerprint of the fault zone shear stress and frictional state. Further analysis of this fingerprint leads to a simple equation of state quantitatively relating the seismic signal power and the friction on the fault. These results show that fault zone frictional characteristics and the state of stress in the surroundings of the fault can be inferred from seismic waves, at least in the laboratory.