Insights from the geological record of deformation along the subduction interface at depths of seismogenesis

Subduction interfaces are loci of interdependent seismic slip behavior, fluid flow, and mineral redistribution. Mineral redistribution leads to coupling between fluid flow and slip behavior through decreases in porosity/permeability and increases in cohesion during the interseismic period. We investigate this system from the perspective of ancient accretionary complexes with regional zones of mélange that record noncoaxial strain during underthrusting adjacent to the subduction interface. Deformation of weak mudstones is accompanied by low-grade metamorphic reactions, dissolution along scaly microfaults, and the removal of fluid-mobile chemical components, whereas stronger sandstone blocks preserve veins that contain chemical components depleted in mudstones. These observations support local diffusive mass transport from scaly fabrics to veins during interseismic viscous coupling. Underthrusting sediments record a crack porosity that fluctuates due to the interplay of cracking and precipitation. Permanent interseismic deformation involves pressure solution slip, strain hardening, and the development of new shears in undeformed material. In contrast, coseismic slip may be accommodated within observed narrow zones of cataclastic deformation at the top of many mélange terranes. A kinetic model implies interseismic changes in physical properties in less than hundreds of years, and a numerical model that couples an earthquake simulator with a fluid flow system depicts a subduction zone interface governed by feedbacks between fluid production, permeability, hydrofracturing, and aging via mineral precipitation. During an earthquake, interseismic permeability reduction is followed by coseismic rupture of low permeability seals and fluid pressure drop in the seismogenic zone. Updip of the seismogenic zone, there is a post-seismic wave of higher fluid pressure that propagates trenchward.

How cementation and fluid flow influence slip behavior at the subduction interface

Much of the complexity of subduction-zone earthquake size and temporal patterns owes to linkages among fluid flow, stress, and fault healing. To investigate these linkages, we introduce a novel numerical model that tracks cementation and fluid flow within the framework of an earthquake simulator. In the model, there are interseismic increases in cohesion across the plate boundary and decreases in porosity and permeability caused by cementation along the interface. Seismogenic slip is sensitive to the effective stress and therefore fluid pressure; in turn, slip events increase porosity by fracturing. The model therefore accounts for positive and negative feedbacks that modify slip behavior through the seismic cycle. The model produces temporal clustering of earthquakes in the seismic record of the Aleutian margin, which has well-documented along-strike variations in locking characteristics. Model results illustrate how physical, geochemical, and hydraulic linkages can affect natural slip behavior. Specifically, coseismic drops in fluid pressure steal energy from large ruptures, suppress slip, moderate the magnitudes of large earthquakes, and lead to aftershocks.

Constructing an earthquake simulator

<p>Earthquakes are natural or man-made events that can occur everywhere in the Earth. Many regions in our planet have the disadvantage to experience more earthquakes compared to other regions, for example in the areas near the boundaries of the tectonic plates. Therefore it is very important to have a course in the schools where pupils learn about earthquakes but also learn what have to be avoided in the construction of the buildings. For this reason pupils construct an earthquake simulator (platform) using simple materials in the course of geography-geology. The simple materials are cardboards, tape, balloons, or small balls and other cheap materials. Pupils construct small structures with one or two floors from different materials in order to observe how these different structures will behave in a possible earthquake. Pupils vibrate the platform randomly or with more concrete way for example they vibrate the platform in a longitudinal or in a transversal way. Additionally pupils fasten a mobile phone in the platform and observe the acceleration of the platform through a suitable application.</p>

EQsimu: a 3-D finite element dynamic earthquake simulator for multicycle dynamics of geometrically complex faults governed by rate- and state-dependent friction

SUMMARY We develop a finite element dynamic earthquake simulator, EQsimu, to model multicycle dynamics of 3-D geometrically complex faults. The fault is governed by rate- and state-dependent friction (RSF). EQsimu integrates an existing finite element code EQdyna for the coseismic dynamic rupture phase and a newly developed finite element code EQquasi for the quasi-static phases of an earthquake cycle, including nucleation, post-seismic and interseismic processes. Both finite element codes are parallelized through Message Passing Interface to improve computational efficiency and capability. EQdyna and EQquasi are coupled through on-fault physical quantities of shear and normal stresses, slip-rates and state variables in RSF. The two-code scheme shows advantages in reconciling the computational challenges from different phases of an earthquake cycle, which include (1) handling time-steps ranging from hundredths of a second to a fraction of a year based on a variable time-stepping scheme, (2) using element size small enough to resolve the cohesive zone at rupture fronts of dynamic ruptures and (3) solving the system of equations built up by millions of hexahedral elements. EQsimu is used to model multicycle dynamics of a 3-D strike-slip fault with a bend. Complex earthquake event patterns spontaneously emerge in the simulation, and the fault demonstrates two phases in its evolution. In the first phase, there are three types of dynamic ruptures: ruptures breaking the whole fault from left to right, ruptures being halted by the bend, and ruptures breaking the whole fault from right to left. As the fault bend experiences more ruptures, the zone of stress heterogeneity near the bend widens and the earthquake sequence enters the second phase showing only repeated ruptures that break the whole fault from left to right. The two-phase behaviours of this bent fault system suggest that a 10° bend may conditionally stop dynamic ruptures at the early stage of a fault system evolution and will eventually not be able to stop ruptures as the fault system evolves. The nucleation patches are close to the velocity strengthening region. Their sizes on the two fault segments are different due to different levels of the normal stress.

A New Agent-Based Methodology for the Seismic Vulnerability Assessment of Urban Areas

In order to estimate the seismic vulnerability of a densely populated urban area, it would in principle be necessary to evaluate the dynamic behaviour of individual and aggregate buildings. These detailed seismic analyses, however, are extremely cost-intensive and require great processing time and expertise judgment. The aim of the present study is to propose a new methodology able to combine information and tools coming from different scientific fields in order to reproduce the effects of a seismic input in urban areas with known geological features and to estimate the entity of the damages caused on existing buildings. In particular, we present a new software called ABES (Agent-Based Earthquake Simulator), based on a Self-Organized Criticality framework, which allows to evaluate the effects of a sequence of seismic events on a certain large urban area during a given interval of time. The integration of Geographic Information System (GIS) data sets, concerning both geological and urban information about the territory of Avola (Italy), allows performing a parametric study of these effects on a real context as a case study. The proposed new approach could be very useful in estimating the seismic vulnerability and defining planning strategies for seismic risk reduction in large urban areas