Skip to main content
Earth, Planets and Space
Download PDF

Volume 54 Supplement 11

Special Issue: Slip and Flow Processes in and below the Seismogenic Region

  • Article
  • Published:

Inferring fault strength from earthquake rupture properties and the tectonic implications of high pore pressure faulting

Earth, Planets and Space volume 54, pages 1173–1179 (2002)Cite this article

Abstract

The strength of seismogenic faults is fundamental to earthquake mechanics and plate tectonics, affecting many subsidiary processes in the solid earth. The key to understanding fault strength is determining the pore pressures and hydraulic properties within the faults and surrounding crust. The debate has lasted over decades, with evidence provided for both strong fault and weak fault scenarios. A recently proposed hypothesis for quantifying the strength at which faults fail uses earthquake scaling arguments to show that earthquakes fail over a range of strengths in the upper 15–20 km, and at near-lithostatic pore pressure below this depth. This observation, if correct, has important implications for crustal hydraulics, plate tectonics, and earthquake hazard assessment. This paper summarizes the arguments for high pore pressure faulting, and explores its implications for earthquake stress drops, strength of the lithosphere, and earthquake scaling. The hope is to establish a general framework for quantifying the role of fluids in the earthquake process, and to demonstrate that high fluid pressure may dominate failure of the brittle crust.

References

  • Ague, J., J. Park, and D. Rye, Regional metamorphic dehydration and seismic hazard, Geophys. Res. Lett., 22, 4421–4224, 1998.

    Google Scholar 

  • Blanpied, M., D. Lockner, and J. Byerlee, An earthquake mechanism based on rapid sealing of faults, Nature, 358, 574–576, 1992.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Caine, J., J. Evans, and C. Forster, Fault zone architecture and permeability structure, Geology, 24, 1025–1028, 1996.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cochard, A. and R. Madariaga, Dynamic faulting under rate-dependent friction, Pure Appl. Geophys., 142, 419–445, 1994.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cox, S., Faulting processes at high fluid pressures: An example of fault valve behavior from the Wattle Gully Fault, Victoria, Australia, J. Geophys. Res., 100, 12,841–12,859, 1995.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Evans, J. and F. Chester, Fluid-rock interaction in faults of the San Andreas system: Inferences from San Gabriel fault rock geochemistry and microstructures, J. Geophys. Res., 100, 13,007–13,020, 1995.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Floyd, J., J. Mutter, A. M. Goodliffe, and B. Taylor, Evidence for fault weakness and fluid flow within an active low-angle normal fault, Nature, 411, 779–783, 2001.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fujii, Y. and M. Matsu’ura, Regional differences in scaling laws for large earthquakes and its tectonic implication, Pure Appl. Geophys., 157, 2283–2302, 2000.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Henry, C. and S. Das, Aftershock zones of large shallow earthquakes: Fault dimensions, aftershock area expansion, and scaling relations, Geophys. J. Int., 147, 272–293, 2001.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Husen, S. and E. Kissling, Postseismic fluid flow after the large subduction earthquake of Antofagasta, Chile, Geology, 29, 847–850, 2001.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kirby, S., Intraslab earthquakes and phase changes in subducting lithosphere, Rev. Geophys., supp., 287–297, 1995.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mai, P. and G. Beroza, Source scaling properties from finite fault rupture models, Bull. Seis. Soc. Am., 90, 604–615, 2000.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Manning, C. and S. Ingebritsen, Permeability of the continental crust: Implications of geothermal data and metamorphic systems, Rev. Geophys., 37, 127–150, 1999.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Matsu’ura, M. and T. Sato, Loading mechanism and scaling relations or large interplate earthquakes, Tectonophys., 277, 189–198, 1997.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, S., The properties of large ruptures and the dynamical influence of fluids on earthquakes and faulting, J. Geophys. Res., 107, 10.1029/2000JB000032, 2002a.

    Google Scholar 

  • Miller, S., Earthquake scaling and the strength of seismogenic faults, Geophys. Res. Lett., 29, 10.1029/2001GL014181, 2002b.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, S., A. Nur, and D. Olgaard, Earthquakes as a coupled shear stresshigh pore pressure dynamical system, Geophys. Res. Lett., 23, 197–200, 1996.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Miller, S., W. van der Zee, D. Olgaard, and J. Connolly, A fluid-pressure controlled feedback model for dehydration reactions, Tectonophys., 2002c (in press).

  • Muir-Wood, R. and G. King, Hydrological signature of earthquake strain, J. Geophys. Res., 98, 22,035–22,068, 1993.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peacock, S., Are the lower planes of double couple seismic zones caused by serpentine dehydration in subducting oceanic mantle?, Geology, 29, 299–302, 2001.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pegler, G. and S. Das, Anaylysis of the relationship between seismic moment and fault length for large crustal strike-slip earthquakes between 1977–92, Geophys. Res. Lett., 23, 905–908, 1996.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Quattrocchi, F., In search of evidence of deep fluid discharges and pore pressure evolution in the crust to explain the seismicity style of the umbria-marche 1997–1998 seismic sequence Central Italy, Ann. Geophys., 42, 609–636, 1999.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rice, J., Fault stress states, pore pressure redistributions, and the weakness of the San Andreas fault, in Fault Mechanics and Transport Properties of Rock, edited by B. Evans and T.-F. Wong, pp. 476–503, Academic Press, 1992.

  • Roeloffs, E., Persistent water level changes in a well near Parkfield, California, due to local and distant earthquakes, J. Geophys. Res., 103, 869–889, 1998.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Romanowicz, B., Strike-slip earthquakes on quasi-vertical transcurrent faults—inferences for general scaling relations, Geophys. Res. Lett., 19, 481–484, 1992.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Romanowicz, B. and L. Ruff, On moment-length scaling of large earthquakes and the strength of faults, Geophys. Res. Lett., 29, 10.1029/2001GL014479, 2002.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scholz, C., Scaling laws for large earthquakes: Consequences for physical models, Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am., 72, 1–14, 1982.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scholz, C., The Mechanics of Earthquakes and Faulting, Cambridge Univ. Press, New York, 1990.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scholz, C., A reappraisal of large earthquake scaling, Bull. Seis. Soc. Am., 84, 215–218, 1994.

    Google Scholar 

  • Shaw, B. and C. Scholz, Slip-length scaling in large earthquakes: Observations and theory and implications for earthquake physics, Geophys. Res. Lett., 28, 2991–2994, 2001.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sibson, R., Implications of fault-valve behavior for rupture nucleation and recurrence, Tectonophys., 211, 283–293, 1992.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sleep, N. and M. Blanpied, Creep, compaction and the weak rheology of major faults, Nature, 359, 687–692, 1992.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Townend, J. and M. Zoback, How faulting keeps the crust strong, Geology, 28, 399–402, 2000.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yin, Z.-M. and G. Rogers, Toward a physical understanding of earthquake scaling relations, Pure Appl. Geophys., 146, 661–675, 1996.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geophysics Institute, ETH-Zurich, 8093, Switzerland

    Stephen A. Miller

Authors
  1. Stephen A. Miller
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Stephen A. Miller.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Miller, S.A. Inferring fault strength from earthquake rupture properties and the tectonic implications of high pore pressure faulting. Earth Planet Sp 54, 1173–1179 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03353318

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03353318

Keywords