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Volume 54 Supplement 11

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

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Modeling slip processes at the deeper part of the seismogenic zone using a constitutive law combining friction and flow laws

Earth, Planets and Space volume 54, pages 1211–1218 (2002)Cite this article

Abstract

The fault zone in the earth’s crust is thought to consist of several regions from top to bottom: the upper frictional region, the brittle-ductile transition zone and the ductile region. The upper frictional region consists of the unstable frictional zone, the unstable-stable transition zone, and the stable frictional zone. Recent geological observations of fault rock suggest that at the deeper part of the seismogenic zone, co-seismic frictional slip coexists with interseismic flow processes. We propose a possible model for slip processes at the deeper part of the seismogenic zone in which the frictional slip and flow processes are connected in series. In this model, in the ductile region, power law creep is dominant. Around the unstable-stable transition zone, we assume that co-seismic frictional slip coexists with aseismic flow processes. We investigate simple 1-D and 2-D models where rate- and state-dependent friction coexists with power law creep that has a threshold stress. The results of numerical simulations show that the amount of slip during the interseismic period is greater in the case where friction coexists with power law creep than it is when only friction is at work. It is also found that, for the case where friction coexists with power law creep, frictional slip is largely inhibited in the ductile region.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. International Institute of Seismology and Earthquake Engineering, Building Research Institute, Tatehara 1, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-0082, Japan

    Bunichiro Shibazaki

  2. Department of Earth and Planetary Science, the University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyoku, Tokyo, 113-0033, Japan

    Hidemi Tanaka

  3. Active Fault Research Center, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Site 7 1-1-1 Higashi, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-8567, Japan

    Haruo Horikawa

  4. Research Center for Earthquake Prediction, Disaster Prevention Research Institute, Kyoto University, Gokasho, Uji, Japan

    Yoshihisa Iio

Authors
  1. Bunichiro Shibazaki
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  2. Hidemi Tanaka
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  3. Haruo Horikawa
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  4. Yoshihisa Iio
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Correspondence to Bunichiro Shibazaki.

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Shibazaki, B., Tanaka, H., Horikawa, H. et al. Modeling slip processes at the deeper part of the seismogenic zone using a constitutive law combining friction and flow laws. Earth Planet Sp 54, 1211–1218 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03353322

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03353322

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