ACCELERATED SYNERGISM ALONG A FAULT: A POSSIBLE INDICATOR FOR AN IMPENDING MAJOR EARTHQUAKE

It is generally accepted that crustal earthquakes are caused by sudden displacement along faults, which rely on two primary conditions. One is that the fault has a high degree of synergism, so that once the stress threshold is reached, fault segments can be connected rapidly to facilitate fast slip of longer fault sections. The other is sufficient strain accumulated at some portions of the fault which can overcome resistance to slip of the high-strength portions of the fault. Investigations to such processes would help explore how to detect short-term and impending precursors prior to earthquakes. A simulation study on instability of a straight fault is conducted in the laboratory. From curves of stress variations, the stress state of the specimen is recognized and the meta-instability stage is identified. By comparison of the observational information from the press machine and physical parameters of the fields on the sample, this work reveals differences of temporal-spatial evolution processes of fault stress in the stages of stress deviating from linearity and meta-instability. The results show that due to interaction between distinct portions of the fault, their independent activities turn gradually into a synergetic activity, and the degree of such synergism is an indicator for the stress state of the fault. This synergetic process of fault activity includes three stages: generation, expansion and increase amount of strain release patches, and connection between them.. The first stage begins when the stress curve deviates from linearity, different strain variations occur at every portions of the fault, resulting in isolated areas of stress release and strain accumulation. The second stage is associated with quasi-static instability of the early meta-instability when isolated strain release areas of the fault increase and stable expansion proceeds. And the third stage corresponds to the late meta-instability, i.e. quasi-dynamic instability as both the expansion of strain release areas and rise of strain level of strain accumulation areas are accelerated. The synergism is accelerated when the quasi-static expansion transforms into quasi-dynamic expansion, with interaction between fault segments as its mechanism. The essence of such transformation is that the expansion mechanism has changed, i.e. expansion of isolated fault segments is replaced by linkage of the interacting segments when the fault enters the critical state of a potential earthquake. Based on the experimental results, coupled with data on the temporal-spatial evolution of earthquakes along the Laohushan-Maomaoshan fault, west of the Haiyuan fault zone in northwestern China, the synergism process of this fault before the 6 June 2000 M6.2 earthquake is analyzed.

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