Laboratory Earthquakes: The Sub-Rayleigh-to-Supershear Rupture Transition

We report on the experimental observation of spontaneously nucleated supershear rupture and on the visualization of sub-Rayleigh-to-supershear rupture transitions in frictionally held interfaces. The laboratory experiments mimic natural earthquakes. The results suggest that under certain conditions...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inScience (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 303; no. 5665; pp. 1859 - 1861
Main Authors Xia, Kaiwen, Rosakis, Ares J., Kanamori, Hiroo
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Washington, DC American Association for the Advancement of Science 19.03.2004
The American Association for the Advancement of Science
Subjects
Coefficient of friction
Earth sciences
Earth, ocean, space
Earthquakes
Earthquakes, seismology
Exact sciences and technology
Experiments
Fracture mechanics
Internal geophysics
Laboratory Experiments
Observations
Pressure pulses
Seismology
Shear (Mechanics)
Shear stress
Statics
Traumatic ruptures
California
nucleation
interfaces
instruments
propagation
shear
earthquakes
friction
laboratory studies
seismic waves
rupture
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Summary:We report on the experimental observation of spontaneously nucleated supershear rupture and on the visualization of sub-Rayleigh-to-supershear rupture transitions in frictionally held interfaces. The laboratory experiments mimic natural earthquakes. The results suggest that under certain conditions supershear rupture propagation can be facilitated during large earthquake events.
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ISSN:0036-8075
1095-9203
DOI:10.1126/science.1094022