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Acoustically induced slip in sheared granular layers: Application to dynamic earthquake triggering: TRIGGERED SLIP IN SHEARED GRANULAR GOUGE

Journal Article · · Geophysical Research Letters
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1002/2015GL066096· OSTI ID:1340921
 [1];  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5];  [6]
  1. Swiss Federal Inst. of Technology, Zurich (Switzerland). Dept. of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering; Swiss Federal Lab. for Materials Science and Technology, Dubendorf (Switzerland)
  2. Swiss Federal Lab. for Materials Science and Technology, Dubendorf (Switzerland)
  3. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States). Solid Earth Geophysics Group; Univ. of Nevada, Reno, NV (United States). Dept. of Physics
  4. Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States). Solid Earth Geophysics Group
  5. Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States). Dept. of Geosciences and G3 Centre and Energy Inst.
  6. Swiss Federal Lab. for Materials Science and Technology, Dubendorf (Switzerland); Swiss Federal Inst. of Technology, Zurich (Switzerland). Chair of Building Physics
+ Show Author Affiliations
A fundamental mystery in earthquake physics is “how can an earthquake be triggered by distant seismic sources?” We use discrete element method simulations of a granular layer, during stick slip, that is subject to transient vibrational excitation to gain further insight into the physics of dynamic earthquake triggering. We also observe delayed triggering of slip in the granular gouge, using Coulomb friction law for grains interaction. We find that at a critical vibrational amplitude (strain) there is an abrupt transition from negligible time-advanced slip (clock advance) to full clock advance; i.e., transient vibration and triggered slip are simultaneous. Moreover, the critical strain is of order 10-6, similar to observations in the laboratory and in Earth. The transition is related to frictional weakening of the granular layer due to a dramatic decrease in coordination number and the weakening of the contact force network. Associated with this frictional weakening is a pronounced decrease in the elastic modulus of the layer. The study has important implications for mechanisms of triggered earthquakes and induced seismic events and points out the underlying processes in response of the fault gouge to dynamic transient stresses.
Research Organization:
Los Alamos National Lab. (LANL), Los Alamos, NM (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
National Science Foundation (NSF); USDOE
Grant/Contract Number:
AC52-06NA25396
OSTI ID:
1340921
Report Number(s):
LA-UR--16-22288
Journal Information:
Geophysical Research Letters, Journal Name: Geophysical Research Letters Journal Issue: 22 Vol. 42; ISSN 0094-8276
Publisher:
American Geophysical UnionCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

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Cited By (8)

On the micromechanics of slip events in sheared, fluid-saturated fault gouge: Stick-Slip Dynamics in Saturated Gouge journal June 2017
Estimating Fault Friction From Seismic Signals in the Laboratory journal February 2018
On the role of fluids in stick-slip dynamics of saturated granular fault gouge using a coupled computational fluid dynamics-discrete element approach: STICK-SLIP IN SATURATED FAULT GOUGE journal May 2017
Viewing Earth’s surface as a soft-matter landscape journal October 2019
Two sides of a fault: Grain-scale analysis of pore pressure control on fault slip journal February 2018
Estimating Fault Friction from Seismic Signals in the Laboratory text January 2017
Analogue earthquakes and seismic cycles: Experimental modelling across timescales posted_content December 2016
Analogue earthquakes and seismic cycles: experimental modelling across timescales journal January 2017

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