Foreshock properties illuminate nucleation processes of slow and fast laboratory earthquakes

Bolton, David C.; Marone, Chris; Saffer, Demian; Trugman, Daniel T.

doi:10.1038/s41467-023-39399-0

Foreshock properties illuminate nucleation processes of slow and fast laboratory earthquakes

Journal Article · Thu Jun 29 00:00:00 EDT 2023 · Nature Communications

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-39399-0· OSTI ID:2418669

^[1]; Marone, Chris ^[2]; Saffer, Demian ^[3]; Trugman, Daniel T. ^[4]

Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States); Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States)
Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States); Sapienza University of Rome (Italy)
Univ. of Texas, Austin, TX (United States)
Univ. of Nevada, Reno, NV (United States)

Understanding the connection between seismic activity and the earthquake nucleation process is a fundamental goal in earthquake seismology with important implications for earthquake early warning systems and forecasting. We use high-resolution acoustic emission (AE) waveform measurements from laboratory stick-slip experiments that span a spectrum of slow to fast slip rates to probe spatiotemporal properties of laboratory foreshocks and nucleation processes. We measure waveform similarity and pairwise differential travel-times (DTT) between AEs throughout the seismic cycle. AEs broadcasted prior to slow labquakes have small DTT and high waveform similarity relative to fast labquakes. We show that during slow stick-slip, the fault never fully locks, and waveform similarity and pairwise differential travel times do not evolve throughout the seismic cycle. In contrast, fast laboratory earthquakes are preceded by a rapid increase in waveform similarity late in the seismic cycle and a reduction in differential travel times, indicating that AEs begin to coalesce as the fault slip velocity increases leading up to failure. These observations point to key differences in the nucleation process of slow and fast labquakes and suggest that the spatiotemporal evolution of laboratory foreshocks is linked to fault slip velocity.

View Accepted Manuscript (DOE)

Research Organization:: Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park, PA (United States); Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE); USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE), Renewable Power Office. Geothermal Technologies Office; USDOE Office of Science (SC)

Grant/Contract Number:: EE0008763; SC0020512

OSTI ID:: 2418669

Alternate ID(s):: OSTI ID: 2538741

Journal Information:: Nature Communications, Journal Name: Nature Communications Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 14; ISSN 2041-1723

Publisher:: Nature Publishing GroupCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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