[CIG-SHORT] RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS

[Huihui Weng]

Dear Lorraine,

Attached please find the highlight figure of our results about low velocity fault zone, which have been published in Journal of Geophysical Research at early 2016. The numerical simulations are mainly conducted using PyLith. The brief description of our results are as follow.

Damaged zones are often found surrounding crustal faults and are termed low-velocity fault zones due to significantly reduced seismic velocities compared to the host rock. We find that damage fault zones can promote rupture extent and thus increase earthquake potency. The waves reflected from the bottom of shallow damage fault zones can increase shear stress on the fault and thus promote rupture propagation. In addition, the promotional effects increase with the width and depth extent of damage fault zones. The overall effects of the waves reflected from the fault-parallel side boundaries of damage fault zones are unfavorable for rupture propagation. Therefore, rupture propagation is promoted with the increased width of fault zones due to geometrical spreading effects. Moreover, non-ground-breaking ruptures may reach the ground surface with the effects of damage fault zones. Furthermore, along-strike segmented fault zones as suggested by observations could also promote ruptures and may lead to preferred rupture directions if epicenters are close to fault zones. The effects of damage fault zones on rupture propagation hold important implications on assessing earthquake risk.

Reference:
Weng, H., H. Yang, Z. Zhang, and X. Chen (2016), Earthquake rupture extents and coseismic slips promoted by damaged fault zones, J. Geophys. Res., 121(6), 4446-4457, doi:10.1002/2015JB012713.

Thanks.

Best regards,
Huihui

—
Postdoctoral Fellow
Earth System Sciences Programme
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Shatin, NT, Hong Kong
(852)3943-9325

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