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Automaton models of seismic fracture: Constraints imposed by the magnitude‐frequency relation

1993; American Geophysical Union; Volume: 98; Issue: B10 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1029/93jb01390

2156-2202

J. Lomnitz-Adler,

Seismic Imaging and Inversion Techniques

To obtain an understanding of the ingredients required in a realistic model of fault dynamics, we have constructed a number of models for the initiation and propagation of seismic fractures on a planar fault. The models are all of the cellular automaton‐type and fall into two broad categories which can be subdivided into 40 different classes. They differ in whether the fracture propagates as a crack or as a partial stress drop model; whether they are loaded homogenously or randomly; whether or not the models are asperity models; whether the characteristic time associated to the initiation of fracture is short or long; and whether or not the dynamic variable (e.g., stress or energy) is conserved on the fault plane. We restrict ourselves to the question whether models are capable of reproducing a Gutenberg‐Richter power‐law decay of event frequency with fracture dimensions, irrespective of the b value. We find that very few models can generate a power law which extends to all sizes, although more models can generate power laws that cover a broad range of sizes. Of these, only a few exhibit acceptable scaling behavior with system size. We conclude that, within the class of models studied, only a reduced subset of partial stress drop models is acceptable for the modeling of seismic fault dynamics.