Effects of Along-strike Fault Heterogeneity on Rupture Propagation

Abstract:

Fault zone materials have been suggested to be heterogeneous, such as along-strike variations of low velocity zone and stress conditions. How these fault heterogeneities affect earthquake rupture propagation is important to advance our understanding of earthquake physics, and yet remains poorly understood. Here we investigate the effects of along-strike fault heterogeneity on rupture propagation through numerical modeling on a strike-slip planar fault governed by a linear slip-weakening friction law. We first implement along-strike variations of fault zone materials based on field observations, which have shown the velocities of P and S waves of the low velocity zones can be reduced up to 50% compared to intact rocks. The rupture speed is decreased if the rupture propagates into materials with lower shear modulus and keeps at a stable speed quickly. In contrast, the rupture speed is increased if the rupture propagates into materials with higher shear modulus and accelerates into a steady speed more slowly. If this material boundary is very close to the nucleation zone, it may inhibit the nucleation process. In addition, there is always a perturbation on the rupture speed near the boundary due to the reflected energy. We then investigate the effects of a patch with elevated effective normal stress (barrier) on rupture propagation. Except for the distance d between the barrier and the nucleation zone, its width w, and the additional effective normal stress Δσ_n, all other parameters are kept constant for all the simulated models. Our results confirm that the barrier may slow down or stop coseismic ruptures, but may also induce supershear ruptures. Moreover, there is a sharp boundary between stopping the rupture and making very strong supershear ruptures. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the supershear rupture may emerge in a region that is delineated by two approximate linear boundaries for parameters d and w. The duration of supershear ruptures increases as the barrier sizes grow from the lower to the upper boundary, which are proportional to the reduction in rupture speeds caused by the barrier. Because supershear ruptures may produce more destructive near-field ground shaking, our findings have important implications for earthquake hazard preparation.