Insights into the effect of fault complexity on high-frequency earthquake radiation
Shanna Chu
USGS ESC
- Date & Time
- Location
- Online-only seminar via Microsoft Teams
- Summary
The faults on which earthquakes occur sometimes form complex interconnected patterns. The level of this complexity may increase high-frequency ground motions from earthquakes occurring on such faults. In this talk, I describe ways of quantifying the complexity of groups of faults based on how they are aligned and how densely they are spaced. I found that high-frequency ground motions in Southern California tend to correlate with misaligned faults, suggesting that structural interactions between different parts of the fault system may play a role in generating the ground motions felt during earthquakes. I introduce a physical model to explain one possibility of how fault interactions could generate high-frequency ground motion and the settings where such interactions could be expected to occur. Finally, I explore some of the ways in which data-driven initiatives like the Ridgecrest stress drop validation project can help us gain understanding of the relation between fault complexity and high-frequency radiation.
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