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Landslides, forest fires, and earthquakes: examples of self-organized critical behavior

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  • Turcotte, Donald L
  • Malamud, Bruce D

Abstract

Per Bak conceived self-organized criticality as an explanation for the behavior of the sandpile model. Subsequently, many cellular automata models were found to exhibit similar behavior. Two examples are the forest-fire and slider-block models. Each of these models can be associated with a serious natural hazard: the sandpile model with landslides, the forest-fire model with actual forest fires, and the slider-block model with earthquakes. We examine the noncumulative frequency–area statistics for each natural hazard, and show that each has a robust power-law (fractal) distribution. We propose an inverse-cascade model as a general explanation for the power-law frequency–area statistics of the three cellular-automata models and their ‘associated’ natural hazards.

Suggested Citation

  • Turcotte, Donald L & Malamud, Bruce D, 2004. "Landslides, forest fires, and earthquakes: examples of self-organized critical behavior," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 340(4), pages 580-589.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:phsmap:v:340:y:2004:i:4:p:580-589
    DOI: 10.1016/j.physa.2004.05.009
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Bruce Malamud & Donald Turcotte, 1999. "Self-Organized Criticality Applied to Natural Hazards," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 20(2), pages 93-116, November.
    2. Turcotte, D.L. & Malamud, B.D. & Morein, G. & Newman, W.I., 1999. "An inverse-cascade model for self-organized critical behavior," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 268(3), pages 629-643.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Biton, Dionessa C. & Tarun, Anjali B. & Batac, Rene C., 2020. "Comparing spatio-temporal networks of intermittent avalanche events: Experiment, model, and empirical data," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 130(C).
    3. Ma, Tao & Holden, John G. & Serota, R.A., 2013. "Distribution of wealth in a network model of the economy," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 392(10), pages 2434-2441.
    4. Gianluca Martelloni & Franco Bagnoli, 2014. "Infiltration effects on a two-dimensional molecular dynamics model of landslides," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 73(1), pages 37-62, August.
    5. Baïle, Rachel & Muzy, Jean-François & Silvani, Xavier, 2021. "Multifractal point processes and the spatial distribution of wildfires in French Mediterranean regions," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 568(C).
    6. Willis, Jay, 2008. "Simulation model of universal law of school size distribution applied to southern bluefin tuna (Thunnus maccoyii) in the Great Australian Bight," Ecological Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 213(1), pages 33-44.
    7. Lopes, António M. & Machado, J.A. Tenreiro, 2017. "Computational comparison and pattern visualization of forest fires," Chaos, Solitons & Fractals, Elsevier, vol. 102(C), pages 407-413.
    8. Arnaud Mignan, 2022. "Categorizing and Harmonizing Natural, Technological, and Socio-Economic Perils Following the Catastrophe Modeling Paradigm," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-32, October.
    9. de Benicio, Rosilda B. & Stošić, Tatijana & de Figueirêdo, P.H. & Stošić, Borko D., 2013. "Multifractal behavior of wild-land and forest fire time series in Brazil," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 392(24), pages 6367-6374.
    10. Gwizdalla, Tomasz M., 2008. "Gallagher index for sociophysical models," Physica A: Statistical Mechanics and its Applications, Elsevier, vol. 387(12), pages 2937-2951.

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