IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/nat/nature/v451y2008i7174d10.1038_nature06440.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Effects of acoustic waves on stick–slip in granular media and implications for earthquakes

Author

Listed:
  • Paul A. Johnson

    (Geophysics Group EES-11, Los Alamos National Laboratory of the University of California, MS D443, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA)

  • Heather Savage

    (Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA
    University of California, Santa Cruz, California 95064, USA)

  • Matt Knuth

    (Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA
    University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin 53706, USA)

  • Joan Gomberg

    (US Geological Survey, University of Washington, Box 351310, Seattle, Washington 98195-1310, USA)

  • Chris Marone

    (Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA)

Abstract

Earthquakes take the strain Small strains induced by seismic waves can trigger earthquakes thousands of kilometres away, with failure often occurring long after the waves have passed. The mechanism behind this phenomenon of dynamic earthquake triggering is unknown. Lab studies of granular friction have become a useful tool for investigating fault zone processes, as shown by new experiments tracking stick–slip in granular media (glass beads), with acoustic waves used to simulate earthquake triggering. The results show that small magnitude failure events, corresponding to triggered aftershocks, occur when sound waves of sufficient amplitude are applied. Vibrations also cause large slip events to be disrupted in time relative to those without wave perturbation, suggesting that dynamic stressing of tectonic faults may play a role in determining the complexity of earthquake recurrence.

Suggested Citation

  • Paul A. Johnson & Heather Savage & Matt Knuth & Joan Gomberg & Chris Marone, 2008. "Effects of acoustic waves on stick–slip in granular media and implications for earthquakes," Nature, Nature, vol. 451(7174), pages 57-60, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:451:y:2008:i:7174:d:10.1038_nature06440
    DOI: 10.1038/nature06440
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature06440
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1038/nature06440?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nat:nature:v:451:y:2008:i:7174:d:10.1038_nature06440. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.nature.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.