Geocomplexity and the Physics of Earthquakes

Geocomplexity and the Physics of Earthquakes

Author: John Rundle

Publisher: American Geophysical Union

Published: 2000-01-10

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 0875909787

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Published by the American Geophysical Union as part of the Geophysical Monograph Series, Volume 120. Earthquakes in urban centers are capable of causing enormous damage. The January 16, 1995 Kobe, Japan earthquake was only a magnitude 6.9 event and yet produced an estimated $200 billion loss. Despite an active earthquake prediction program in Japan, this event was a complete surprise. Similar scenarios are possible in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and other urban centers around the Pacific plate boundary. The development of forecast or prediction methodologies for these great damaging earthquakes has been complicated by the fact that the largest events repeat at irregular intervals of hundreds to thousands of years, resulting in a limited historical record that has frustrated phenomenological studies. The papers in this book describe an emerging alternative approach, which is based on a new understanding of earthquake physics arising from the construction and analysis of numerical simulations. With these numerical simulations, earthquake physics now can be investigated in numerical laboratories. Simulation data from numerical experiments can be used to develop theoretical understanding that can be subsequently applied to observed data. These methods have been enabled by the information technology revolution, in which fundamental advances in computing and communications are placing vast computational resources at our disposal.


Earthquake Science and Seismic Risk Reduction

Earthquake Science and Seismic Risk Reduction

Author: F. Mulargia

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 366

ISBN-13: 9401000417

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What is the first thing that ordinary people, for whom journalists are the proxy, ask when they meet a seismologist? It is certainly nothing technical like "What was the stress drop of the last earthquake in the Imperial Valley?" It is a sim ple question, which nevertheless summarizes the real demands that society has for seismology. This question is "Can you predict earthquakes?" Regrettably, notwithstanding the feeling of omnipotence induced by modem technology, the answer at present is the very opposite of "Yes, of course". The primary motivation for the question "Can you predict earthquakes?" is practical. No other natural phenomenon has the tremendous destructive power of a large earthquake, a power which is rivaled only by a large scale war. An earth quake in a highly industrialized region is capable of adversely affecting the econ omy of the whole world for several years. But another motivation is cognitive. The aim of science is 'understanding' nature, and one of the best ways to show that we understand a phenomenon is the ability to make accurate predictions.


Computational Earthquake Science Part I

Computational Earthquake Science Part I

Author: Andrea Donnellan

Publisher: Birkhäuser

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 290

ISBN-13: 3034878737

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Exciting developments in earthquake science have benefited from new observations, improved computational technologies, and improved modeling capabilities. Designing models of the earthquake of the earthquake generation process is a grand scientific challenge due to the complexity of phenomena and range of scales involved from microscopic to global. Such models provide powerful new tools for the study of earthquake precursory phenomena and the earthquake cycle. Through workshops, collaborations and publications the APEC Cooperation for Earthquake Simulations (ACES) aims to develop realistic supercomputer simulation models for the complete earthquake generation process, thus providing a "virtual laboratory" to probe earthquake behavior. Part I of the book covers microscopic simulations, scaling physics and earthquake generation and cycles. This part also focuses on plate processes and earthquake generation from a macroscopic standpoint.


Extreme Environmental Events

Extreme Environmental Events

Author: Robert A. Meyers

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2010-11-03

Total Pages: 1273

ISBN-13: 1441976949

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Extreme Environmental Events is an authoritative single source for understanding and applying the basic tenets of complexity and systems theory, as well as the tools and measures for analyzing complex systems, to the prediction, monitoring, and evaluation of major natural phenomena affecting life on earth. These phenomena are often highly destructive, and include earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, climate change,, and weather. Early warning, damage, and the immediate response of human populations to these phenomena are also covered from the point of view of complexity and nonlinear systems. In 61 authoritative, state-of-the art articles, world experts in each field apply such tools and concepts as fractals, cellular automata, solitons game theory, network theory, and statistical physics to an understanding of these complex geophysical phenomena.


Selected Papers From Volumes 33 and 34 of Vychislitel'naya Seysmologiya

Selected Papers From Volumes 33 and 34 of Vychislitel'naya Seysmologiya

Author: Alik Ismail-Zade

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2013-05-08

Total Pages: 414

ISBN-13: 1118671724

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Published by the American Geophysical Union as part of the Computational Seismology and Geodynamics Series, Volume 8. The American Geophysical Union (AGU) and the Editorial Board of Computational Seismology and Geodynamics (CSG) are happy to present the eighth volume of CSG. This volume contains 19 selected, translated, and reviewed articles of volumes 33 and 34 of Vychislitel'naya Seismologiya (VS), which deal with seismicity and seismic hazard, forward and inverse problems in seismology, geodynamics, geomagnetism, and self-organized criticality. The Russian annual journal Vychislitel'naya Seysmologiya was established in 1966 by Volodya Keilis-Borok, one of most eminent geophysicists of our time, as a media for publication of the best results in the theoretical, computational and mathematical seismology. For a short period of time the journal had become a prominent and known among mathematical geophysicists around the world. In 1970s the journal began to publish also articles related to non-linear dynamics and earthquake prediction and later to computational geodynamics. Many distinguished seismologists, geophysicists, and mathematicians, like G. Barenblatt, A. Dziewonski, I. Gelfand, H. Huppert, H. Kanamori, L. Kantorovich, L. Knopoff, F. Press, D. Turcotte, and others, published their research articles in VS. Twenty-one volumes of the journal were translated and published by Allerton Press, USA. Since 1994 AGU agreed to publish selected and peer-reviewed articles in volumes entitled CSG. Volume 1 (159 pp.) 1994 selected articles from Volumes 22 & 23 Volume 2 (188 pp.) 1994 selected articles from Volumes 24 & 25 Volume 3 (236 pp.) 1996 selected articles from Volumes 26 & 27 Volume 4 (200 pp.) 1999 selected articles from Volumes 28 & 29 Volume 5 (132 pp.) 2003 selected articles from Volume 30 Volume 6 (102 pp.) 2004 selected articles from Volume 31 Volume 7 (250 pp.) 2005 selected articles from Volume 32 Volume 8 (186 pp.) 2008 selected articles from Volumes 33 & 34


Synchronization and Triggering: from Fracture to Earthquake Processes

Synchronization and Triggering: from Fracture to Earthquake Processes

Author: Valerio de Rubeis

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2010-11-11

Total Pages: 365

ISBN-13: 3642123007

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Processes of synchronization and interaction play a very special role in different physical problems concerning the dynamics of the Earth’s interior; they are of particular importance in the study of seismic phenomena, and their complexity is strongly affected by the variety of geological structures and inhomogeneities of the medium that hamper the course of these processes and their intensity. The attempt to tackle these problems is a great challenge from experimental, observational and theoretical point of view. We present in this Monograph the theoretical and experimental results achieved in the frame of the European Project “Triggering and synchronization of seismic/ acoustic events by weak external forcing as a sign of approaching the critical point” (INTAS Ref. Nr 05-1000008-7889); in this Project, which was inspired by Professor Tamaz Chelidze, our aim was to give grounds for better understanding and interpretation of dynamical interactive processes of physical ?elds, both found in the laboratory experiments as well as in ?eld observations. One of the leading problems – related to synchronization and interaction of different physical ?elds in fracture processes concerns triggering and initiation of rupture and displa- ments within the Earth interior. From this point of view, the results from laboratory studies on synchronization and interaction and those found and involved in ?eld observations, helped to improve the theoretical background. Reversely, some of the presented new theoretical approaches have served to stimulate laboratory and ?eld studies.


Computational earthquake science. 1

Computational earthquake science. 1

Author: Andrea Donnellan

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2004-09-27

Total Pages: 308

ISBN-13: 9783764371425

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Exciting developments in earthquake science have benefited from new observations, improved computational technologies, and improved modeling capabilities. Designing models of the earthquake of the earthquake generation process is a grand scientific challenge due to the complexity of phenomena and range of scales involved from microscopic to global. Such models provide powerful new tools for the study of earthquake precursory phenomena and the earthquake cycle. Through workshops, collaborations and publications the APEC Cooperation for Earthquake Simulations (ACES) aims to develop realistic supercomputer simulation models for the complete earthquake generation process, thus providing a "virtual laboratory" to probe earthquake behavior. Part I of the book covers microscopic simulations, scaling physics and earthquake generation and cycles. This part also focuses on plate processes and earthquake generation from a macroscopic standpoint.


Earthquake Processes: Physical Modelling, Numerical Simulation and Data Analysis Part II

Earthquake Processes: Physical Modelling, Numerical Simulation and Data Analysis Part II

Author: Mitsuhiro Matsu'ura

Publisher: Birkhäuser

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 360

ISBN-13: 3034881975

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In the last decade of the 20th century, there has been great progress in the physics of earthquake generation; that is, the introduction of laboratory-based fault constitutive laws as a basic equation governing earthquake rupture, quantitative description of tectonic loading driven by plate motion, and a microscopic approach to study fault zone processes. The fault constitutive law plays the role of an interface between microscopic processes in fault zones and macroscopic processes of a fault system, and the plate motion connects diverse crustal activities with mantle dynamics. An ambitious challenge for us is to develop realistic computer simulation models for the complete earthquake process on the basis of microphysics in fault zones and macro-dynamics in the crust-mantle system. Recent advances in high performance computer technology and numerical simulation methodology are bringing this vision within reach. The book consists of two parts and presents a cross-section of cutting-edge research in the field of computational earthquake physics. Part I includes works on microphysics of rupture and fault constitutive laws, and dynamic rupture, wave propagation and strong ground motion. Part II covers earthquake cycles, crustal deformation, plate dynamics, and seismicity change and its physical interpretation. Topics in Part II range from the 3-D simulations of earthquake generation cycles and interseismic crustal deformation associated with plate subduction to the development of new methods for analyzing geophysical and geodetical data and new simulation algorithms for large amplitude folding and mantle convection with viscoelastic/brittle lithosphere, as well as a theoretical study of accelerated seismic release on heterogeneous faults, simulation of long-range automaton models of earthquakes, and various approaches to earthquake predicition based on underlying physical and/or statistical models for seismicity change.


Geology of the Earthquake Source

Geology of the Earthquake Source

Author: Åke Fagereng

Publisher: Geological Society of London

Published: 2011

Total Pages: 354

ISBN-13: 9781862393370

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Professor Richard (Rick) Sibson revolutionized structural geology by illustrating that fault rocks contain an integrated record of earthquakes. Fault-rock textures develop in response to geological and physical variables such as composition, environmental conditions (e.g. temperature and pressure), fluid presence and strain rate. These parameters also determine the rate- and state-variable frictional stability of a fault, the dominant mineral deformation mechanism and shear strength, and ultimately control the partitioning between seismic and aseismic deformation. This volume contains a collection of papers that address the geological record of earthquake faulting from field-based or theoretical perspectives.


Treatise on Geophysics

Treatise on Geophysics

Author:

Publisher: Elsevier

Published: 2015-04-17

Total Pages: 5604

ISBN-13: 0444538038

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Treatise on Geophysics, Second Edition, is a comprehensive and in-depth study of the physics of the Earth beyond what any geophysics text has provided previously. Thoroughly revised and updated, it provides fundamental and state-of-the-art discussion of all aspects of geophysics. A highlight of the second edition is a new volume on Near Surface Geophysics that discusses the role of geophysics in the exploitation and conservation of natural resources and the assessment of degradation of natural systems by pollution. Additional features include new material in the Planets and Moon, Mantle Dynamics, Core Dynamics, Crustal and Lithosphere Dynamics, Evolution of the Earth, and Geodesy volumes. New material is also presented on the uses of Earth gravity measurements. This title is essential for professionals, researchers, professors, and advanced undergraduate and graduate students in the fields of Geophysics and Earth system science. Comprehensive and detailed coverage of all aspects of geophysics Fundamental and state-of-the-art discussions of all research topics Integration of topics into a coherent whole