Theoretical Study on the Flow Generated by the Strike-Slip Faulting

The flow driven by the strike-slip faulting is theoretically analyzed in this paper. The surface of the strike-slip fault is generally near vertical, and the corresponding plates move in horizontal directions during the faulting. The focus of present paper is on the flow at the early stage when the faulting is activated. Standard procedures for deriving the exact solution of the induced flow are first demonstrated. Based on the derived solution, flows generated by three kinds of faulting are examined to observe and compare the evolution of velocity profiles and the corresponding kinetic energy. The results show that the flow energy rapidly decays as the speed of the moving plates begins to slow down. Moreover, mathematical methods proposed in this study provide a useful basis for related studies on not only geophysics, but also fluid mechanics, industry manufacturing, heat-conduction problems, and other possible applications.