Open AccessSelf‐Organized Criticality in Earth Systems
Author(s) -
Holliger Klaus
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
eos, transactions american geophysical union
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.316
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 2324-9250
pISSN - 0096-3941
DOI - 10.1029/2003eo090009
Subject(s) - scale invariance , fractal , criticality , enthusiasm , scaling law , self organized criticality , power law , statistical physics , universality (dynamical systems) , tectonics , scaling , theoretical physics , earth science , geology , physics , seismology , mathematics , psychology , geometry , statistics , quantum mechanics , mathematical analysis , social psychology , nuclear physics
Scale invariance and the associated “fractal” power law distributions may be regarded as a common thread connecting a wide variety of phenomena throughout the various disciplines of the Earth sciences. The empirical Gutenberg‐Richter law, which states that the frequency‐size relationship of earthquakes scales according to the same power law for all seismogenic regions, regardless of geological history and tectonic setting, is but one prominent example. The initial enthusiasm over the abundance and seemingly universal nature of scale invariance largely focused on the detection of new examples and the evermore detailed description of the various phenomena. Conversely concerted attempts to systematically explore the origins of these ubiquitous fractal scaling laws were few and far between.