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Reconstruction of seismic faulting by high‐velocity friction experiments: An example of the 1995 Kobe earthquake
Author(s) -
Mizoguchi Kazuo,
Hirose Takehiro,
Shimamoto Toshihiko,
Fukuyama Eiichi
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2006gl027931
Subject(s) - geology , seismology , slip (aerodynamics) , fault gouge , friction coefficient , fault (geology) , san andreas fault , earthquake rupture , drop (telecommunication) , geotechnical engineering , materials science , composite material , thermodynamics , physics , engineering , telecommunications
High‐velocity friction experiments on a fault gouge collected from the Nojima fault activated during the 1995 Kobe earthquake showed that the friction coefficient decreased from 0.63 to 0.18 over a slip weakening distance, D c , at high slip rates of ∼ 1 m/s. The dramatic drop in friction coefficient of more than 0.3 is consistent with that for the Kobe earthquake estimated from seismological observations. Experimentally determined D c becomes 5 m at a higher normal stress of 1.85 MPa, close to the order of magnitude of seismologically determined D c of 0.5 to 1 m. The difference in D c is not significant because the fracture energy consumed during frictional slip is the same order of 10 6 N/m for both cases. Here we show that frictional behavior of a fault during an earthquake can be predicted by conducting high‐velocity friction experiments.