SCEC Award Number 08018
Proposal Category Individual Proposal (Integration and Theory)
Proposal Title Quantifying Heterogeneities of Earthquake Patterns and Fault Zone Properties
Investigator(s)
Name Organization
Yehuda Ben-Zion University of Southern California
Other Participants Neta Wechsler
SCEC Priorities A2, A4, A10 SCEC Groups Seismology, Geology, FARM
Report Due Date 02/28/2009 Date Report Submitted N/A
Project Abstract
Studies under this project attempt to quantify the levels of heterogeneity in California faults using two observational approaches. The two approaches employ different measures of heterogeneities and utilize data with different spatial and temporal sampling. In the first approach, fault trace data describe the surface expression of fault displacement accumulated over tens of thousands of years. In the second, focal mechanism data sample the geometry of seismic faulting throughout the seismogenic crust (~0-15 km) over a ~20 year period. The level of geometrical complexity in a fault zone has important implications for the evolution of faults, the physics of the associated earthquakes. Improved understanding of the variations in the complexity of different fault zones can be useful for future seismic hazard assessments. The studies supported partially two students and led to two submitted papers (one on each research direction)
Intellectual Merit Current hazard estimations mostly rely on surface traces of faults, which may be non-representative of slip at depth and incomplete. Clarifying the geometrical of fault zones at depth can provide fundamental information to many aspects of earthquake physics and seismic hazard.
Broader Impacts The studies supported partially two students
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