SCEC Award Number 13117 View PDF
Proposal Category Collaborative Proposal (Integration and Theory)
Proposal Title Investigating fluid triggered slip in the lab
Investigator(s)
Name Organization
Heather Savage Columbia University Nicholas van der Elst Columbia University
Other Participants
SCEC Priorities 2, 3, 5 SCEC Groups FARM, Seismology
Report Due Date 03/15/2014 Date Report Submitted N/A
Project Abstract
 This project aimed to address fundamental processes of fault slip, as influenced by pore fluid pressure. The motivation for this work included regions of induced seismicity due to wastewater disposal and episodic tremor and slip. One of the major problems that we hoped to address with this work was the time delay often seen between, for instance, the onset of fluid pumping and induced seismicity. First, we found that this delay needed to be explained for a dry system, and we discuss those results in detail. Specifically, the delayed triggering effects that we see in laboratory experiments is significant, and cannot be explained by rate-state friction theory. Progress towards fluid-triggered experiments is discussed as well.
Intellectual Merit The intellectual merits for this work include a better understanding of fault susceptibility to perturbations in the stress state, as experienced through processes such as fluid injection and earthquake shaking.
Broader Impacts The broader impacts are improved understanding of seismic hazard in California and beyond.
Exemplary Figure 1