GEOL 609, Seminar in Earthquake Physics
Spring, 2006
Tuesday 11-12, Fr 12-1, ZHS 123
Instructors: Yehuda Ben-Zion1 and Thorsten Becker2
1Office: ZHS109; Tel: (213) 740-7634; email: benzion -at- usc.edu
2Office: ZHS269, Tel: (213) 740-8365; email: twb -at- usc.edu
Office hours by appointment
Course Description
The course covers state-of-the-art research material on the physics governing earthquakes, faults and plate boundaries. Topics include current results from continuum and fracture mechanics, lithospheric dynamics, statistical physics, rock mechanics experiments, seismological observations of the earthquake source, observed patterns of earthquakes and faults, scaling relations, fractals, chaos, analysis of complex data, and prediction. The seminar series is aimed at graduate students of geophysics, physics, and engineering interested in promising directions in this field.
The format is two weekly meetings and the material will be covered via a blend of lectures by researchers, debates, and student presentations. One weekly meeting (Tue 11-12) will consist of a lecture by outside and in-house researchers. Speakers will include experts in various branches of earthquake science and will be available for additional discussions with students after the seminar. In the other weekly meeting (Friday 1-2), we will discuss issues related to the previous presentation and the next one. There may also be a one day field trip to examine aspects of fault zone structure that may be relevant to mechanics. Students will write a term paper on a topic relate to the seminar. The grade will be based 50% on the term paper, 40% on homework projects, and 10% on student participation.
Lectures
(Tuesday 11-12, unless indicated otherwise)
Jan 10: Organizational meeting
Jan 20: Fred Chester (Texas): (talk on Friday, discussion session on Tuesday!)
Jan 24: Yehuda Ben-Zion(USC): Coupled evolution of earthquakes and faults in a continuum damage rheology model
Jan 31: Mathieu Daeron: Role, kinematics and long-term seismic behavior of the Yammoneh fault, the main on-land strand of the Lebanese restraining bend (Levant fault)
Feb 07: James Jackson (Cambridge UK, Caltech): Thoughts on the continental lithosphere
Feb 14: Elizabeth Cochran (UCLA)
Feb 21: Luis Angel Dalguer
Feb 28: Jochen Woessner (Caltech): Correlating properties of aftershock sequences to earthquake physics
March 07: Nadia Lapusta (Caltech)
March 14: Spring break
March 21: Laetitia Le Pourhiet (Caltech)
March 28: Jeroen Tromp (Caltech)
April 04: Tom Heaton (Caltech)
April 11: Yuri Fialko (UCSD)
April 18: SSA meeting
April 25: Paul Davis (UCLA)
General reading material closely related to the class topics
Aki, K., and Richards, P. G., Quantitative Seismology (second edition), University Science Books, 2002.
Turcotte, Donald L., "Fractals and Chaos in Geology and Geophysics", Cambridge University Press, 1997. (Clear explanations on fractals and recent dynamic system theories)
Scholz, C. H., The mechanics of earthquakes and faulting, Cambridge, 1990. (A good general reference)
The San Andreas Fault System, California, edited by R. Wallace, U.S. Geol. Surv. Prof. Pap. 1515, 1990. (Highly informative on the San Andreas Fault system and the American-Pacific plate boundary)
Turcotte, D. L. and Schubert, G., Geodynamics (second edition), Cambridge University Press, 2002. (Standard text on mantle and lithospheric dynamics.)
Additional Reading Material from Books, review articles, and topical issues on
Earthquakes, Faulting, and Seismic Source Processes
Jaeger, J. C and N. G. W. Cook, Fundamentals of rock mechanics, Chapman and Hall, 1979.
Kasahara, K., Earthquake Mechanics, Cambridge, 1981.
Simpson, D.W. and P. G. Richards, eds., Earthquake prediction, American Geophysical Union, 1981.
Kanamori, H. and E. Boschi, eds., Earthquakes: observation, theory and interpretation, North Holland, 1983: Madariaga, R., "Introduction to source theory: a review", pp. 1-44; Sykes, L. R., "Predicting great earthquakes", pp. 398-435.
Mogi, K., Earthquake prediction, Academic Press, 1985.
Tullis, T.E., ed., Friction and faulting, Birkhäuser, 1987 (special issue of Pure Appl. Geophys., v. 124, n. 3, 1986).
Kostrov, B.V. and S. Das, Principles of earthquake source mechanics, Cambridge, 1988.
Freund, L. B., Dynamic fracture mechanics, Cambridge, 1990.
Gibowicz, G. J., and A. Kijko, An introduction to mining seismology, Academic Press, 1994.
Lay, T., and T. C. Wallace, Modern global seismology, Academic Press, 1995.
Hickman, S., R. Sibson and R. Bruhn, eds., Mechanical involvement of fluids in faulting, special section of J. Geophys. Res., v. 100, n. B7, pp. 12829-13132, July 1995.
Knopoff, L., ed., Earthquake Prediction: The scientific challenge, Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. USA, 93, pp. 3719-3842, 1996.
Wyss, M. and R. Dmowska, eds., Earthquake prediction - state of the art, special issues of Pure Appl. Geophys., v. 149, n. 1, 1997.
Poirier, J.-P., Creep of crystals, Cambridge Press, 1985.
Broberg, K. B., Cracks and fracture, Academic Press, 1999.
Lee, W HK, H. Kanamori, P. L. Jennings and C Kisslinger, International Handbook of Earthquake and Engineering Seismology, Parts A and B, Academic Press, 2002, 2003.
Term paper report and presentation
Prepare a report on any topic discussed in the seminars. The report can be a literature review or new research involving calculations, data, or theoretical results done in consultation with one of the instructors. There are no page requirements for the reports; the emphasis is on quality rather than size.
Each student will lead a 30 minutes presentation on the topic of her/his term paper. Preliminary versions of the final paper should be shown to one of the instructors for approval at least two weeks beforehand. Students should prepare a handout to be distributed in the class at the time of the presentation.
Examples of Possible Topics:
Energetics of faulting.
Nucleation, propagation and arrest of dynamic rupture.
Earthquake source inversions. Slip-time functions (e.g., Imperial Valley, 1979; Morgan Hill, 1984; Michoacan, 1985; Loma Prieta, 1989; Landers, 1992; Northridge, 1994, Imit, 1999, Chi-Chi 1999), slow rupture propagation, slow earthquakes.
Earthquake stress drops and other scaling laws: robustness, interpretation of variations.
Seismic gap theory. Fault segmentation. Fault zone structural complexity.
A summary of results on one the following earthquakes: Loma Prieta 1989, Landers 1992, Northridge 1994, Izmit, Turkey, 1999.
Interaction and triggering of earthquakes. Tectonic scale migration of large earthquakes.
Estimates of fracture and friction parameters from field and laboratory studies.
Models of seismicity patterns and spatio-temporal complexity.
Spatio-temporal clustering of earthquakes: hypocenter distributions, foreshocks, aftershocks, accelerated moment release.
Constraints on magnitude of crustal shear stress.
Role of friction, pore pressure, and melting in affecting fault strength during rupture.
Statistical mechanics of earthquakes, approach to criticality.
Geodetic studies of earthquake deformation cycle; strain accumulation and post-seismic readjustments.
Potential sources of discrepancies between geologic and geodetic fault slip-rates.
Role of fluids in faulting.
Earthquake prediction, physical basis, signals, important case histories, algorithms, robustness.
Analysis of complex data, artifacts.
Localization vs. distributed deformation in continental tectonics.
Structure and phenomenology of large continental strike-slip fault systems (San Andreas fault, North Anatolian fault, Dead Sea transform).
Disability notice
Students requesting academic accommodations based on a disability are required to register with Disability Services and Programs (DSP) each semester. A letter of verification for approved accommodations can be obtained from DSP when adequate documentation is filed. Please be sure the letter is delivered to us (or to your TA) as early in the semester as possible. DSP is open Monday Friday, 8:30 5:00. The office is in Student Union 301 and the phone number is (213) 740 0776.