An introduction to Fault slip Profiles to Characterize slip Distribution in Earthquakes, Implication for Geological Structures and fault Mechanisms

Abstractintroduction :this article's objective is to explain slip distribution on faults andunderstanding further the processes of earthquakes and fault slip , and how they are related.yet, rare were the studies that tried to compare these slip distributions . few studies did so, butmainly focused on characterizing the earthquake slip complexity . the overall slip distributionpatterns were not considered. hence, the questions related to the average shape of earthquakeslip distributions are still opened.the profiles of maximum and mean slip that extracted from the models in this articleallow total slip variations along both fault strike and dip to be studied. the general idea thatfollowed is that analyzing many earthquakes together provides a way of smoothing theirindividual peculiarities (such as specific slip complexities), so that common, generalproperties, may emerge.aim: the present study investigated characterizing average slip distributions onearthquakes beyond their individual heterogeneity.methods: an auto correlation method was used to define an effective length at whichzones of zero (or small) slip are not contributing, even when localized between slip patches.acollection of one-dimensional profiles was prepared, each is given as d(x) (d isdisplacement or slip, x is position along fault length or width). hence, all profiles aremathematically comparable and can be analyzed similarly, with a general procedure.results:while earthquakes are complex features with highly heterogeneousmechanical conditions on their planes (due to pre-stresses, static and dynamic stressloading/unloading by neighboring ruptures , host rock properties, etc .. .), they share somecommon, generic properties that appear when a large number of events are examinedtogether: most produce triangular slip profiles (:::::70% are asymmetric) with well defined, longlinear tapers. triangular slip distributions on earthquake faults seem to be self-similar ,suggesting that they attest to a scale-invariant mechanical behavior.most slip profiles areasymmetric, suggesting different behaviors at the two edges of the major asperity.conclusion:the maximum and mean slip profiles draw a triangular and asymmetricaverage curve, while three dominant degrees ·of asymmetry are revealed.the observation oftriangular slip distributions therefore attests to a common, general property of faults,regardless of their scales and kinematics. the area broken during this first stage appears asthe major asperity that shapes the total triangular slip distribution