Friction as a Factor Determining the Radiation Efficiency of Fault Slips and the Possibility of Their Initiation: State of the Art

Abstract

A conceptual state of the art review of the research on fault zone shear resistance is presented. Recent works on the subject are analyzed in the context of the approaches formulated in the authors’ presentations at the Sixth Conference “Triggering Effects in Geosystems”. The analysis of the results obtained in the last two or three decades by different research teams shows that the frictional properties of the slip zone gouge play a determining role in the rupture initiation and propagation patterns. The refinement of the methods for processing the parameters of weak seismicity, aimed at estimating the “slowness” of microearthquakes confined to a fault zone, may lead to new approaches in fault zone monitoring to derive indirect information on the material composition of a fault slip zone and, thus, on its seismogenic potential. At present, such methods may be useful in solving the problems of reducing the damage caused by man-made earthquakes.