High-frequency radiation from crack (stress drop) models of earthquake faulting

Abstract

Summary. We present a theory for the radiation of high-frequency waves by earthquake faults. We model the fault as a planar region in which the stress drops to the kinematic friction during slip. This model is entirely equivalent to a shear crack. For twodimensional fault models we show that the high frequencies originate from the stress and slip velocity concentrations in the vicinity of the fault’s edges. These stress concentrations radiate when the crack expands with accelerated motion. The most efficient generation of high-frequency waves occurs when the rupture velocity changes abruptly. In this case, the displacement spectrum has an u-’ behaviour at high frequencies. The excitation is proportional to the intensity of the stress concentration near the crack tips and to the change in the focusing factor due to rupture velocity. We extend these two-dimensional results to more general three-dimensional fault models in the case when the rupture velocity changes simultaneously on the rupture front. Results are similar to those described for twodimensional faults. We apply the theory to the case of a circular fault that grows at constant velocity and stops suddenly. The present theory is in excellent agreement with a numerical solution of the same problem. Our results provide upper bounds to the high-frequency radiation from more realistic models in which rupture velocity does not change suddenly. The u-’ is the minimum possible decay at high frequencies for any crack model of the source.