English

A two-fractal overlap model of earthquakes

Statistical Mechanics 2007-05-23 v1

Abstract

We introduce here the two-fractal model of earthquake dynamics. As the fractured surfaces have self-affine properties, we consider the solid-solid interface of the earth's crust and the tectonic plate below as fractal surfaces. The overlap or contact area between the two surfaces give a measure of the stored elastic energy released during a slip. The overlap between two fractals change with time as one moves over the other and we show that the time average of the overlap distribution follows a Gutenberg-Richter like power-law, with similar exponent value.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.cond-mat/0512136,
  title  = {A two-fractal overlap model of earthquakes},
  author = {Bikas K Chakrabarti and Arnab Chatterjee},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:cond-mat/0512136},
  year   = {2007}
}

Comments

7 pages, 5 eps figures; Proc. The Seventh International Conference on Vibration Problems ICOVP-2005, Ed. E. Inan (Springer, 2006)