Understanding the physical processes causing surface creep on faults.
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Oxford
Department Name: Mathematical, Physical&Life Sciences Div
Abstract
Faults have been knownto slip aseismicallyor creep at the surface since the 1960s when creep was observed along the San Andreas Fault following the 1966 Parkfield Earthquake 1. The San Andreas Fault has since been observed to be creeping along a 150km long sectionbetween San Juan Bautista and Parkfield. Since the discovery of creep along this section of the San Andreas Fault, creepmeters and alignment arrays have been installed to monitor the creep2. Surface creep has been observed on many other fault systems around the world. Creephas been observed on other large strike-slipfaults such as the North Anatolian Fault near Ismetpasa, Turkey 3and the Philippine Fault on the Island of Leyte 4. Strike-slip faults are not the only type of faults that have surface creep, with creep observed on reverse faults in Taiwan 5,6.Creep on faults has been observed to occur in bursts known as creep events; these can be identified on the recordings oncreepmeters(Figure 1).Creep events have variations in slip characteristics (slip rate, duration,and slip) as a result ofphysical processesthat causes creep events. Despite the observation of surface creep since the 1960s,thephysical processby which creep is produced is not yet known. Many models have been proposed for creep including,viscous rheology 7, rate-and state-friction 8, size-limited friction 9and shear-induced dilatancy 10. Each modelhas its own merits.However,the debate over which one process produces surface creep is still ongoing. Another fundamental question still tobeanswered is howmuch of the fault is involved in creep events are.Given creep eventsare recorded at point locations using creepmeters, we do not know how much of the fault is creeping during these events.By using complementary creepmeters, creep propagation along the Calaveras Faulthas been observed 11. By investigating creep propagation, thesize extent of these creep events maybe uncovered leading to a new understanding of the role surface creep plays in the wider earthquake cycle. Aims
Determine how big creep eventsare.
Discriminate between physical models proposed for creep events.
Implementand developa time-lapse imaging-based technique for monitoring surface creep.
Determine how big creep eventsare.
Discriminate between physical models proposed for creep events.
Implementand developa time-lapse imaging-based technique for monitoring surface creep.
Organisations
Studentship Projects
Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Student Name |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
NE/S007474/1 | 01/10/2019 | 30/09/2027 | |||
2278788 | Studentship | NE/S007474/1 | 01/10/2019 | 30/09/2023 | Daniel Gittins |
Description | - Identification of 2120 creep events across 18 USGS creepmeters along the creeping section of the San Andreas Fault. - Determine the along-strike length of these creep events. |
Exploitation Route | The creep events that have been identified in the first part of this research have been made publically available as a catalog of events that will hopefully be used by the wider scientific community in relating the different parts of fault physics together i.e., the seismic and aseismic parts. |
Sectors | Environment |
URL | https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2021JB023001 |
Description | Gave a talk at the COMET student meeting 2020 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Gave a short introductory talk to the project as part of the COMET student meeting. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Presenter on the COMET webinar |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Other audiences |
Results and Impact | Gave a talk as part of the student showcase as part of the COMET webinar series. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K9hBlGhYQhc |
Description | Talk at the COMET annual meeting 2020 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Other audiences |
Results and Impact | Gave a short talk about the detection of creep events at the COMET annual meeting 2020. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |
Description | Talk at the COMET student meeting 2021 |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Gave a talk to the COMET student meeting 2021 about the progress of the project. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
Description | Talk at the Northern California Earthquakes Hazard Workshop |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Other audiences |
Results and Impact | Gave a talk as part of a panel on creeping faults to the Northern California Earthquakes Hazard Workshop. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |
URL | https://earthquake.usgs.gov/contactus/menlo/seminars/1372 |
Description | Talk at the Wessex Congress of DTPs |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Postgraduate students |
Results and Impact | Gave a short talk as part of the Wessex Congress of DTPs in a session on Dynamic Earth. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2020 |