Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
    • Journal home
    • Lyell Collection home
    • Geological Society home
  • Content
    • Online First
    • Current issue
    • Past issues
    • Collections
    • Supplementary publications
    • Open Access
  • Subscribe
    • GSL fellows
    • Institutions
    • Corporate
    • Other member types
  • Info
    • Authors
    • Librarians
    • Readers
    • Access for GSL Fellows
    • Access for other member types
    • Press office
    • Help
  • Alert sign up
    • eTOC alerts
    • Online First alerts
    • RSS feeds
    • Newsletters
    • GSL blog
  • Submit
  • Geological Society of London Publications
    • Engineering Geology Special Publications
    • Geochemistry: Exploration, Environment, Analysis
    • Journal of Micropalaeontology
    • Journal of the Geological Society
    • Lyell Collection home
    • Memoirs
    • Petroleum Geology Conference Series
    • Petroleum Geoscience
    • Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society
    • Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology
    • Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society
    • Scottish Journal of Geology
    • Special Publications
    • Transactions of the Edinburgh Geological Society
    • Transactions of the Geological Society of Glasgow
    • Transactions of the Geological Society of London

User menu

  • My alerts
  • Log in
  • My Cart

Search

  • Advanced search
Journal of the Geological Society
  • Geological Society of London Publications
    • Engineering Geology Special Publications
    • Geochemistry: Exploration, Environment, Analysis
    • Journal of Micropalaeontology
    • Journal of the Geological Society
    • Lyell Collection home
    • Memoirs
    • Petroleum Geology Conference Series
    • Petroleum Geoscience
    • Proceedings of the Yorkshire Geological Society
    • Quarterly Journal of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology
    • Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society
    • Scottish Journal of Geology
    • Special Publications
    • Transactions of the Edinburgh Geological Society
    • Transactions of the Geological Society of Glasgow
    • Transactions of the Geological Society of London
  • My alerts
  • Log in
  • My Cart
  • Follow gsl on Twitter
  • Visit gsl on Facebook
  • Visit gsl on Youtube
  • Visit gsl on Linkedin
Journal of the Geological Society

Advanced search

  • Home
    • Journal home
    • Lyell Collection home
    • Geological Society home
  • Content
    • Online First
    • Current issue
    • Past issues
    • Collections
    • Supplementary publications
    • Open Access
  • Subscribe
    • GSL fellows
    • Institutions
    • Corporate
    • Other member types
  • Info
    • Authors
    • Librarians
    • Readers
    • Access for GSL Fellows
    • Access for other member types
    • Press office
    • Help
  • Alert sign up
    • eTOC alerts
    • Online First alerts
    • RSS feeds
    • Newsletters
    • GSL blog
  • Submit

The strength of earthquake-generating faults

Alex Copley
Journal of the Geological Society, 10 August 2017, https://doi.org/10.1144/jgs2017-037
Alex Copley
COMET, Bullard Labs, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB3 0EZ UK
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Search for this author on this site
Next
  • Article
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF
Loading

Abstract

This paper summarizes the observations and methods that have been used to study the strength of active earthquake-generating (seismogenic) faults. Indirect inferences based upon a range of geophysical and geological observations suggest that faults fail in earthquakes at shear stresses of less than c. 50 MPa, equivalent to effective coefficients of friction of less than 0.3, and possibly as low as 0.05. These low levels of effective friction are likely to be the result of a combination of high pore fluid pressures, which could be local or transient, and the frictional properties of phyllosilicate-rich fault rocks. The dip angles of new faults forming in oceanic outer rises imply that intrinsically low-friction fault rocks must control the fault strength in at least that setting. When combined with the much higher fault strengths inferred from borehole studies and some laboratory measurements, the observations are most consistent with weak faults embedded in strong surroundings, providing a clear reason for the prevalence of fault reactivation. However, the conditions required for the formation of new faults, and the reasons for an apparent wide variability in the degree of fault healing through time, remain unknown.

  • © 2017 The Author(s)

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/)

Next
Back to top

Current issue

Journal of the Geological Society: 176 (6)
  • Table of Contents
  • Table of Contents (PDF)
  • About the Cover
  • Index by author
  • Back Matter (PDF)
  • Front Matter (PDF)
Alerts
Sign In to Email Alerts with your Email Address
Citation tools

The strength of earthquake-generating faults

Alex Copley
Journal of the Geological Society, 10 August 2017, https://doi.org/10.1144/jgs2017-037
Alex Copley
COMET, Bullard Labs, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, CB3 0EZ UK
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Permissions
View PDF
Share

The strength of earthquake-generating faults

Alex Copley
Journal of the Geological Society, 10 August 2017, https://doi.org/10.1144/jgs2017-037
del.icio.us logo Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo CiteULike logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
Email to

Thank you for sharing this Journal of the Geological Society article.

NOTE: We request your email address only to inform the recipient that it was you who recommended this article, and that it is not junk mail. We do not retain these email addresses.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
The strength of earthquake-generating faults
(Your Name) has forwarded a page to you from Journal of the Geological Society
(Your Name) thought you would be interested in this article in Journal of the Geological Society.
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One
  • Article
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF

Related Articles

Similar Articles

Cited By...

More in this TOC Section

  • On the significance of short-duration regional metamorphism
  • Predicting bedforms and primary current stratification in cohesive mixtures of mud and sand
Show more: Review Article
  • Most read
  • Most cited
Loading
  • The Mesoproterozoic Stac Fada proximal ejecta blanket, NW Scotland: constraints on crater location from field observations, anisotropy of magnetic susceptibility, petrography and geochemistry
  • A reassessment of the proposed ‘Lairg Impact Structure’ and its potential implications for the deep structure of northern Scotland
  • The Herefordshire Lagerstätte: fleshing out Silurian marine life
  • Where does the time go? Assessing the chronostratigraphic fidelity of sedimentary geological outcrops in the Pliocene–Pleistocene Red Crag Formation, eastern England
  • Fabrics and water contents of peridotites in the Neotethyan Luobusa ophiolite, southern Tibet: implications for mantle recycling in supra-subduction zones
More...

Journal of the Geological Society

  • About the journal
  • Editorial Board
  • Submit a manuscript
  • Author information
  • Supplementary Publications
  • Subscribe
  • Pay per view
  • Alerts & RSS
  • Copyright & Permissions
  • Activate Online Subscription
  • Feedback
  • Help

Lyell Collection

  • About the Lyell Collection
  • Lyell Collection homepage
  • Collections
  • Open Access Collection
  • Open Access Policy
  • Lyell Collection access help
  • Recommend to your Library
  • Lyell Collection Sponsors
  • MARC records
  • Digital preservation
  • Developing countries
  • Geofacets
  • Manage your account
  • Cookies

The Geological Society

  • About the Society
  • Join the Society
  • Benefits for Members
  • Online Bookshop
  • Publishing policies
  • Awards, Grants & Bursaries
  • Education & Careers
  • Events
  • Geoscientist Online
  • Library & Information Services
  • Policy & Media
  • Society blog
  • Contact the Society

Published by The Geological Society of London, registered charity number 210161

Print ISSN 
0016-7649
Online ISSN 
2041-479X

Copyright © 2019 Geological Society of London