Fractal properties of seismicity in regions affected by large, shallow earthquakes in western Japan: Implications for fault formation processes based on a binary fractal fracture network model

Abstract

[1] The temporal variation in the b value (which is defined as the slope of the Gutenberg-Richter frequency N-magnitude M relationship), log N = a À bM, and the multifractal dimension of the spatial distribution D q of seismic activity are analyzed using earthquake catalog data for regions affected by two recent large earthquakes in Japan. An anomalous decrease in D q and an increase in b value appear as a common seismic rupture response during the period of decreasing seismic energy release in the lead up to these large, shallow earthquakes. The change in fractal dimensions of faults inferred from sequential seismic events reflects the transition of fracture from a dispersive rupture process to an anomalous rupture process and shows that the growth of the fault network through fault linkage is abruptly restrained in the fault formation process leading up to the main shock. The anomalies in the fractal and multifractal dimensions prior to large earthquakes indicate that the anomalous activation and clustering of smaller earthquakes represents criticality of the state around asperities along a fault.Citation: Nakaya, S. (2005), Fractal properties of seismicity in regions affected by large, shallow earthquakes in western Japan: Implications for fault formation processes based on a binary fractal fracture network model,

Characteristic variation of local scaling property before Puer M6.4 earthquake in China: The presence of a new pattern of nonlinear behavior of seismicity

“…As for the patterns of nonlinear behavior of seis micity, as we well know, there have been several differ ent patterns of nonlinear behavior of seismicity, for example, the decrease of the fractal dimensions of seismicity before great ruptures (Goltz, 1997), the steepening of curves in the generalized dimension spectrum of seismicity before great earthquakes (Nakaya, 2005;Hirabayashi, Ito, and Yoshii, 1992), and so on (Matcharashvili, Chelidze, and Javakhish vili, 2000). However, the characteristic variation of local scaling property of seismicity is not well known.…”

“…The curve pre sents that D q for positive q decreases as q is increased and for negative q increases as q is decreased, which illustrates the multifractal property. Some researches show that the D q -q curves become steeper before a great rupture than during normal periods (Hiraba yashi et al, 1992;Zhu and Chen, 2000;Nakaya, 2005), i.e., D q increases for negative q and decreases for positive q. This change mainly occurs within the range of -5 ≤ q ≤ 5.…”

“…It has been shown that the mono fractal dimen sion displays different variation characteristics at dif ferent stages of seismogeny (Carpinteri, Lacidogna, and Puzzi, 2009;Goltz, 1997;Matcharashvili, Che lidze, and Javakhishvili, 2000;Radulian and Trifu, 1991;Murase, 2004;Roy and Nath, 2007;Kiyash chenko et al, 2004); it has also been shown in multi fractal research of seismic activity that the spectrum of generalized dimensions and the singularity spectrum display characteristic variations before the main shocks (Caruso et al, 2006;Dimitriu, Scordilis, and Karacostas, 2000;Nakaya, 2005;Roy and Padhi, 2007;Kiyashchenko et al, 2004;Telesca and Lap enna, 2006;Telesca, Lapenna, and Macchiato, 2005). Research on petrophysical experiments (Lei and Satoh, 2007) has demonstrated that the pre failure damage evolution prior to catastrophic failures in sev eral common rock types is generally characterized by a decrease in fractal dimension.…”

Local scaling property of seismicity: an example of getting valuable information from complex hierarchical system

“…The curve presents that D q for positive q decreases as q is increased and for negative q increases as q is decreased, which illustrates the multifractal property. Some researches show that the D q − q curves become steeper before a great rupture than during normal periods (Hirabayashi et al, 1992;Nakaya, 2005;Zhu and Chen, 2000), i.e., D q increases for negative q and decreases for positive q. This change mainly occurs within the range of −5 ≤ q ≤5.…”

“…It has been shown in rock burst (Lu et al, 2005), petrophysical experiments (Lei et al, 2003;Lei and Satoh, 2007) and natural earthquake research (Murase, 2004;Roy and Nath, 2007) that the mono-fractal dimension displays characteristic changes before a major rupture; it Correspondence to: Q. Li (lqdzjybzx@126.com) has also been shown in multifractal research on seismic activity that the spectrum of generalised dimensions and the singularity spectrum display characteristic changes before large earthquakes (Caruso et al, 2006;Dimitriu et al, 2000;Nakaya, 2005;Roy and Padhi, 2007). Some results have confirmed that the decrease in fractal dimension, the steepening of curves in the generalised dimension spectrum and the broadening of the value range in the singularity spectrum, can be taken as indicators of an unstable state of an earthquake system before a large rupture (Carpinteri et al, 2009;Goltz, 1997;Kiyashchenko et al, 2004;Lee et al, 2008;Matcharashvili et al, 2000;Radulian and Trifu, 1991;Telesca et al, 2005;Telesca and Lapenna, 2006).…”