Fractal Dynamics of Earthquakes

Abstract

Many objects in nature, from mountain landscapes to electrical breakdown and turbulence, have a self-similar fractal spatial structure (Mandelbrot, 1982). This is by no means a trivial observation, since it implies that systems are correlated over large distances. Much effort has been put into computer simulation and characterization of these objects. However the empirical geometrical observation and characterization do not by themselves serve as a physical explanation. It seems obvious that to understand the origin of self-similar structures, we must understand the nature of the dynamical processes that created them: Temporal and spatial properties must necessarily be completely interwoven.