Dependence of surface fracture energy on earthquake size: A derivation from hierarchical self-similar fault zone geometry

Abstract

Based on the hierarchical self-similar geometry of fault zones in which fault segments and jogs of different hierarchical ranks are nested, I formulated surface fracture energy of jogs and the mean surface fracture energy averaged over the rapture surface. I incorporated this theory with a new finding that the distribution of microfractures in fault jogs is fractal with a universal fractal dimension of 1.56 (2-D measurements), and derived the result that both fracture energy of jogs and the mean fracture energy are proportional to the rupture length to the power of 0.56. Copyright 2007 by the American Geophysical Union.