Journal
GEOPHYSICAL RESEARCH LETTERS
Volume 42, Issue 5, Pages 1399-1402Publisher
AMER GEOPHYSICAL UNION
DOI: 10.1002/2014GL062863
Keywords
earthquakes; b value; stress
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Laboratory experiments have shown that the b value in the size distribution of acoustic emission events decreases linearly with differential stress. There have been a number of observations that indicate that this relation may also hold for earthquakes. Here using a simple frictional strength model for stresses in the continental lithosphere combined with earthquake b values measured as a function of depth in a wide variety of tectonic regions, we verify and calibrate that relation, finding b=1.230.06-(0.00120.0003)(sigma(1)-sigma(3)), where the stress difference (sigma(1)-sigma(3)) is in megapascal. For subduction zones, we find that b value correlates linearly with the slab pull force and with the net reduction of plate interface normal force, both of which also indicate a negative linear relation between b value and differential stress.
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