Dynamics and Near-Field Surface Motions of Transitioned Supershear Laboratory Earthquakes in Thrust Faults

We study how the asymmetric geometry of thrust faults affects the dynamics of supershear ruptures and their associated trailing Rayleigh ruptures as they interact with the free surface, and investigate the resulting near-field ground motions. Earthquakes are mimicked by propagating laboratory ruptures along a frictional interface with a 61 degrees dip angle. Using an experimental technique that combines ultrahigh-speed photography with digital image correlation, we produce sequences of full-field evolving measurements of particle displacements and velocities. Our full-field measurement capability allows us to confirm and quantify the asymmetry between the experimental motions of the hanging and footwalls, with larger velocity magnitudes occurring at the hanging wall. Interestingly, because the motion of the hanging wall is generally near-vertical, while that of the footwall is at dip direction shallower than the dip angle of the fault, the horizontal surface velocity components are found to be larger at the footwall than at the hanging wall. The attenuation in surface velocity with distance from the fault trace is generally larger at the hanging wall than at the footwall and it is more pronounced in the vertical component than in the horizontal one. Measurements of the rotations in surface motions confirm experimentally that the interaction of the rupture with the free surface can be interpreted through a torqueing mechanism that leads to reduction in normal stress near the free surface for thrust earthquakes. Nondimensional analysis shows that the experimental measurements are consistent with larger-scale numerical simulations as well as field observations from thrust earthquakes.

Automated summary

This study investigates how the asymmetric geometry of thrust faults affects earthquake dynamics, with experimental results showing asymmetries in motion velocities between the hanging and footwalls. Surface velocity attenuation is found to be larger at the hanging wall, with experimental measurements consistent with numerical simulations and field observations. The findings suggest that the interaction of ruptures with the free surface leads to reduced normal stress near the surface in thrust earthquakes.