Model and theoretical seismicity

A laboratory and a numerical model have been constructed to explore the role of friction along a fault as a factor in the earthquake mechanism. The laboratory model demonstrates that small shocks are necessary to the loading of potential energy into the focal structure; a large part, but not all, of the stored potential energy is later released in a major shock, at the end of a period of loading energy into the system. By the introduction of viscosity into the numerical model, aftershocks take place following a major shock. Both models have features which describe the statistics of shocks in the main sequence, the statistics of aftershocks and the energy-magnitude scale, among others.