Earthquake

Modeling the full spectrum of observed seismicity: Insights from friction laws, fault instability, and fault-zone mechanics

Navid Kheirdast and edited by Alexis Gauthier June 17, 2026

Introduction Despite advances in our understanding of rock mechanics, the frictional behavior of rocks, and the physics of instability in geological materials, the coexistence of slow and fast earthquakes, as well as various types of fault-zone seismic radiation such as tremor, remains enigmatic. Can fault mechanics and friction laws reproduce the full spectrum of observed seismicity? In this week ...[Read More]

Don’t Stop Me Now: A Fracture Mechanics Perspective on Earthquake Nucleation

Rajani Shrestha July 9, 2025

Schematic for a possible earthquake nucleation scenario. Inset figure adapted after Lebihain et al. (2021) and McLaskey (2019).

How do earthquakes start? Earthquakes occur when a block of rock rapidly slides past another along an interface or a discontinuity in the medium and release energy in the form of seismic waves. Turns out, the surface of the earth is riddled with a lot of these discontinuities, which we call “faults”. If we plot the locations of earthquakes on a world map (Figure 1a), we will see that they highligh ...[Read More]

What is the role of fluids in seismic cycles

Betti Hegyi and edited by Michaël Pons November 16, 2022

Conceptual distribution of seismicity and water in a subduction zone, modified from Behr et al. 2021.

What is the role of fluids in seismic cycles ?

Advanced geodynamic models of giant earthquakes

Thyagarajulu Gollapalli and edited by Jyotirmoy Paul September 16, 2020

Photograph source: https://pixabay.com

Though giant earthquakes are disastrous, they provide essential information to investigate earthquake physics. In this week’s news and views, Thyagarajulu Gollapalli, a PhD student jointly from the Monash University and the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, discusses our present understanding of such big earthquakes and how advanced numerical models will help to get a more precise picture of ...[Read More]