Acoustic-Friction Networks and the Evolution of Precursory Rupture Fronts in Laboratory Earthquakes

TL;DR

This paper investigates how acoustic and friction networks influence the evolution of rupture fronts in laboratory earthquakes, revealing distinct rupture front types and their relation to network parameters and rupture speed.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach linking acoustic-friction networks to rupture front evolution, highlighting the separation between slow and regular rupture fronts in granite faults.

Findings

Two distinct rupture front groups identified in granite faults.

Network parameters correlate with rupture front types.

Scaling laws relate rupture durations to network characteristics.

Abstract

We show that the mesoscopic and transport characteristics of networks follow the same trends for the same type of the shear ruptures in terms of rupture speed while also comparing the results of three different friction experiments.The classified fronts obtained from a saw cut Westerly granite fault regarding friction network parameters show a clear separation into two groups indicating two different rupture fronts. With respect to the scaling of local ruptures durations with the networks parameters we show that the gap is related to the possibility of a separation between slow and regular fronts.