Seismic characteristics of supershear and sub‐Rayleigh earthquakes: Implication from simple cases

Abstract Numerous investigations of supershear earthquakes make a conclusion that a supershear earthquake produces a seismic shock wave on the ground that may increase the resulting destruction. We investigate a supershear rupture promoted by the free surface and find out that although the seismic e...

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Main Authors: Zhenguo Zhang, Jiankuan Xu, Hanqing Huang, Xiaofei Chen
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Wiley 2017-07-01
Series:Geophysical Research Letters
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL074158
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author Zhenguo Zhang
Jiankuan Xu
Hanqing Huang
Xiaofei Chen
author_facet Zhenguo Zhang
Jiankuan Xu
Hanqing Huang
Xiaofei Chen
author_sort Zhenguo Zhang
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Numerous investigations of supershear earthquakes make a conclusion that a supershear earthquake produces a seismic shock wave on the ground that may increase the resulting destruction. We investigate a supershear rupture promoted by the free surface and find out that although the seismic energy of a supershear earthquake can be transmitted further with large amplitudes, the peak slip velocity on a fault near the free surface is smaller than that caused by a subshear rupture earthquake. Our results show that the free‐surface‐induced supershear rupture mitigates the amplitudes of ground motions near the fault plane compared with the subshear rupture. The Coulomb failure change derived from dynamic modeling further suggests that this free‐surface‐induced supershear reduces aftershock potential compared to a subshear rupture. Both ground motion at near‐fault and aftershock possibility show low risk for the free‐surface‐induced supershear rupture earthquake than subshear earthquake, contrary to the traditional concept.
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language English
publishDate 2017-07-01
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record_format Article
series Geophysical Research Letters
spelling doaj-art-e080c628ac8a4dc49ccdd7ad3b8ad86f2025-08-20T01:51:46ZengWileyGeophysical Research Letters0094-82761944-80072017-07-0144136712671710.1002/2017GL074158Seismic characteristics of supershear and sub‐Rayleigh earthquakes: Implication from simple casesZhenguo Zhang0Jiankuan Xu1Hanqing Huang2Xiaofei Chen3Department of Earth and Space Sciences Southern University of Science and Technology Shenzhen ChinaDepartment of Earth and Space Sciences Southern University of Science and Technology Shenzhen ChinaSchool of Earth and Space Sciences University of Science and Technology of China Hefei ChinaDepartment of Earth and Space Sciences Southern University of Science and Technology Shenzhen ChinaAbstract Numerous investigations of supershear earthquakes make a conclusion that a supershear earthquake produces a seismic shock wave on the ground that may increase the resulting destruction. We investigate a supershear rupture promoted by the free surface and find out that although the seismic energy of a supershear earthquake can be transmitted further with large amplitudes, the peak slip velocity on a fault near the free surface is smaller than that caused by a subshear rupture earthquake. Our results show that the free‐surface‐induced supershear rupture mitigates the amplitudes of ground motions near the fault plane compared with the subshear rupture. The Coulomb failure change derived from dynamic modeling further suggests that this free‐surface‐induced supershear reduces aftershock potential compared to a subshear rupture. Both ground motion at near‐fault and aftershock possibility show low risk for the free‐surface‐induced supershear rupture earthquake than subshear earthquake, contrary to the traditional concept.https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL074158supershear earthquakedynamic rupturefree surface
spellingShingle Zhenguo Zhang
Jiankuan Xu
Hanqing Huang
Xiaofei Chen
Seismic characteristics of supershear and sub‐Rayleigh earthquakes: Implication from simple cases
Geophysical Research Letters
supershear earthquake
dynamic rupture
free surface
title Seismic characteristics of supershear and sub‐Rayleigh earthquakes: Implication from simple cases
title_full Seismic characteristics of supershear and sub‐Rayleigh earthquakes: Implication from simple cases
title_fullStr Seismic characteristics of supershear and sub‐Rayleigh earthquakes: Implication from simple cases
title_full_unstemmed Seismic characteristics of supershear and sub‐Rayleigh earthquakes: Implication from simple cases
title_short Seismic characteristics of supershear and sub‐Rayleigh earthquakes: Implication from simple cases
title_sort seismic characteristics of supershear and sub rayleigh earthquakes implication from simple cases
topic supershear earthquake
dynamic rupture
free surface
url https://doi.org/10.1002/2017GL074158
work_keys_str_mv AT zhenguozhang seismiccharacteristicsofsupershearandsubrayleighearthquakesimplicationfromsimplecases
AT jiankuanxu seismiccharacteristicsofsupershearandsubrayleighearthquakesimplicationfromsimplecases
AT hanqinghuang seismiccharacteristicsofsupershearandsubrayleighearthquakesimplicationfromsimplecases
AT xiaofeichen seismiccharacteristicsofsupershearandsubrayleighearthquakesimplicationfromsimplecases