Linking electromagnetic precursors with earthquake dynamics: an approach based on nonextensive fragment and self-affine asperity models

Abstract

EM emissions in a wide frequency spectrum ranging from kHz to MHz are produced by opening cracks, which can be considered as precursors of general fracture. An important feature, observed on both laboratory and geophysical scale, is that the MHz radiation systematically precedes the kHz one. Yet, the link between an individual EM precursor and a distinctive stage of the EQ preparation comprises a crucial open question. A recently proposed two-stage model on preseismic EM activity suggests that the MHz EM emission is due to the fracture of the highly heterogeneous system that surrounds the fault. The finally emerged kHz EM emission is rooted in the final stage of EQ generation, namely, the fracture of entities sustaining the system. In this work we try to further penetrate and elucidate the link of the precursory kHz EM activity with the last stage of EQ generation building on two theoretical models for EQ dynamics. Firstly, the self-affine model states that an EQ is due to the slipping of two rough and rigid fractional Brownian profiles, one over the other, when there is an intersection between them. Secondly, the fragment-asperity model, rooted in a nonextensive Tsallis framework starting from first principles, consists of two rough profiles interacting via fragments filling the gap. In the latter approach, the mechanism of triggering EQ is established through the interaction of the irregularities of the fault planes and the fragments between them. This paper shows that these models of EQ dynamics can be linked with the detected kHz EM emission. In this framework of analysis of preseismic EM activity, we identify sufficient criteria that offer the possibility to discriminate whether a seismic shock is sourced in the fracture of fragments filling the gap between the rough profiles or in the fracture of "teeth" distributed across the fractional Brownian profiles that sustain the system.

References in corpus (1)

• High resolution 3D laser scanner measurements of a strike-slip fault quantify its morphological anisotropy at all scales

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• Dynamical analogy between economical crisis and earthquake dynamics within the nonextensive statistical mechanics framework
• On the recent seismic activity at eastern Aegean Sea: Analysis of fracture-induced electromagnetic emissions in terms of critical fluctuations
• Verifying the self-affine nature of regional seismicity using nonextensive Tsallis statistics