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Towards a New View of Earthquake Phenomena

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Fractals and Chaos in the Earth Sciences

Part of the book series: Pageoph Topical Volumes ((PTV))

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Abstract

Recent advances in the theory of fracture and fragmentation are reviewed. Empirical laws in seismology are interpreted from a fractal perspective, and earthquakes are viewed as a self-organized critical phenomenon (SOC). Earthquakes occur as an energy dissipation process in the earth’s crust to which the tectonic energy is continuously input. The crust self-organizes into the critical state and the temporal and spatial fractal structure emerges naturally. Power-law relations known in seismology are the expression of the critical state of the crust. An SOC model for earthquakes, which explains the Gutenberg-Richter relation, the Omori’s formula of aftershocks and the fractal distribution of hypocenters, is presented. A new view of earthquake phenomena shares a common standpoint with other disciplines to study natural complex phenomena with a unified theory.

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  1. Department of Earth Sciences, Faculty of Science, Kobe University, Nada, Kobe 657, Japan

    Keisuke Ito

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  1. Keisuke Ito
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  1. Institut de Physique du Globe de Strasbourg, Université Louis Pasteur, 5, rue René Descartes, F-67084, Strasbourg, Cedex, France

    Geoffrey C. P. King

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Ito, K. (1992). Towards a New View of Earthquake Phenomena. In: Sammis, C.G., Saito, M., King, G.C.P. (eds) Fractals and Chaos in the Earth Sciences. Pageoph Topical Volumes. Birkhäuser, Basel. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-0348-6191-5_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-0348-6191-5_2

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