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The Spherical Block Model: Dynamics of the Global System of Tectonic Plates and Seismicity

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Abstract

The spherical block model is used to study dynamics of the global system of tectonic plates and seismicity by means of numerical simulation. A brief description of the model is presented. Two block structures are considered: The first is characterized by specifying the largest plates as boundary blocks, whereas the second is the closed spherical structure without boundary blocks. Results of numerical experiments include the qualitative information on displacements of plates, and on the nature of their interaction along boundaries. Synthetic earthquake catalogs reveal some patterns of observed seismicity. Model frequency-magnitude (FM) plots are nearly linear. Analysis of numerical simulations shows dependence of synthetic seismic properties on model parameters. The dynamics of the global system of tectonic plates is more accurately modeled by means of the closed block structure than with the structure for that boundary blocks are specified.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Mathematics and Mechanics, Ural Branch, Russian Academy of Sciences, Kovalevskaya str. 16, Ekaterinburg, 620219, Russia

    V. L. Rozenberg & L. A. Melnikova

  2. International Institute of Earthquake Prediction Theory and Mathematical Geophysics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Warshavskoye sh. 79, kor. 2, Moscow, 117556, Russia

    P. O. Sobolev & A. A. Soloviev

Authors
  1. V. L. Rozenberg
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  2. P. O. Sobolev
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  3. A. A. Soloviev
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  4. L. A. Melnikova
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to A. A. Soloviev.

Additional information

Acknowledgement. The authors are deeply grateful to Dr. Jurgen Fohlmeister (University of Minnesota) for numerous valuable remarks to the paper. This work has been partly done at the Abdus Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics (Trieste, Italy), was supported by Basic Research Programs 13 and 21 of the Presidium of Russian Academy of Sciences, by the International Science and Technology Center (projects 1293 and 1538), by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research (project 02-05-64682 for the second author and projects 04-07-90210, 03-01-00474 for the first and fourth authors) and for the third author by the James S. McDonnell Foundation within the framework of the 21st Century Collaborative Activity Award for Studying Complex Systems (project on Understanding and Prediction of Critical Transitions in Complex Systems).

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Rozenberg, V., Sobolev, P., Soloviev, A. et al. The Spherical Block Model: Dynamics of the Global System of Tectonic Plates and Seismicity. Pure appl. geophys. 162, 145–164 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00024-004-2584-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00024-004-2584-4

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