Analytical approach for the toroidal relaxation of viscoelastic earth

This paper is concerned with post-seismic toroidal deformation in a spherically symmetric, non-rotating, linear-viscoelastic, isotropic Maxwell earth model. Analytical expressions for characteristic relaxation times and relaxation strengths are found for viscoelastic toroidal deformation, associated with surface tangential stress, when there are two to five layers between the core–mantle boundary and Earth's surface. The multilayered models can include lithosphere, asthenosphere, upper and lower mantles and even low-viscosity ductile layer in the lithosphere. The analytical approach is self-consistent in that the Heaviside isostatic solution agrees with fluid limit. The analytical solution can be used for high-precision simulation of the toroidal relaxation in five-layer earths and the results can also be considered as a benchmark for numerical methods. Analytical solution gives only stable decaying modes—unstable mode, conjugate complex mode and modes of relevant poles with orders larger than 1, are all excluded, and the total number of modes is found to be just the number of viscoelastic layers between the core–mantle boundary and Earth's surface—however, any elastic layer between two viscoelastic layers is also counted. This confirms previous finding where numerical method (i.e. propagator matrix method) is used. We have studied the relaxation times of a lot of models and found the propagator matrix method to agree very well with those from analytical results. In addition, the asthenosphere and lithospheric ductile layer are found to have large effects on the amplitude of post-seismic deformation. This also confirms the findings of previous works.     

Post-seismic reloading and temporal clustering on a single fault

Geological studies show evidence for temporal clustering of large earthquakes on individual fault systems. Since post-seismic deformation due to the inelastic rheology of the lithosphere may result in a variable loading rate on a fault throughout the interseismic period, it is reasonable to expect that the rheology of the non-seismogenic lower crust and mantle lithosphere may play a role in controlling earthquake recurrence times. We study this phenomenon using a 2-D, finite element method continuum model of the lithosphere containing a single strike-slip fault. This model builds on a previous study using a 1-D spring-dashpot-slider analogue of a single fault system to study the role of Maxwell viscoelastic relaxation in producing non-periodic earthquakes. In our 2-D model, the seismogenic portion of the fault slips when a predetermined yield stress is exceeded; stress accumulated on the seismogenic fault is shed to the viscoelastic layers below and recycled back to the seismogenic fault through viscoelastic relaxation. We find that random variation of the fault yield stress from one earthquake to the next can cause the earthquake sequence to be clustered; the amount of clustering depends on a non-dimensional number, W , called the Wallace number defined as the standard deviation of the randomly varied fault yield stress divided by the effective viscosity of the system times the tectonic loading rate. A new clustering metric based on the bimodal distribution of interseismic intervals allows us to investigate clustering behaviour of systems over a wide range of model parameters and those with multiple viscoelastic layers. For models with   W ≥ 1  clustering increases with increasing W , while those with   W ≤ 1  are unclustered, or quasi-periodic.     

Displacement, strain and stress fields due to shear and tensile dislocations in a viscoelastic half-space

Okada (1992) provided expressions for the displacement and strain fields due to a finite rectangular source in an elastic, homogeneous and isotropic half-space. Starting with these results, we applied the correspondence principle of linear viscoelasticity to derive the quasi-static displacement, strain and stress fields in a viscoelastic, homogeneous and isotropic half-space. We assume that the medium deforms viscoelastically with respect to both the shear and the normal stresses but keeps a constant bulk modulus; in particular, the shear modulus relaxes as Maxwell fluid. We presented the viscoelastic effect on displacement, displacement gradient and stress fields, for a choice of parameter values. The viscoelastic effect due to the sudden dislocation reaches a limit value after about 10 times the Maxwell time. The expressions obtained here provide tools for the study of viscoelastic relaxation of lithosphere associated with seismic and volcanic phenomena.     

Thick-plate flexure re-examined

Summary. The flexure of an incompressible, thick elastic plate floating on an inviscid substratum and subject to an external gravity field is re-analysed. The solution is derived from momentum equations which account for the advection of hydrostatic pre-stress. This is contrasted with a recently published thick-plate solution derived from momentum equations without a pre-stress term. It is demonstrated that neglecting pre-stress advection renders the solution singular when the model degenerates into an inviscid half-space. If pre-stress advection is included, the solution remains correct in this limit. A numerical comparison of both types of thick-plate solution with results based on conventional thin-plate theory further shows that, for geophysically relevant models, the difference in the momentum balance entails discrepancies between the thick-plate solutions which are comparable to the errors introduced by the thin-plate approximation.     

The effects of post-seismic motions on the moment of inertia of a stratified viscoelastic earth with an asthenosphere

Summary. We give the analytical formulation for calculating the transient displacement of fields produced by earthquakes in a stratified, selfgravitating, incompressible, viscoelastic earth. We have evaluated the potential of viscous creep in the asthenosphere in exciting the Chandler wobble by a four-layer model consisting of an elastic lithosphere, a two-layer Maxwell viscoelastic mantle, and an inviscid core. The seismic source is modelled as an inhomogeneous boundary condition, which involves a jump condition of the displacement fields across the fault in the lithosphere. The response fields are derived from the solution of a two-point boundary value problem, using analytical propagator matrices in the Laplace-transformed domain. Transient flows produced by post-seismic rebound are found to be confined within the asthenosphere for local viscosity values less than 10²⁰P. The viscosity of the mantle below the low-viscosity channel is kept at 10²²P. For low-viscosity zones with widths greater than about 100 km and asthenospheric viscosities less than 10¹⁸P, we find that viscoelasticity can amplify the perturbations in the moment of inertia by a factor of 4–5 above the elastic contribution within the time span of the wobble period. We have carried out a comparative study on the changes of the inertia tensor from forcings due to surface loading and to faulting. In general the global responses from faulting are found to be much more sensitive to the viscosity structure of the asthenosphere than those produced from surface loading.     

Bending of spherical lithosphere–axisymmetric case

Effects of sphericity are commonly ignored in the lithospheric bending problem. In order to examine its effects, I solve a simple axisymmetric spherical-shell model. The full solution and the asymptotic solution are derived from the basic equations, and their relationship to the flat-plate solution is examined. For displacement, effects of sphericity are small, and use of the flat-plate solution produces results that are numerically indistinguishable from those of the spherical solution. The most significant effect of sphericity appears in the stress, in particular the normal stress along the strike direction of the trench. This stress is approximately given by Eu_r/R , where E is Young's modulus, u_r is the vertical deformation of the shell and R is its radius of curvature. If the shell (lithosphere) is bent downwards and reaches 30 km, this stress can become about 5 kbar in the Earth. While plastic behaviour may set in under such high pressure conditions and analysis beyond elasticity theory may be required, sphericity may be a cause of large compressive stress in the trench strike direction. This stress may play an important role in forming the overall shape of the Earth's subduction zones.     

Statistical properties of seismicity of fault zones at different evolutionary stages

We perform a systematic parameter space study of the seismic response of a large fault with different levels of heterogeneity, using a 3-D elastic framework within the continuum limit. The fault is governed by rate-and-state friction and simulations are performed for model realizations with frictional and large scale properties characterized by different ranges of size scales. We use a number of seismicity and stress functions to characterize different types of seismic responses and test the correlation between hypocenter locations and the employed distributions of model parameters. The simulated hypocenters are found to correlate significantly with small L values of the rate-and-state friction. The final sizes of earthquakes are correlated with physical properties at their nucleation sites. The obtained stacked scaling relations are overall self-similar and have good correspondence with properties of natural earthquakes.     

Mantle convection with a brittle lithosphere: thoughts on the global tectonic styles of the Earth and Venus

Plates are an integral part of the convection system in the fluid mantle, but plate boundaries are the product of brittle faulting and plate motions are strongly influenced by the existence of such faults. The conditions for plate tectonics are studied by considering brittle behaviour, using Byerlee's law to limit the maximum stress in the lithosphere, in a mantle convection model with temperature-dependent viscosity.
When the yield stress is high, convection is confined below a thick, stagnant lithosphere. At low yield stress, brittle deformation mobilizes the lithosphere which becomes a part of the overall circulation; surface deformation occurs in localized regions close to upwellings and downwellings in the system. At intermediate levels of the yield stress, there is a cycling between these two states: thick lithosphere episodically mobilizes and collapses into the interior before reforming.
The mobile-lid regime resembles convection of a fluid with temperature-dependent viscosity and the boundary-layer scalings are found to be analogous. This regime has a well defined Nusselt number–Rayleigh number relationship which is in good agreement with scaling theory. The surface velocity is nearly independent of the yield stress, indicating that the 'plate' motion is resisted by viscous stresses in the mantle.
Analysis suggests that mobilization of the Earth's lithosphere can occur if the friction coefficient in the lithosphere is less than 0.03–0.13—lower than laboratory values but consistent with seismic field studies. On Venus, the friction coefficient may be high as a result of the dry conditions, and brittle mobilization of the lithosphere would then be episodic and catastrophic.     

Elastic wave propagation in model sediments —I

Summary. A fluid-saturated packing of like elastic spheres is used as a model of an oceanic sediment and a method is presented for calculating the effective velocities of elastic waves in such a medium. In particular the method is applied to low-frequency waves travelling vertically down a cubic packing, saturated with an inviscid fluid and initially at rest under a uniform compressive force. It is found that two waves propagate and moreover, that their velocities are not related through the usual equations of classical elasticity to the effective elastic moduli for static deformation of the packing. For a dry packing, there is found to exist a 'cut-off' frequency above which the wave decays with depth. An extension of the method to slightly viscous fluids is also given.     

The deformation and compaction of partial molten zones

Summary. The segregation of melt from a partially molten source region requires a corresponding deformation of the unmelted residue ('matrix'). The role of matrix deformation during melt segregation is examined using simple one-dimensional models, for which the deformation consists only of bulk compression or 'compaction'. In model I, a volume fraction φ₀ of ascending mantle material undergoes pressure-release melting at a depth z = 0 (localized melting). Compaction of the matrix occurs in a boundary layer whose thickness (reduced compaction length δ_R) is proportional to the square root of the matrix viscosity. In the Earth's mantle, δ_R∼ 10–100 m, indicating that compaction cannot be important over large distances. Model II examines the case in which melting occurs over a depth range of order h (distributed melting). In the limit h ≪δ_R, the solution is the same as for the case of localized melting, except in a 'melting layer' of thickness ∼ h near z = 0. In the more realistic limit h ≫δ_R, compaction makes a negligible contribution to the balance of forces associated with melt segregation. This result is also valid for the more general case of two-dimensional flow. Compaction is therefore likely to be of negligible importance in the Earth's mantle, with the consequence that melt segregation can be accurately described by Darcy's law.     

A theoretical framework for thawing soil

This paper puts forward the coupling model of the heat-moisture-stress field based on the governing equation of non-stationary heat transfer, moisture movement and the basic differential equations of deformation problem by displacement under axisymmetric conditions. Using a detailed calculation example for the section of the Xiang Pi Mountain in 109th National Highway, a mechanical model of the cylinder made by typical silty clay soil is simulated. Results show that in the coupling process, dynamic stress pays little contribution to the distribution of temperature field along different depths, and the amount of thawing deformation increased with dynamic loading time under the same frequency and amplitude.     

Space Deformation Non-stationary Geostatistical Approach for Prediction of Geological Objects: Case Study at El Teniente Mine (Chile)

This article addresses the problem of the prediction of the breccia pipe elevation named Braden at the El Teniente mine in Chile. This mine is one of the world’s largest known porphyry-copper ore bodies. Knowing the exact location of the pipe surface is important, as it constitutes the internal limit of the deposit. The problem is tackled by applying a non-stationary geostatistical method based on space deformation, which involves transforming the study domain into a new domain where a standard stationary geostatistical approach is more appropriate. Data from the study domain is mapped into the deformed domain, and classical stationary geostatistical techniques for prediction can then be applied. The predicted results are then mapped back into the original domain. According to the results, this non-stationary geostatistical method outperforms the conventional stationary one in terms of prediction accuracy and conveys a more informative uncertainty model of the predictions.     

The growing spherical seismic source

Summary. A solution is found for the seismic radiation from an arbitrarily growing spherical source in an inhomogeneously prestressed elastic medium. The general problem of the growing seismic source in a prestressed medium is formulated as a boundary value problem. For the special case of the growing spherical source, an expansion in vector spherical harmonics reduces the problem to a set of one-dimensional Volterra integral equations. The equations can be easily formed through the use of Bessel function recursion relations. The integral equations for a growing spherical cavity are solved numerically. Waveforms are then computed for homogeneous and inhomogeneous stress fields for several growth histories. The resulting waveforms are similar to the waveforms of the corresponding instantaneous problem, but stretched out in time and reduced in amplitude. The effects of diffraction and the overshoot of equilibrium are reduced with a reduction in growth rate. The effects caused by inhomogeneity of the stress field are quite strong for the growing as well as for the instantaneous seismic source.     

Quasi-static deformation of a poroelastic half-space with anisotropic permeability by two-dimensional surface loads

An analytical solution is obtained of the fully coupled diffusion–deformation system of equations governing the quasi-static plane strain deformation of a poroelastic half-space with anisotropic permeability and compressible constituents. The stresses and the pore pressure are taken as the basic state variables. Displacements are obtained by integrating the coupled constitutive relations. The problem of surface loads is discussed in detail. Explicit analytical solutions are derived for normal line loading, shear line loading and normal strip loading. The permeability anisotropy is found to have a significant effect on the quasi-static deformation of the half-space. However, in the drained and undrained limits, the anisotropy has no effect. The stresses in the drained and undrained states are independent of the poroelastic parameters. Numerical computation of the pore pressure indicates that ignoring permeability anisotropy may lead to an overestimation of the pore pressure at points vertically below the point of normal loading. Further, anisotropy in permeability may lead to a dilution in the theoretical prediction of the Mandel–Cryer Effect.     

Effect of 3-D viscoelastic structure on post-seismic relaxation from the 2004 M= 9.2 Sumatra earthquake

The 2004 M = 9.2 Sumatra–Andaman earthquake profoundly altered the state of stress in a large volume surrounding the ∼1400 km long rupture. Induced mantle flow fields and coupled surface deformation are sensitive to the 3-D rheology structure. To predict the post-seismic motions from this earthquake, relaxation of a 3-D spherical viscoelastic earth model is simulated using the theory of coupled normal modes. The quasi-static deformation basis set and solution on the 3-D model is constructed using: a spherically stratified viscoelastic earth model with a linear stress–strain relation; an aspherical perturbation in viscoelastic structure; a 'static' mode basis set consisting of Earth's spheroidal and toroidal free oscillations; a "viscoelastic" mode basis set; and interaction kernels that describe the coupling among viscoelastic and static modes. Application to the 2004 Sumatra–Andaman earthquake illustrates the profound modification of the post-seismic flow field at depth by a slab structure and similarly large effects on the near-field post-seismic deformation field at Earth's surface. Comparison with post-seismic GPS observations illustrates the extent to which viscoelastic relaxation contributes to the regional post-seismic deformation.     

A dislocation model of microplate boundary ruptures n the presence of a viscoelastic asthenosphere

Summary. A microplate is modelled as an elastic plate with two long strike-slip boundaries, lying over a Maxwell-type viscoelastic asthenosphere. The microplate is subjected to a constant and uniform shear strain rate by the opposite motions of two adjoining larger plates. After the occurrence of an earthquake at one of the microplate boundaries, the time evolution of shear stress at the other boundary is studied. It is found that stress build-up at the second boundary is delayed due to stress diffusion governed by the asthenosphere relaxation. Earthquake occurrence at this latter boundary would be delayed depending upon both the microplate width and the ratio between the Maxwell relaxation time of the asthenosphere and a characteristic time required for tectonic strain to recover rupture conditions. It turns out that the parameters which determine the occurrence of seismic activity along the microplate boundaries are more strictly constrained in the presence of a viscoelastic asthenosphere than in the case of an elastic half-pace model.     

Reflection coefficients for weak anisotropic media

The interaction of plane elastic waves with a plane boundary between two anisotropic elastic half-spaces is investigated. The anisotropy dealt with in this study is of a general type. Explicit expressions for energy-related reflection and transmission coefficients are derived. They represent an approximation which is valid for a small deviation of the elastic parameters from isotropy.
Classical perturbation theory is applied on a 6times6 non-symmetric real eigenvalue problem to calculate first-order corrections for the polarization and stress of the plane waves. The explicit solution of the isotropic problem is used as a reference case. Degenerate perturbation theory is used to consider the splitting of the isotropic S -wave into two anisotropic qS-waves. The boundary conditions for two half-spaces in welded contact lead to a 6times6 system of linear equations. A correction to the isotropic solution is calculated by linearization. The resultant coefficients are functions of horizontal slowness, Lamé parameters and densities of the reference media, and of the perturbation of the elasticity tensors from isotropy.     

A Gravel Outwash/Deformation till Continuum, Skalafellsjokull, Iceland

A stratigraphic sequence exposed by river erosion in the foreland of Skalafellsjokull, southern Iceland, displays five lithofacies documenting glaciofluvial deposition followed by glaciotectonic disturbance and subglacial deformation. Lithofacies 1a and 1b are glaciotectonically thrust glaciofluvial outwash and subglacial deformation till respectively from an early advance of Skalafellsjokull. Lithofacies 2, massive gravels and clast–supported diamictons, documents the deposition of glaciofluvial outwash in the proto–River Skala prior to overriding by Skalafellsjokull during the Little Ice Age. During overriding, lithofacies 2 was glaciotectonically disturbed and now possesses the clast fabric and structural characteristics of G _B (non–penetratively deformed) and G _A (penetratively deformed) type glaciotectonites. A shear zone separates lithofacies 2 from overlying lithofacies 3, the latter possessing the clast fabric signature of a D _A (dilatant) type deformation till although it was originally deposited as a discontinuous diamicton within a glaciofluvial sequence, probably as a hyperconcentrated flow, and appears to have been at least partially derived from underlying materials by glaciotectonic cannibalization. Lithofacies 4 is a glaciofluvial deposit comprising two coarseningupward sequences of gravel and diamicton. These facies have been overprinted with G _B glaciotectonite and D _A?B (dilatant to non–dilatant) deformation till structures and clast fabrics recording a vertical progression towards more pervasively deformed material. The sequence is capped by lithofacies 5, a two–tiered deformation till possessing the characteristics of D _A and D _B horizon subglacial tills previously reported from Icelandic glacier snouts. The whole sequence comprising lithofacies 2–5 represents a gravel outwash/deformation till continuum displaying variable strain signaturesproduced in response to stress induced by the overriding of Skalafellsjokull during the Little Ice Age. These signatures are dictated by the sediment rheology and a vertical strain profile for the sediment pile during glacier overriding is reconstructed.     

On the dynamical effects of a heterogeneous and compressible liquid core in the theory of Chandler wobble

The general 3-D scalar equations of motion of the liquid core (with respect to the radial components of displacements and cubic dilatation) are constructed as a superposition of the solutions of ordinary differential equations describing the dynamics of a stably stratified, heterogeneous, compressible and inviscid rotating fluid inside thin spherical layers ( Molodensky & Sasao 1995 ). The estimation of dynamical effects of a homogeneous and incompressible liquid core on the Chandler period (Groten, Lenhardt & Molodensky 1991) is generalized for the case of a heterogeneous, compressible, inviscid and neutrally stratified liquid core.     

State of stress within a bending spherical shell and its implications for subducting lithosphere

The state of stress within a bending spherical shell has some special features that are caused by sphericity. While most lithospheres are more like spherical shells than flat plates, our ideas of the state of stress have been dominated by flat-plate models. As a consequence, we might be missing some important aspects of the state of stress within subducting lithospheres. In order to examine this problem, we analyse spherical-shell bending problems from basic equations. We present two approaches to solve spherical-shell bending problems: one by the variational approach, which is suitable for global-scale problems, and the other by the asymptotic equation, which is valid to first order in h/R , where h is the thickness of the lithosphere and R is its curvature radius (i.e. under the assumption of small curvature). The form of the equation for displacement shows that wavelengths of deformation are determined by the spherical (elastic) effect and the gravitational buoyancy effect, for which only the latter effect is included in the usual flat-plate formulations. In the case of the Earth, the buoyancy force is dominant and, consequently, spherical effects are suppressed to a large extent; this explains why flat-plate models have been successful for Earth's lithospheric problems. On the other hand, the state of stress shows interesting spherical effects: while bending (fibre) stress along the subduction zone is always important, bending stress along the trench-strike direction can also be important, in particular when the subduction zone arc is small. Numerical results also indicate that compressive normal stress along the trench-strike direction is important when a subduction zone arc is large. These two stresses, the bending stress and the compressive normal stress, both along the trench-strike direction, may have important implications for intraplate earthquakes at subduction zones.