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Earthquake Mechanisms and Stress Field

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Encyclopedia of Earthquake Engineering

Synonyms

Dynamics and mechanics of faulting; Earthquake source observations; Focal mechanism; Rock failure; Shear faulting; Tectonic stress; Tensile faulting

Introduction

Earthquakes are processes associated with the sudden rupture of rocks along cracks, fractures or faults exposed to stress field in the Earth’s crust and lithosphere. If stress reaches a critical value exceeding strength of faults or fractures in rock, accumulated energy of elastic deformation is partially spent for anelastic deformations in the focal zone and partially released and radiated in the form of seismic waves. Stress in the Earth’s crust causing earthquakes can be of tectonic or non-tectonic origin (Ruff 2002; Zoback 2007; Zang and Stephansson 2010). The main source of non-tectonic stress within the Earth is gravitational loading. This stress is vertical with largest lateral variations near the Earth’s surface being more homogeneous at depth. On the other hand, tectonic stress is mostly horizontal and...

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Geophysics, Czech Academy of Sciences, Boční II/1401, 14100, Praha 4, Czech Republic

    Václav Vavryčuk

Authors
  1. Václav Vavryčuk
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Correspondence to Václav Vavryčuk .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Risk & Uncertainty, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom

    Michael Beer

  2. Institute for Risk and Uncertainty, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom

    Ioannis A. Kougioumtzoglou

  3. Institute for Risk & Uncertainty, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom

    Edoardo Patelli

  4. Institute for Risk & Uncertainty, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, United Kingdom

    Ivan Siu-Kui Au

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Vavryčuk, V. (2015). Earthquake Mechanisms and Stress Field. In: Beer, M., Kougioumtzoglou, I., Patelli, E., Au, IK. (eds) Encyclopedia of Earthquake Engineering. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-36197-5_295-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-36197-5_295-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-36197-5

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