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In geology, the elastic-rebound theory is an explanation for how energy is released during an earthquake. As the Earth's crust deforms, the rocks which span the opposing sides of a fault are subjected to shear stress .
Earthquake-cycle theory combines the stress-accumulation hypothesis and elastic-rebound theory. [1] A complete earthquake cycle can be divided into interseismic, preseismic, coseismic and postseismic periods. [1] During the interseismic period, stress accumulates on a locked fault due to plate motion. [2]
Seismology (/ s aɪ z ˈ m ɒ l ə dʒ i, s aɪ s-/; from Ancient Greek σεισμός (seismós) meaning "earthquake" and -λογία (-logía) meaning "study of") is the scientific study of earthquakes (or generally, quakes) and the generation and propagation of elastic waves through planetary bodies.
Most earthquake clusters consist of small tremors that cause little to no damage, but there is a theory that earthquakes can recur in a regular pattern. [32] Earthquake clustering has been observed, for example, in Parkfield, California where a long-term research study is being conducted around the Parkfield earthquake cluster. [33]
The moment tensor solution is displayed graphically using a so-called beachball diagram. The pattern of energy radiated during an earthquake with a single direction of motion on a single fault plane may be modelled as a double couple, which is described mathematically as a special case of a second order tensor (similar to those for stress and strain) known as the moment tensor.
Roger Clark, lecturer in geophysics at Leeds University said in the journal Nature in 1996, responding to a newspaper report that there had been two secret Soviet programs, "Mercury" and "Volcano", aimed at developing a "tectonic weapon" that could set off earthquakes from great distance by manipulating electromagnetism, said "We don't think it is impossible, or wrong, but past experience ...
In 1976, Brian Brady, a physicist, then at the U.S. Bureau of Mines, where he had studied how rocks fracture, "concluded a series of four articles on the theory of earthquakes with the deduction that strain building in the subduction zone [off-shore of Peru] might result in an earthquake of large magnitude within a period of seven to fourteen ...
Coulomb stress transfer is a seismic-related geological process of stress changes to surrounding material caused by local discrete deformation events. [1] Using mapped displacements of the Earth's surface during earthquakes, the computed Coulomb stress changes suggest that the stress relieved during an earthquake not only dissipates but can also move up and down fault segments, concentrating ...