Geocomplexity and the Physics of Earthquakes

ISBN 10: 0875909787 / ISBN 13: 9780875909783

Published by American Geophysical Union, 2000

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Bibliographic Details

• Title: Geocomplexity and the Physics of Earthquakes
• Publisher: American Geophysical Union
• Publication Date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0875909787
• ISBN 13: 9780875909783
• Binding: Hardcover
• Condition: New

About this title

Synopsis

Published by the American Geophysical Union as part of the Geophysical Monograph Series, Volume 120.

Earthquakes in urban centers are capable of causing enormous damage. The January 16, 1995 Kobe, Japan earthquake was only a magnitude 6.9 event and yet produced an estimated $200 billion loss. Despite an active earthquake prediction program in Japan, this event was a complete surprise. Similar scenarios are possible in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, and other urban centers around the Pacific plate boundary. The development of forecast or prediction methodologies for these great damaging earthquakes has been complicated by the fact that the largest events repeat at irregular intervals of hundreds to thousands of years, resulting in a limited historical record that has frustrated phenomenological studies. The papers in this book describe an emerging alternative approach, which is based on a new understanding of earthquake physics arising from the construction and analysis of numerical simulations. With these numerical simulations, earthquake physics now can be investigated in numerical laboratories. Simulation data from numerical experiments can be used to develop theoretical understanding that can be subsequently applied to observed data. These methods have been enabled by the information technology revolution, in which fundamental advances in computing and communications are placing vast computational resources at our disposal.

About the Author

John B. Rundle is the editor of Geocomplexity and the Physics of Earthquakes, published by Wiley. Donald L. Turcotte is an American geophysicist, most famous for his work on the boundary layer theory of mantle convection as part of the theory of plate tectonics.