Earthquakes as a self‐organized critical phenomenon
Open Access
- 10 November 1989
- journal article
- Published by American Geophysical Union (AGU) in Journal of Geophysical Research
- Vol. 94 (B11) , 15635-15637
- https://doi.org/10.1029/jb094ib11p15635
Abstract
The Gutenberg‐Richter power law distribution for energy released at earthquakes can be understood as a consequence of the earth crust being in a self‐organized critical state. A simple cellular automaton stick‐slip type model yields D(E) ≈ E−τ with τ≈1.0 and τ≈1.35 in two and three dimensions, respectively. The size of earthquakes is unpredictable since the evolution of an earthquake depends crucially on minor details of the crust.Keywords
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