Abstract
We study statistical distributions in a mechanical model for an earthquake fault introduced by Burridge and Knopoff [R. Burridge and L. Knopoff, Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am. 57, 341 (1967)]. Our investigations on the size (moment), time duration, and number of blocks involved in an event show that exponential distributions are found in a given range of the parameter space. This occurs when the two kinds of springs present in the model have the same, or approximately the same, value for the elastic constants. Exponential distributions were also seen recently in an experimental system to model earthquakelike dynamics and in faults of the earth's crust.
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