General Description of Complex Faulting Process

Abstract

The physical basis for the earthquake magnitude has been established in terms of the source parameters of the complex faulting process through the long-period and the short-period approximations. Essential parameters necessary to quantify the complex faulting process in this context are the fault length L, the kinematical similarity of dislocation velocity ā, and the stochastic similarity λσ ². The remaining parameters for subduction zone earthquakes can be scaled and estimated from the similarity laws. Therefore, after we determine the kinematical and stochastic similarities, the earthquake source can be evaluated by seismic moment M ₀ (or fault length L) in the long-period as well as in the short-period ranges.