Faults release tectonic strain through a wide and complex spectrum of slip behaviours, including aseismic creep, episodic slow-slip events and earthquakes.
Field observations, seismological data, laboratory experiments, and numerical modelling have demonstrated that a range of factors, including structural and geometrical complexity, mechanical and rheological heterogeneities, fluid pressure and chemistry, and temperature, interact in complex ways and play a critical role in controlling fault slip behaviour. However, how these interconnected factors influence the occurrence and evolution of different slip modes as well as the transitions between them, remains yet a fundamental and unresolved challenge.
This session welcomes contributions that investigate the wide range of fault slip behaviours using multidisciplinary and multiscale approaches, including field and microstructural analyses of exhumed faults, laboratory experiments, geochemical characterization of fluids, seismological and geodetic observations of active faults, and numerical modelling. We aim to foster discussion on the physico-chemical processes governing fault strength, slip mode, and fault geometrical evolution, and how these insights improve seismic hazard assessment and our understanding of the mechanics of faulting and earthquake.