THE DENSITY DISTRIBUTION OF THE FRACTURED ASPERITIES ON THE SURFACES OF A FAULT

It is shown how the density distribution of the stress field variation s caused by the earthquakes occurring in a fault gives the density dis tribution of the fractured asperities on the sides of the fault. It is then suggested that the fractal dimension of the faults is associated to that of the density distribution of the stress variations due to t he earthquakes occurring on them. The decrease of the exponent of the power law of the density distribution of the stress drops is then a si gnal of onset of instability; three examples of decrease of the expone nt of that power law followed by an earthquake are presented. (C) 1998 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.