Sc. Jaume et Lr. Sykes, Evolving towards a critical point: A review of accelerating seismic moment/energy release prior to large and great earthquakes, PUR A GEOPH, 155(2-4), 1999, pp. 279-305
There is growing evidence that some proportion of large and great earthquak
es are preceded by a period of accelerating seismic activity of moderate-si
zed earthquakes. These moderate earthquakes occur during the years to decad
es prior to the occurrence of the large or great event and over a region la
rger than its rupture zone. The size of the region in which these moderate
earthquakes occur scales with the size of the ensuing mainshock, at least i
n continental regions. A number of numerical simulation studies of faults a
nd fault systems also exhibit similar behavior. The combined observational
and simulation evidence suggests that the period of increased moment releas
e in moderate earthquakes signals the establishment of long wavelength corr
elations in the regional stress field. The central hypothesis in the critic
al point model for regional seismicity is that it is only during these time
periods that a region of the earth's crust is truly in or near a "self-org
anized critical" (SOC) state, such that small earthquakes are capable of ca
scading into much larger events. The occurrence of a large or great earthqu
ake appears to dissipate a sufficient proportion of the accumulated regiona
l strain to destroy these long wavelength stress correlations and bring the
region out of a SOC state. Continued tectonic strain accumulation and stre
ss transfer during smaller earthquakes eventually re-establishes the long w
avelength stress correlations that allow for the occurrence of larger event
s. These increases in activity occur over longer periods and larger regions
than quiescence, which is usually observed within the rupture zone of a co
ming large event. The two phenomena appear to have different physical bases
and are not incompatible with one another.