Rapid growth of shear strain in weakened zones of the lithosphere

Abstract

A weakened zone in the lithosphere plunging into the mantle can lead to an earthquake after the application of a shear stress only in the case if the effective viscosity of this zone is very low. At low viscosity, in the short time that elapses after the application of stress, significant displacements of the walls of the zone emerge causing high-amplitude seismic waves. The Andrade law describing the transient creep under constant stress applied at the initial time instant leads to very low effective viscosity a few first seconds after the initial time instant. The effective viscosity also decreases due to the temperature rise in the weakened zone caused by the dissipative release of heat. However, this process is not rapid enough to noticeably change the temperature and effective viscosity in a short time.