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MIT geologists discover where energy goes during an earthquake | Based on mini “lab-quakes” in a controlled setting, the findings could help researchers assess the vulnerability of quake-prone regions.
Studying miniature analogs of natural earthquakes in the lab, MIT geologists quantified how much energy from the quake goes into heat, shaking, and fracturing. The research could help seismologists predict the likelihood of quakes in seismically active regions.
Now MIT geologists have traced the energy that is released by “lab quakes” — miniature analogs of natural earthquakes that are carefully triggered in a controlled laboratory setting. The geologists also found that a quake’s energy budget depends on a region’s deformation history — the degree to which rocks have been shifted and disturbed by previous tectonic motions. “The deformation history — essentially what the rock remembers — really influences how destructive an earthquake could be,” says Daniel Ortega-Arroyo, a graduate student in MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS).
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