Induced Deformations of Fault Zones

Abstract

Empirical data obtained by studying the Earth’s surface deformations in the fault zones induced by exogenous, endogenous, and manmade processes are presented. It is suggested to analyze induced deformations in the fault zones caused by different factors using a unified approach based on the notions of parametric excitation of processes. Two variants (types) of the formation of induced phenomena are considered. In the first variant, deformational response of faults occurs linearly when an influence directly causes a fault to deform. The second variant is a nonlinear parametric amplifier when the deformational response of a fault zone is anomalously high and induced (excited) by small influences. In accordance with this approach, definitions are given of exogenously induced, endogenously induced, and technology-induced deformations of the fault zones. The examples are presented when both scenarios of process formation, e.g., exogenous and exogenously-induced surface deformations, are simultaneously observed within a single measurement system.