Self-affine growth pattern of earthquake rupture zones

Data from 41 moderate and large earthquakes have been used to derive a scaling law for fault parameters. Fault length L, width W and area S are empirically related by L∝S^∝ and W∝S^β where 0.6<α<0.7, 0.3<β<0.4 and α+β=1. These relations indicate that the growth pattern of earthquake rupture zones is statistically self-affine. It is also found that these relations are similar to the relation derived from a diffusion-limited aggregation (DLA) model with anisotropic sticking probability. This suggests that a modified DLA model could describe the evolution of earthquake rupture zones.