In the last decade of the 20th century, there has been great progress in
the physics of earthquake generation; that is, the introduction of
laboratory-based fault constitutive laws as a basic equation governing
earthquake rupture, quantitative description of tectonic loading driven
by plate motion, and a microscopic approach to study fault zone
processes. The fault constitutive law plays the role of an interface
between microscopic processes in fault zones and macroscopic processes
of a fault system, and the plate motion connects diverse crustal
activities with mantle dynamics. An ambitious challenge for us is to
develop realistic computer simulation models for the complete earthquake
process on the basis of microphysics in fault zones and macro-dynamics
in the crust-mantle system. Recent advances in high performance computer
technology and numerical simulation methodology are bringing this vision
within reach. The book consists of two parts and presents a
cross-section of cutting-edge research in the field of computational
earthquake physics. Part I includes works on microphysics of rupture and
fault constitutive laws, and dynamic rupture, wave propagation and
strong ground motion. Part II covers earthquake cycles, crustal
deformation, plate dynamics, and seismicity change and its physical
interpretation. Topics covered in Part I range from the microscopic
simulation and laboratory studies of rock fracture and the underlying
mechanism for nucleation and catastrophic failure to the development of
theoretical models of frictional behaviors of faults; as well as the
simulation studies of dynamic rupture processes and seismic wave
propagation in a 3-D heterogeneous medium, to the case studies of strong
ground motions from the 1999 Chi-Chi earthquake and seismic hazard
estimation for Cascadian subduction zone earthquakes.
