New tool could provide insight into powerful future earthquakes

Houston: An everyday quirk of physics could be a valuable new way to investigate the causes and potential for a large, damaging earthquake to happen, according to a study.

Researchers at The University of Texas at Austin, US, discovered that a frictional phenomenon could be key to understanding when and how violently a fault -- a



fracture or zone of fractures between two blocks of rock -- moves.

The phenomenon, which explains why it takes more effort to shove a heavy box from a standstill than it does to keep it moving, governs how quickly the fault surfaces bond together, or heal, after an earthquake, they said.