Jiankuan Xu

Numerous investigations of supershear earthquakes make a conclusion that a supershear earthquake produces a seismic shock wave on the ground that may increase the resulting destruction. We investigate a supershear rupture promoted by the free surface, and find out that, although the seismic energy of a supershear earthquake can be transmitted further with large amplitudes, the peak slip velocity on a fault near the free surface is smaller than that caused by a subshear rupture earthquake.

Few studies have focused on the supershear transition mechanism induced by fault step overs, although seismic observations suggest that rupture speed transitions occur at geometrical complexities on faults.