%0 Journal Article
%T Rheology of the Tectonosphere as Inferred from Seismic Aftershock Sequences
%A G. RANALLI
%A A. E. SCHEIDEGGER
%J Annals of Geophysics
%D 1969
%I Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia (INGV)
%R 10.4401/ag-5092
%X Some rheological models of the mechanism of aftershock occurrence, namely, Benioff's, Pshennikov's, and Mogi's models, are examined in the light of the established laws governing the phenomenology of the process. It is concluded that none of them explains fully the aftershock mechanism. Thus, a new creep model is proposed, according to which aftershocks are the discontinuous manifestation of the overall plastic creep by which the rock readjusts itself to the stress distribution left by the main shock. The creep model affords a new large-scale picture of the rheology of the tectonosphere.
%U http://www.annalsofgeophysics.eu/index.php/annals/article/view/5092