Research
Geophysical conditions favoring precursory slip before major earthquakes
The Brief
- Laboratory experiments indicate that precursory slow slip before earthquakes is controlled by fault roughness and stress.
- On smooth faults, precursory slip is most pronounced at low stress.
- The study was published in Nature Communications on 14 November 2026 (doi:10.1038/s41467-026-79533-2).
Why it matters
The findings offer a laboratory-based explanation for when precursory slow slip appears before major earthquakes, which bears on how researchers interpret such signals in fault monitoring.
Who’s affected
- seismologists and earthquake researchers
- geophysicists studying fault mechanics
- #earthquakes
- #fault mechanics
- #slow slip
- #laboratory experiments
- #seismology
Nature Communications, Published online: 14 November 2026; doi:10.1038/s41467-026-79533-2 Laboratory experiments show that precursory slow slip before earthquakes is controlled by faultroughness and stress. On smooth faults, it is most pronounced at low stress, explaining…
Timeline
Study published online in Nature Communications
nature.com
Geophysical conditions favoring precursory slip before major earthquakes