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JOURNALS // Uspekhi Fizicheskikh Nauk // Archive

UFN, 2026 Volume 196, Number 2, Pages 173–181 (Mi ufn16178)

PHYSICS OF OUR DAYS

Slow slip on tectonic faults

A. A. Ostapchukab

a Sadovsky Institute of Geosphere Dynamics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow
b Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology (National Research University), Dolgoprudny, Moscow Region

Abstract: Slow slip is one of the mechanisms of relaxation of tectonic stresses in the Earth's crust. It has been recorded in seismically active zones over the Earth, and it is accompanied by low-frequency and very low-frequency earthquakes. The paper presents modern concept about the physics of slow slip and examines the spatiotemporal linking slow slip and ordinary earthquakes. The discovery of slow slip phenomenon has revolutionized our understanding of the physics of deformation processes occurring in the Earth's crust and motivates us to develop a two-stage model of earthquake nucleation–initiation at the first stage of slow slip, which at the second stage transforms into rapid rupture.

Keywords: tectonic fault, slow earthquakes, asperity, frictional stability

PACS: 91.30.Px

Received: July 14, 2025
Revised: November 6, 2025
Accepted: November 11, 2025

DOI: 10.3367/UFNr.2025.11.040061


 English version:
DOI: 10.3367/UFNe.2025.11.040061


© Steklov Math. Inst. of RAS, 2026