The Spherical Block Model: Dynamics of the Global System of Tectonic Plates and Seismicity

The spherical block model is used to study dynamics of the global system of tectonic plates and seismicity by means of numerical simulation. A brief description of the model is presented. Two block structures are considered: The first is characterized by specifying the largest plates as boundary blocks, whereas the second is the closed spherical structure without boundary blocks. Results of numerical experiments include the qualitative information on displacements of plates, and on the nature of their interaction along boundaries. Synthetic earthquake catalogs reveal some patterns of observed seismicity. Model frequency-magnitude (FM) plots are nearly linear. Analysis of numerical simulations shows dependence of synthetic seismic properties on model parameters. The dynamics of the global system of tectonic plates is more accurately modeled by means of the closed block structure than with the structure for that boundary blocks are specified.