The Mechanism of the Fault Genesis and Synchronization in the Dissipative Cellular Model of Earthquakes

This paper is concerned with the study of the patterns of the behavior of coupling elements in the OFC model, which describes the statistical regularities of the seismic regime. It is shown that there are two different modes of synchronous drop formation, simulating an earthquake. Both mechanisms are determined by the capture of a neighboring element and the subsequent synchronization of the drops. This process forms a stable drop of a larger size. The first mechanism is typical for the initial stage of the system’s evolution toward a steady self-organized critical state. In this case, the capture is determined by different rates of input of energy into the elements in near-boundary regions of the lattice. The second mechanism is based on an increase in the number of cluster boundary elements and, accordingly, an increase in the probability of capture and synchronization of neighboring external elements. The theoretical values of the parameter of the cluster size growth rate presented in this work are in good agreement with the calculated values.