Summary
The ground we stand on is generally made of sand grains or pieces of rock. The same holds for the fault lines where two tectonic plates meet. "We found that a very small perturbation, a seismic wave, is capable of causing a material to completely restructure itself," says researcher. After the triggering wave has passed, friction takes over once more and the granules get jammed again. Scientists have created a model of fluid pressure in the Nankai subduction zone near Japan after a series of small earthquakes in 2003. "I'm a little bit of a troublemaker," says the scientist.