Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

A deep look into the physics of earthquake slip

Laboratory experiments provide a glimpse of what happens when rocks fail.
A crack in the road after an earthquake, Southern California

Earthquake damage in southern California. Friction between a quake’s moving rocks can raise their temperatures above 1,200 ºC. Credit: Etienne Laurent/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

When two sides of a geological fault grind past one another during an earthquake, the friction can heat the rocks to at least 1,250 ºC.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 593, 317 (2021)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-01262-x

References

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links