Depth dependence of coseismic off-fault damage

Faults are complex systems embedded in an evolving medium fractured by seismic ruptures. This off-fault damage zone is shown to be thermo-hydro-mechano-chemically coupled to the main fault plane by a growing number of studies. Yet, off-fault medium is still, for the most part modelled as a purely elastic -- hence passive -- medium. Using a micromechanical  model we investigate the depth variation of dynamically triggered off-fault damage and its counter-impact on earthquake slip dynamics. We show that if the damage zone becomes narrower with depth, it is also denser and thus, unlike what is commonly believed, remains an energy sink even at depth. The results are in agreement with the complementary model by Okubo et al., 2019. In contrast to study cited above, our model accounts for the dynamics changes of elastic moduli related to crack growth. This lead to the dynamic creation of low-velocity zone that can trapped seismic waves and further impact the earthquake dynamics, even at greater depth. We therefore claim that the intertwined dynamics between the main fault plane and its surrounding medium must be including along the all seismogenic.