Some fractal cellular automata models of seismic faults

Some useful models in the earthquake description are supposed to have a stress distribution, which is usually modeled by means of a cellular automaton with homogeneous distribution. Geological evidence has shown that the Earth's crust during an earthquake is broken into fragments in a scale range that goes from millimeters to hundred of kilometers having a fractal-like structure. In this work, we use an automaton with a fractal structure proposed by Barriere and Turcotte to describe a seismic fault, but we change the definition of event magnitude. We have obtained the general features obtained in other models, especially the Gutenberg-Richter law. We also analyze other properties that have been observed in actual seismic faults.