Supershear earthquake
= Supershear earthquake
{wiki=Supershear_earthquake}
A supershear earthquake is a type of seismic event that occurs when the rupture of a fault during an earthquake propagates at a speed greater than the shear wave speed in the Earth's crust. In typical earthquakes, the rupture propagates at sub-shear speeds, which is slower than the speeds of shear waves (those waves that physically displace particles perpendicular to the direction of wave propagation).