Earthquakes are often imagined as originating from a single point where the seismic waves are strongest, the hypocenter underground or the epicenter at the Earth’s surface, with seismic energy radiating outward in a circular pattern. But this simplified model fails to account for the complex geometry of the actual fault systems where earthquakes occur. The real situation may be much more complex—and more interesting. In some remarkable cases, a phenomenon called “supershear” rupture can occur, where the earthquake rupture propagates along the fault at a speed faster than the seismic waves themselves can travel—a process analogous to a sonic boom.
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Source: Phys.org