Virtual California is a computer simulation which models the earthquake fault system in California. It uses field observations to define fault topology, long-term slip rates and frictional parameters. The faults are meshed into fault-segments and quasi-static elastic interactions are calculated between these segments. Slip is then applied to each segment at geologically-observed rates until stress values exceed the frictional parameters. At this point the segment will break and transfer stress to the rest of the system via the quasi-static interactions described above. Under the correct conditions, transferred stress results in propagating ruptures throughout the system, i.e. a simulated earthquake. The design of Virtual California allows for fast execution so many thousands of events can be generated over very long simulated time periods. The result is a rich dataset from which to study the statistical properties of the rupturing fault system. == INSTALLATION == See the INSTALL file. == TESTING == After following the instructions in INSTALL, before you move any files around. From within the 'test' directory just run the 'run_test' script: ./run_test Virtual California will run a small simulation creating the files: test_greens.h5 - The interaction matrices. test_dyn-0-5_st-5.h5 - The simulation file. block_info.dat - A element mapping file.