[mnky9800n]

i don't really think this is a fair conceptual model for a fault nor for how an earthquake nucleates progresses and then ends. it doesn't really account for plastic deformation, fluids, the interface media (a fault has more than just two rocks touching each other, there is typically some amount of ground up particles, etc that sits at hte interface). there are faults that move aseismically (e.g., the subduction zone in mexico) that do not produce earthquakes at all. faults are a rather complex system that isn't really just hooks connected across an interface. i guess this description could be considered an asperity.