[2] This medal is awarded to individuals who have contributed substantial progress in understanding rock physics, magnetism, and geomaterials, for his contributions in fault and earthquake mechanics, specifically fault weakening mechanisms at high slip rates as well as creating multiple devices in order to further research.
[3] In 1997, while pursuing the understanding of how frictional melting affects fault instability, Shimamoto and his research team set up experiments to test Gabbro samples under high-velocity.
Initially at room temperature, the Gabbro was subject to slip rates from 7.5 mm/s to 1.8 m/s using a rotary-shear high-speed friction testing machine.
In 2011, Shimamoto and a team of researchers compared around 300 rotary shear apparatus experiments (both published and unpublished) to understand the implications of experimental data and its reliability in determining and prediciting friction at earthquake nucleation depths.
Shimamoto and his team found that experimentally gathered data alongside field readings and samples suggest significant decrease in friction for both cohesive and non-cohesive rocks at slip rates of 0.1-2.6 m/sec.