Possible Mechanism of Precursory Seismic Quiescence: Regional Stress Relaxation due to Preseismic Sliding

—We propose a new model to physically explain the seismic quiescence precursory to a large interplate earthquake. A numerical simulation is performed to quantitatively examine possible stress changes prior to a great interplate earthquake in a subduction zone. In the present study, the frictional force following a laboratory-derived friction law, in which the friction coefficient is dependent on slip rate and slip history, is assumed to act on a dip-slip fault plane of infinite width in a uniform elastic half-space. The values of friction parameters are determined so that the result of numerical simulation may explain some properties of great interplate earthquakes in subduction zones, such as the recurrence interval and the seismic coupling coefficient. The result of simulation reveals that significant quasi-stable sliding occurs prior to a great earthquake and, accordingly, stresses are changed on and around the plate boundary. In a relatively wide area of the overriding continental plate, the compres sional horizontal-stress perpendicular to the trench axis is decreased for a few years before the occurrence of a great earthquake. This decrease in regional compressional stress may account for the appearance of seismic quiescence prior to a great interplate earthquake.     

The seismogenic zone of subduction thrust faults

Abstract Subduction thrust faults generate earthquakes over a limited depth range. They are aseismic in their seaward updip portions and landward downdip of a critical point. The seaward shallow aseismic zone, commonly beneath accreted sediments, may be a consequence of unconsolidated sediments, especially stable-sliding smectite clays. Such clays are dehydrated and the fault may become seismogenic where the temperature reaches 100--150°C, that is, at a 5--15 km depth. Two factors may determine the downdip seismogenic limit. For subduction of young hot oceanic lithosphere beneath large accretionary sedimentary prisms and beneath continental crust, the transition to aseismic stable sliding is temperature controlled. The maximum temperature for seismic behavior in crustal rocks is ～ 350°C, regardless of the presence of water. In addition, great earthquake ruptures initiated at less than this temperature may propagate with decreasing slip to where the temperature is ～ 450°C. For subduction beneath thin island arc crust and beneath continental crust in some areas, the forearc mantle is reached by the thrust shallower than the 350°C temperature. The forearc upper mantle probably is aseismic because of stable-sliding serpentinite hydrated by water from the underthrusting oceanic crust and sediments. For many subduction zones the downdip seismogenic width defined by these limits is much less than previously assumed. Within the narrowly defined seismic zone, most of the convergence may occur in earthquakes. Numerical thermal models have been employed to estimate temperatures on the subduction thrust planes of four continental subduction zones. For Cascadia and Southwest Japan where very young and hot plates are subducting, the downdip seismogenic limit on the subduction thrust is thermally controlled and is shallow. For Alaska and most of Chile, the forearc mantle is reached before the critical temperature, and mantle serpentinite provides the limit. In all four regions, the seismogenic zones so defined agree with estimates of the extent of great earthquake rupture, and with the downdip extent of the interseismic locked zone.     

Sources of Tsunami and Tsunamigenic Earthquakes in Subduction Zones

—We classified tsunamigenic earthquakes in subduction zones into three types earth quakes at the plate interface (typical interplate events), earthquakes at the outer rise, within the subducting slab or overlying crust (intraplate events), and "tsunami earthquakes" that generate considerably larger tsunamis than expected from seismic waves. The depth range of a typical interplate earthquake source is 10–40km, controlled by temperature and other geological parameters. The slip distribution varies both with depth and along-strike. Recent examples show very different temporal change of slip distribution in the Aleutians and the Japan trench. The tsunamigenic coseismic slip of the 1957 Aleutian earthquake was concentrated on an asperity located in the western half of an aftershock zone 1200km long. This asperity ruptured again in the 1986 Andreanof Islands and 1996 Delarof Islands earthquakes. By contrast, the source of the 1994 Sanriku-oki earthquake corresponds to the low slip region of the previous interplate event, the 1968 Tokachi-oki earthquake. Tsunamis from intraplate earthquakes within the subducting slab can be at least as large as those from interplate earthquakes; tsunami hazard assessments must include such events. Similarity in macroseismic data from two southern Kuril earthquakes illustrates difficulty in distinguishing interplate and slab events on the basis of historical data such as felt reports and tsunami heights. Most moment release of tsunami earthquakes occurs in a narrow region near the trench, and the concentrated slip is responsible for the large tsunami. Numerical modeling of the 1996 Peru earthquake confirms this model, which has been proposed for other tsunami earthquakes, including 1896 Sanriku, 1946 Aleutian and 1992 Nicaragua.     

Interplate Coupling in the Kanto District, Central Japan, and the Boso Peninsula Silent Earthquake in May 1996

— I studied crustal deformation in the Kanto district, central Japan, based on continuous GPS data. Horizontal as well as vertical displacement rate demonstrate significant interaction between the landward Kanto block and the Philippine Sea plate. Although the subduction effect of the Pacific plate is not apparent, it is reasonable to consider the entire Kanto district is displaced westward due to the interaction with the Pacific plate. The GPS velocity data were inverted to estimate the slip deficit distribution on the Sagami Trough subduction zone. The result delineates a strongly coupled region on the plate interface, part of which corresponds to the 1923 Kanto earthquake. The strongly coupled region is located shallower than 20 km. In addition, the plate interaction is laterally heterogeneous even in the same depth range, implying thermal structure is not the only factor controlling interplate coupling. The GPS data also detected a silent earthquake event on the interface of the Philippine Sea slab east of the Boso Peninsula in the middle of May, 1996. The silent rupture propagated over a 50 km * 50 km wide area during about a week. The maximum slip was approximately 50 mm and the released seismic moment was 4.7*10¹⁸Nm (M _w 6.4). There was a small seismicity triggered by this silent event. The silent slip was located in the peripheral of the strongly coupled area, suggesting that frictional properties and/or stress conditions are inhomogeneous on the plate boundary interface.     

2015年4月25日尼泊尔M_w7.8地震孕育过程分析与震后趋势研判

基于作者提出的孕震断层多锁固段脆性破裂理论及板间地震区划分原则,划分了伊斯兰堡—加德满都地震区.从孕育周期界定与主震事件判识角度,分析了该地震区大(巨)震事件的孕育过程,研判了其未来震情.结果表明:伊斯兰堡—加德满都地震区至少已经历三个完整的孕育周期,是一个Mw8.3~8.6地震危险区;2015年4月25日尼泊尔Mw7.8地震,是该区当前孕育周期第三锁固段损伤累积至峰值强度点时发生的一次标志性大震事件;2015年5月12日尼泊尔Mw7.3地震发生后,该地震区再次处于临界状态,将发生Mw8.0~8.2地震.     

智利三联点相关的板块相对运动及其地球动力学意义

智利三联点以北地震较多,智利三联点以南地震很少且热异常显著。为探究洋脊俯冲对由温度定义的孕震区的影响,以智利三联点区域的地质背景为基础建立二维有限元数值模型,对洋脊俯冲过程进行数值模拟,并将俯冲角度和汇聚速率等因素对孕震区的影响进行了对比。结果表明,洋脊俯冲过程中孕震区宽度减小,导致发生在智利三联点以南的地震远少于智利三联点以北。剖面附近的观测数据与数值模拟结果的对比表明,数值模拟可以大致反映智利三联点区域板块间的孕震区宽度和地表热流特征。当俯冲汇聚量相同时,板块间的汇聚速率越大,洋脊俯冲过程中孕震区则越宽且其下边界越深,海沟附近的地表热流越高。与汇聚速率相比,俯冲角度等因素对地表热流的影响较小。俯冲角度越大,洋脊俯冲过程中孕震区越窄。当数值模型包含剪切生热时,洋脊俯冲过程中孕震区宽度大约可减小至15 km,且孕震区很浅。这可导致智利三联点以南部分区域难以发生地震,出现观测不到和达-贝尼奥夫带的现象。     

日本俯冲带应力产生与传播的数值模拟

用三维有限元模拟了日本地冲带，分析了板块推力、板块拉力、动态闭锁断层和解耦板间地震对上覆板块内部应力状态的贡献，表明大洋板块推力是海沟。岛弧地区挤压应力的主要来源，这种应力仅有小部分传播到上覆板块内部，软流圈的蠕变能促进这个应力传播过程使岛弧区的应力增大，由密度差异引起的板块拉力产生了分散的挤压应力和拉张应力。断层闭锁导致应力局部集中，板间地震的断层错动只对破裂附近小范围的应力状态产生影响     

An integrated geodynamic model of the Nankai subduction zone and neighboring regions from geophysical inversion and modeling

I investigate large-scale deep crustal structures of the Nankai subduction zone and neighboring region using regional magnetic and gravity anomalies, heat flow measurements, and earthquake hypocenters. It is found that ages, dip angles, and geothermal states of the subducting slab have direct influences on mantle wedge serpentinization. The weakest serpentinization observed in the Nankai forearc region is associated with the youngest downgoing plate of the Shikoku Basin. Conspicuous gravity anomalies identified in the forearc region are coincidental spatially with magnetic anomalies after the reduction to the pole, a mathematical procedure that helps relocate magnetic sources and boundaries, and allows us to more easily interpret magnetic data. It is argued that these patches of magnetic and gravity anomalies are caused by the same sources of anomalous density and magnetization, and are linked directly to preexisting structures such as magnetic anomalies and their boundaries in the subducting oceanic crust. Since the gravity and magnetic anomaly patches are found to be closely related to interplate seismogenic behaviors in the Nankai subduction zone, I suggest that major magnetic boundaries in the Shikoku Basin are likely weak places for slab tears that trigger seismic segmentations along the subduction zone.     

Thermal segmentation along the N. Ecuador–S. Colombia margin (1–4°N): Prominent influence of sedimentation rate in the trench

Along the deformation front of the North Ecuador–South Colombia (NESC) margin, both surface heat flow and trench sediment thickness show prominent along-strike variations, indicating significant spatial variations in sedimentation rate. Investigating these variations helps us address the important question of how trench sedimentation influences the temperature distribution along the interplate contact and the extent of the megathrust seismogenic zone. We examine this issue by analysing 1/ a new dense reflection data set, 2/ pre-stack depth migration of selected multichannel seismic reflection lines, 3/ numerous newly-identified bottom-simulating reflectors and 4/ the first heat probe measurements in the region. We develop thermal models that include sediment deposition and compaction on the cooling oceanic plate as well as viscous corner flow in the mantle wedge. We estimate that the temperature from 60–150 °C to 350–450 °C, commonly associated with the updip and downdip limits of the seismogenic zone, extends along the plate interface over a downdip distance of 160 to 190 ± 20 km. We conclude that the updip limit of the seismogenic zone for the great megathrust earthquake of 1979 is associated with low-temperature (60–70 °C) processes. Our models also suggest that 60–70% of the two-fold decrease in measured heat flow from 3°N to 2.8°N is related to an abrupt southward increase in sedimentation rate in the trench. Such a change may potentially induce a landward shift of the 60–150 °C isotherms, and thus the updip limit of the seismogenic zone, by 10 to 20 km.     

Historical seismicity of the southeastern Caribbean and tectonic implications

We have relocated the twenty-eight largest magnitude (4.3M _s 7.3) historical (1922–1963) earthquakes of the southeastern Caribbean. We also present new focal mechanisms for seven of these events. The relocations are based on reported ISSP andS arrival times that we analyzed using generalized linear inversion techniques. The new focal mechanisms were constrained by first motionP polarities as reported by the ISS and as picked by us where records were available, and by the polarities and ratios ofSH andsSH, andSV andsSV arrivals that we determined from seismograms. The results of the relocations are commensurate with the distribution of seismicity observed in the recent era: hypocenters are shallow and intermediate in depth (0–200 km), and the events occur almost exclusively in areas known to be currently seismic. The frequent seismic activity in the vicinity of the Paria Peninsula, Venezuela, is clearly a persistent feature of the regional earthquake pattern; intermediate depth earthquakes indicative of subduction beneath the Caribbean plate occur here and along the Lesser Antilles arc. The Grenadines seismic gap is confirmed as an area of low seismic moment release throughout the historical era. Trinidad and the eastern Gulf of Paria were also largely quiescent.The new focal mechanisms, despite being a sparse data set, give significant insight into both subduction processes along the Lesser Antilles arc and into the shallow deformation of the Caribbean-South America plate boundary zone. The largest earthquake to have occurred in this region, the 19 March 1953 event (M _m =7.01), is a Lesser Antilles slab deformation event, and another earthquake in this region of the Lesser Antilles is probably a rarely-observed interplate thrust event. Shallow deformation in the plate boundary zone is complex and, near the Paria Penninsula, involves mixed southeastward thrusting and dextral strike-slip on east-striking faults, and secondarily, normal faulting. Bending of the subducting Atlantic-South American plate also seems to generate seisms. The rather high ratio of intraplate deformation to interplate deformation observed along the Lesser Antilles subduction zone in the more recent era seems to have been operative in the historical era as well.     

The Variation of Stresses due to Aseismic Sliding and its Effect on Seismic Activity

— Numerical simulation of recurring large interplate earthquakes in a subduction zone is conducted to explore the effects of aseismic sliding on the variation of stresses and the activity of small earthquakes. The frictional force obeying a rate- and state-dependent friction law is assumed to act on the plate interface in a 2-D model of uniform elastic half-space. The simulation results show that large earthquakes repeatedly occur at a constant time interval on a shallow part of the plate interface and that aseismic sliding migrates from the upper aseismic zone as well as from the lower aseismic zone into the central part of the seismogenic zone before the occurrence of a large interplate earthquake. This spatiotemporal variation of aseismic sliding significantly perturbs the stresses in the overriding plate and in the subducting oceanic plate, leading to the precursory seismic quiescence in the overriding plate and the activation of the intermediate-depth earthquakes of down-dip tension type. After the occurrence of a large interplate earthquake, the activity of the intermediate-depth earthquakes of down-dip compression type in the subducting slab is expected to increase and migrate downward. This is because the downward propagation of postseismic sliding causes the downward migration of compressional-stress increase in the down-dip direction of the plate interface. The simulation result further indicates that episodic events of aseismic sliding may occur when the spatial distributions of friction parameters are significantly nonuniform. The variation of stresses due to episodic sliding is expected to cause seismicity changes.     

Paleotectonic structures and their influence on recent seismo-tectonics in the south Kuril subduction zone

Abstract Bathymetric data from south of Hokkaido obtained during a cruise of R/V Hakuho-Maru are summarized, and their correlation with earthquake occurrence is discussed. There are structural lineations on the seaward slope of the Kuril Trench, oblique to the Kuril Trench axis and parallel to the magnetic lineations in the Pacific plate. The structural lineations comprise horst-grabens generated by normal faulting. This suggests that Cretaceous tectonic structures originating at the spreading centre affect present seismotectonics around the trench axis. The structural-magnetic relation is compared to the case of the Japan Trench. North-east of the surveyed area, there are two major fracture zones (Nosappu Fracture Zone and Iturup Fracture Zone) that divide the oceanic plate into three segments. If the fracture zones (FZ) and the zone of paleo-mechanical weakness, represented by magnetic lineations, can control the direction of normal faults at a trench, the extent of the resulting topographic roughness on the seaward slope of the trench would be different across an FZ because of the differences in ages. By studying recent large earthquakes occurring in the south Kuril region, it is shown that several main-aftershock distributions for large earthquakes in this region are bounded by the Nosappu FZ and the Iturup FZ. Two models (Barrier model and Rebound model) are presented to interpret earthquake occurrence near the south Kuril Islands. The Barrier model explains seismic boundaries seen in several examples for earthquake occurrence in the south Kuril regions. The fracture zone forming the boundary of two segments with different magnetic lineations is also the boundary of two different normal fault systems on their ocean bottom, and the difference in sea-bottom roughness between two normal fault systems should affect the seismic coupling at a plate interface. Due to the difference of seismic coupling, earthquake occurrence is controlled by an FZ and then the FZ acts as a seismic boundary (Barrier model). Existing normal faults created by plate bending of subducting oceanic plate should rebound after its subduction (Rebound model). This rebound of normal faults may cause intraplate earthquakes with a high-angle reverse-fault mechanism such as the 1994 Shikotan Earthquake. The energy released by an intraplate earthquake generated by normal-fault rebounding is not directly related to that of interplate earthquakes such as low-angle thrust earthquakes. It is a reason why large earthquakes occurred in the same region during a relatively short period.     

Interplate Earthquake Fault Slip During Periodic Earthquake Cycles in a Viscoelastic Medium at a Subduction Zone

--A 2-D finite-element-method (FEM) numerical experiment of earthquake cycles at a subduction zone is performed to investigate the effect of viscoelasticity of the earth on great interplate earthquake fault slip. We construct a 2-D viscoelastic FEM model of northeast Japan, which consists of an elastic upper crust and a viscoelastic mantle wedge under gravitation overlying the subducting elastic Pacific plate. Instead of the dislocation model prescribing an amount of slip on a plate interface, we define an earthquake cycle, in which the plate interface down to a depth is locked during an interseismic period and unlocked during coseismic and postseismic periods by changing the friction on the boundary with the master-slave method. This earthquake cycle with steady plate subduction is periodically repeated to calculate the resultant earthquake fault slip.¶As simulated in a previous study (Wang, 1995), the amount of fault slip at the first earthquake cycle is smaller than the total relative plate motion. This small amount of fault slip in the viscoelastic medium was considered to be one factor explaining the small seismic coupling observed at several subduction zones. Our simulation, however, shows that the fault slip grows with an increasing number of repeated earthquake cycles and reaches an amount comparable to the total relative plate motion after more than ten earthquake cycles. This new finding indicates that the viscoelasticity of the earth is not the main factor in explaining the observed small seismic coupling. In comparison with a simple one-degree-of-freedom experiment, we demonstrate that the increase of the fault slip occurs in the transient state from the relaxed initial state to the stressed equilibrium state due to the intermittent plate loading in a viscoelastic medium.     

Oblique subduction of a Newtonian fluid slab

A Newtonian fluid model is proposed to describe the oblique subduction of a planar 2-D slab. The slab is assumed to subduct in response to the ridge push force exerted along the trench, the slab pull force at the downdip of the slab, the gravitational body force within the slab, and the frictional resistance force at the upper surface of the slab. Because the slab motion along strike is being resisted by the frictional resistance at the interplate coupling area while the slab motion along the trench normal is being maintained by the gravitational pulling, the slab turns gradually toward the trench normal direction as it subducts. This model offers an alternative explanation for earthquake slip partitioning, the observation that the earthquake slip vectors deflect away from the relative plate motion direction toward the trench normal direction along most of the oblique subduction zones worldwide. Numerical models suggest that slip partitioning caused by slab deformation could be as much as 30% at 100 km downdip of the slab. The slab viscosity, the plate coupling width, the interplate resistance coefficient, the slab pull force, and the gravitational body force are all important in determining the geometry of the slab subduction.     

苏门答腊俯冲带地区壳内密度结构研究

俯冲带上覆板片密度特征是认识俯冲及其引发深部岩浆过程的一个窗口.本文以苏门答腊俯冲带空间重力异常数据为基础,在2.5D密度结构剖面约束下,通过3D密度反演,获得了研究区3D密度结构分布.反演结果表明,俯冲板片角度和下倾极限深度均从研究区西北向东南方向逐渐增加;研究区上覆板片下地壳存在低密度异常,主要集中在东南部,分布范围也随深度而增加.分析认为这有可能是俯冲引发的洋壳脱水对上覆板片下地壳侵染所造成.此外,研究区东南部存在的地幔板片撕裂可能是造成该区下地壳低密度异常最为显著的另一个原因.3D密度切片揭示出下地壳密度异常具有沿NE方向延伸迹象,推断应与印澳板块在苏门答腊地区的斜向俯冲作用有关.本文还对研究区的地震分布特征进行了讨论.大部分的浅源地震集中在下倾极限附近,为脆性破裂或摩擦滑移所引发.震源深度大于200 km的地震基本分布在研究区中部和东南部,震源深度从西北向东南方向逐渐加大,这从另一角度为研究区东南部地幔存在板片撕裂的观点提供了佐证.

     

日本海沟俯冲带MW9.0地震震源区应力场演化分析

于2011年3月11日发生在日本东北部的M_W9.0级逆冲型板间地震是日本有地震记录以来震级最大的一次地震.本研究基于NIED F-net矩张量解目录中的震源机制解,选取两个长轴相互垂直的矩形区域进行应力场2D反演,获取了日本海沟俯冲带地区应力场的空间及时间分布图像.结果表明：主震前,俯冲带地区应力状态在空间上大体趋于一致,即应力轴（P轴、σ₁轴及S_Hmax轴）系统性地倾向板块汇聚方向,P轴、σ₁轴倾角整体偏缓（< 30°）,且远离震源区及日本海沟东侧区域内的应力轴倾角普遍大于主震震源区内应力轴倾角;主震前,受2003年5月26日在宫城县北部发生的M_W7.0地震影响,位于M_W9.0地震震源区西北侧的应力场出现明显扰动,σ₁轴倾向顺时针偏转150°~180°,并于之后大体恢复至震前状态,同期其他地区没有明显变化,这种情况可能和主震断层局部（深部）的前兆性滑动有关;主震后,距离震源区较远处应力场变化不大,主震震源区内应力场发生显著改变,P轴及σ₁轴均以大角度（>60°）倾伏于板块汇聚方向,S_Hmax轴顺时针偏转60°~90°且在日本海沟附近普遍平行于海沟轴.这项研究以时空图像的方式展示了大地震前应力场变化的特点,反映了大地震孕震过程中构造与地震的相互作用,对于理解大地震孕震过程有重要意义.

     

Rupture model of the great AD 365 Crete earthquake in the southwestern part of the Hellenic Arc

An M8.3 earthquake struck the southwestern part of the Hellenic Arc, near the Island of Crete, in AD 365, generating a tsunami that affected almost the entire eastern Mediterranean region. Taking into account that the time history of seismicity in this region is fairly complete for such earthquakes in the historical catalog, which can be dated as back as the 5th century B.C., there is no indication that this segment of plate boundary has been fully ruptured again. The seismic hazard associated with this part of the Hellenic Arc necessitates the evaluation of the rupture characteristics of this great event. The constraint of the faulting geometry was initially achieved by using information from seismicity, and the focal mechanisms of earthquakes that occurred during the instrumental period. A rupture model for this great earthquake is constructed by assuming an elastic medium and calculating the theoretical surface displacements for various fault models that are matched with the observed surface deformation gleaned from historical reports. The resulted fault model concerns thrust faulting with a rupture length of 160 km and a seismic moment of 5.7 × 10²⁸ dyn·cm, an average slip of 8.9 m and a corresponding moment magnitude equal to 8.4, in excellent agreement with the macroseismic estimation. The absence of such events recurrence is an indication of the lack of complete seismic coupling that is common in subduction zones, which is in accordance with the back arc spreading of the Aegean microplate and with previous results showing low coupling for extensional strain of the upper plate.     

Seismic Subduction of the Nazca Ridge as Shown by the 1996–97 Peru Earthquakes

—By rupturing more than half of the shallow subduction interface of the Nazca Ridge, the great November 12, 1996 Peruvian earthquake contradicts the hypothesis that oceanic ridges subduct aseismically. The mainshock’s rupture has a length of about 200 km and has an average slip of about 1.4 m. Its moment is 1.5 × 10²⁸ dyne-cm and the corresponding M _w is 8.0. The mainshock registered three major episodes of moment release as shown by a finite fault inversion of teleseismically recorded broadband body waves. About 55% of the mainshock’s total moment release occurred south of the Nazca Ridge, and the remaining moment release occurred at the southern half of the subduction interface of the Nazca Ridge. The rupture south of the Nazca Ridge was elongated parallel to the ridge axis and extended from a shallow depth to about 65 km depth. Because the axis of the Nazca Ridge is at a high angle to the plate convergence direction, the subducting Nazca Ridge has a large southwards component of motion, 5 cm/yr parallel to the coast. The 900–1200 m relief of the southwards sweeping Nazca Ridge is interpreted to act as a "rigid indenter," causing the greatest coupling south of the ridge’s leading edge and leading to the large observed slip. The mainshock and aftershock hypocenters were relocated using a new procedure that simultaneously inverts local and teleseismic data. Most aftershocks were within the outline of the Nazca Ridge. A three-month delayed aftershock cluster occurred at the northern part of the subducting Nazca Ridge. Aftershocks were notably lacking at the zone of greatest moment release, to the south of the Nazca Ridge. However, a lone foreshock at the southern end of this zone, some 140 km downstrike of the mainshock’s epicenter, implies that conditions existed for rupture into that zone. The 1996 earthquake ruptured much of the inferred source zone of the M _w 7.9–8.2 earthquake of 1942, although the latter was a slightly larger earthquake. The rupture zone of the 1996 earthquake is immediately north of the seismic gap left by the great earthquakes (M _w ～8.8–9.1) of 1868 and 1877. The M _w 8.0 Antofagasta earthquake of 1995 occurred at the southern end of this great seismic gap. The M _w 8.2 deep-focus Bolivian earthquake of 1994 occurred directly downdip of the 1868 portion of that gap. The recent occurrence of three significant earthquakes on the periphery of the great seismic gap of the 1868 and 1877 events, among other factors, may signal an increased seismic potential for that zone.     

THE SOURCE PARAMETERS AND RUPTURE PROCESS OF THE MW7.0 EARTHQUAKE IN ALASKA,USA ON DECEMBER 1, 2018

A magnitude M_W7.0 earthquake struck north of Anchorage, Alaska, USA on 1 December 2018. This earthquake occurred in the Alaska-Aleutian subduction zone, on a fault within the subducting Pacific slab rather than on the shallower boundary between the Pacific and North American plates. In order to better understand the earthquake source characteristics and slip distribution of source rupture process as well as to explore the effect of tectonic environment on dynamic triggering of earthquake, the faulting geometry, slip distribution, seismic moment, source time function are estimated from broadband waveforms downloaded from IRIS Data Management Center. We use the regional broadband waveforms to infer the source parameters with ISOLA package and the teleseismic body wave recorded by stations of the Global Seismic Network is employed to conduct slip distribution inversion with iterative deconvolution method. The focal mechanism solution indicates that the Alaska earthquake occurred as the result of tensile-type normal faulting, the estimated centroid depth from waveform inversion shows that the earthquake occurred at the depth of 56.5km, and the centroid location is 10km far away in northeast direction relative to the location of initial epicenter. We use the aftershock distribution to constrain the fault-plane strike of a normal fault to set up the finite fault model, the finite fault inversion shows that the earthquake slip distribution is concentrated mainly on a rectangular area with 30km×20km, and the maximum slip is up to 3.6m. In addition, the slip distribution shows an asymmetrical distribution and the range of possible rupture direction, the direction of rupture extends to the northeast direction, which is same as that of aftershock distribution for a period of ten days after the mainshock. It is interesting to note that a seismic gap appears in the southwest of the seismogenic fault, we initially determined that the earthquake was a typical normal fault-type earthquake that occurred in the back-arc extensional environment of the subduction collision zone between the Pacific plate and the North American plate, this earthquake was not related to tectonic movement of faults near the Earth's surface. Due to the influence of high temperature and pressure during the subduction of the Pacific plate toward to the north, the subduction angle of the Pacific plate becomes steep, causing consequently the backward bending deformation, thus forming to a tensile environment at the trailing edge of the collision zone and generating the M_W7.0 earthquake in Alaska.     

Global variability in subduction thrust zone-forearc systems

Deviations of slip vector azimuths of interplate thrust earthquakes from expected plate convergence directions at oblique subduction zones provide kinematic information about the deformation of forearcs and indirect evidence on the dynamics of the plate boundary. A global survey of slip vectors at major trenches of the world reveals a large variability in the kinematic response of forearcs to shear produced by oblique convergence. The variability in forearc deformation inferred from slip vector deflections is suggested to be caused by variations in forearc rheology rather than in the stresses acting on subduction zone thrust faults. Estimated apparent macroscopic rheologies range from elastic to perfectly plastic (or viscous). Forearc rheologies inferred from slip vectors do not correlate with age of the subducting lithosphere, but continental forearcs or old arcs appear to deform less than oceanic or young arcs. The inferred absence of forearc deformation at continental arcs from this study is counter to inferences drawn from compiled geologic information on forearc faults. Correlations of the apparent forearc rheology with backarc spreading, convergence rate, slab dip, arc curvature, and downdip length of the thrust contact are poor. However, great subduction zone earthquakes occur where forearcs are apparently more elastic (i.e., less deformed by oblique convergence), which suggests that the mechanical properties of forearcs rather than stress magnitude on thrust faults control both the kinematic behavior of forearcs and where great subduction zone earthquakes occur.