Preprints
Search for earthquake (504 results)
The relationships between regional Quaternary uplift, deformation across active normal faults and historical seismicity in the upper plate of subduction zones: The Capo D’Orlando Fault, NE Sicily.
Published: 2018-04-20
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Geomorphology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
In order to investigate deformation within the upper plate of the Calabrian subduction zone we have mapped and modelled a sequence of Late Quaternary palaeoshorelines tectonically‐deformed by the Capo D’Orlando normal fault, NE Sicily, which forms part of the actively deforming Calabrian Arc. In addition to the 1908 Messina Strait earthquake (Mw 7.1), this region has experienced damaging [...]
The seismic history of the Pisia fault (eastern Corinth rift, Greece) from fault plane weathering features and cosmogenic 36Cl dating
Published: 2018-04-14
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geomorphology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Tectonics and Structure
The deformation of the eastern Corinth rift (Greece) is distributed along several E-W trending active normal faults. Here, the 25-km-long Pisia fault experienced up to 150 cm of coseismic displacement during the 1981 Alkyonides earthquake sequence (M = 6.7, 6.4, 6.3). Using terrestrial laser scanning, coupled with analyses of color changes, lichen colonization and karstic features, we identify [...]
Topography and the shallow slip deficit inference
Published: 2018-04-14
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Images of earthquake slip serve as the foundation for understanding the distribution of coseismic energy release, theories about rupture propagation, and fault mechanics. Geodetic slip images are inferred using elastic models that link surface observations to fault activity at depth. To date, almost all elastic models used for these common calculations [10, 14, 19, 23] include the assumption that [...]
Rapid mantle flow with power-law creep explains deformation after the 2011 Tohoku mega-quake
Published: 2018-04-11
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The deformation transient that follows large subduction zone earthquakes is thought to originate from the interaction of viscoelastic flow in the asthenospheric mantle and slip on the megathrust that are both accelerated by the sudden coseismic stress change. The surface deformation following the 2011 Mw 9.0 Tohoku earthquake provides some of the most comprehensive constraints on surface [...]
Asthenosphere flow modulated by megathrust earthquake cycles
Published: 2018-04-04
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Subduction megathrusts develop the largest earthquakes, often close to large population centers. Understanding the dynamics of deformation at subduction zones is therefore important to better assess seismic hazards. Here, I develop consistent earthquake cycle simulations that incorporate localized and distributed deformation based on laboratory-derived constitutive laws by combining boundary and [...]
Coulomb stress transfer and fault interaction over millennia on non-planar active normal faults: the Mw 6.5-5.0 seismic sequence of 2016-2017, central Italy.
Published: 2018-03-27
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Tectonics and Structure
In order to investigate the importance of including strike-variable geometry and the knowledge of historical and palaeoseismic earthquakes when modelling static Coulomb stress transfer and rupture propagation, we have examined the August–October 2016 A.D. and January 2017 A.D. central Apennines seismic sequence (Mw 6.0, 5.9, 6.5 in 2016 A.D. (INGV) and Mw 5.1, 5.5, 5.4, 5.0 in 2017 A.D. [...]
Time-dependent compaction as a mechanism for regular stick-slips
Published: 2018-03-27
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Owing to their destructive potential, earthquakes receive considerable attention from laboratory studies. In friction experiments, stick-slips are studied as the laboratory equivalent of natural earthquakes, and numerous attempts have been made to simulate stick-slips numerically using the Discrete Element Method (DEM). However, while laboratory stick-slips commonly exhibit regular stress drops [...]
Rheological transitions facilitate fault-spanning ruptures on seismically active and creeping faults
Published: 2018-03-27
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
The apparent stochastic nature of earthquakes poses major challenges for earthquake forecasting attempts. Physical constraints on the seismogenic potential of major fault zones may aid in improving seismic hazard assessments, but the mechanics of earthquake nucleation and rupture are obscured by the complexity that faults display. In this work, we investigate the mechanisms behind giant [...]
Ambient noise image Campi Flegrei 2011-2013
Published: 2018-03-27
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Environmental Monitoring, Environmental Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Tectonics and Structure, Volcanology
Earthquakes at Campi Flegrei have been low-magnitude and sparse for more than thirty years, denying onshore monitoring observations of their usual source for structural constraint: seismic tomography. Here, we used ambient seismic noise recorded between 2011 and 2013 to reconstruct period-dependent Rayleigh-wave velocity maps of caldera-wide structures and volcanic reservoirs. The lowest [...]
Evaluating models of Coulomb stress transfer: Is variable fault geometry important?
Published: 2018-03-21
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Tectonics and Structure
To determine the importance of receiver fault geometry in Coulomb stress calculations a new methodology is presented to model faults with variable geometry. Although most models use planar faults, it is known that these are inaccurate representations of faults observed in the field. The central Italian Apennines are chosen as a straightforward tectonic system with well‐exposed normal faults to [...]
Kinematics of the active West Andean fold-and-thrust belt (Central Chile): structure and long-term shortening rate
Published: 2018-03-19
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geomorphology, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Tectonics and Structure
West-verging thrusts, synthetic with the Nazca - South America subduction interface, have been recently discovered at the western front of the Andes. At ~33°30’S, the active San Ramón fault stands as the most frontal of these west-verging structures, and represents a major earthquake threat for Santiago, capital city of Chile. Here we elaborate a detailed 3D structural map and a precise [...]
Slow-slip events in semi-brittle serpentinite fault zones
Published: 2018-03-14
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Slow-slip events are earthquake-like events only with much lower slip rates. While peak coseismic velocities can reach tens of meters per second, slow-slip is on the order of 1E-7 m/s and may last for days to weeks. Under the rate-and-state model of fault friction, slow-slip is produced only when the asperity size is commensurate with the critical nucleation size, a function of frictional [...]
Probing earthquake dynamics through seismic radiated energy rate: illustration with the M7.8 2015 Nepal earthquake
Published: 2018-02-26
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Dynamic characterizations of earthquakes focus on whole-event representations, that is whether the total radiation of seismic waves is more or less energetic. Denolle et al (2015) and Yin et al. (2018) suggest to use the source spectrogram in order to analyze the radiation during the rupture itself. Here, we take a retrospective view on these studies to better establish the methodology of source [...]
Structure and kinematics of the Sumatran Fault System in North Sumatra (Indonesia)
Published: 2018-02-24
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Lithospheric-scale faults related to oblique subduction are responsible for some of the most hazardous earthquakes reported worldwide. The mega-thrust in the Sunda sector of the Sumatran oblique subduction has been intensively studied, especially after the infamous 2004 Mw 9.1 earthquake, but its onshore kinematic complement within the Sumatran subduction, the transform Sumatran Fault System, has [...]
Active deformation of Malawi Rift’s North Basin hinge zone modulated by reactivation of pre-existing Precambrian shear zone fabric
Published: 2018-02-19
Subjects: Earth Sciences, Geology, Geophysics and Seismology, Physical Sciences and Mathematics, Tectonics and Structure
Key Points: 1. Filtered aeromagnetic data elucidates the relationship between earthquake surface ruptures and buried faults along the North Basin hinge-zone, Malawi Rift. 2. Fault segments align with basement shear zone fabric. 3. Strain accommodation in the North Basin hinge zone is modulated by reactivation of the underlying Precambrian shear zone fabric. Abstract: We integrated temporal [...]