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Earthquake‐triggered landslides are a severe hazard and contribute to landscape evolution. To understand their process and controlling factors, we model the onset of seismically‐triggered slip on pre‐existing slip surfaces governed by laboratory‐based rate‐and‐state friction, including wave propagation effects. Through numerical simulations and theoretical analysis, we identify how friction properties, landslide thickness and incident wave attributes (frequency, duration, amplitude) control slope stability. We find that the frictional state variable tracks the cyclic fatigue of the slip surface, its progressive weakening with each wave cycle. Wave propagation effects introduce two regimes depending on frequency relative to the two‐way travel time across the landslide thickness: the stability criterion is well approximated by a threshold on incident peak acceleration at low frequencies, and on peak velocity at high frequencies. We derive analytical approximations, validated by simulations, suitable to apply the model to evaluate landslide stability under arbitrary input motions. Landslides induced by earthquake shaking cause human and economic losses. Understanding their triggering mechanism is a key to reduce their impact. Here we propose a new model for the onset of seismically‐triggered landslide slip using a friction law based on laboratory experiments. Studying the model mathematically and through computer simulations, we identify the specific attributes of the landslide and incident seismic waves that control slope stability. We find that the decrease of the frictional state variable is a good proxy for the approach to instability. The landslide triggering criterion is well described by a peak acceleration threshold if the landslide is shallow or the earthquake shaking is dominated by low frequencies, and by a peak velocity threshold for deep landslides or high‐frequency shaking. Finally, we develop equations that can be used to assess landslide stability to shaking without the need for computer simulations. Numerical and analytical modeling of earthquake‐induced landslides on slip surfaces governed by rate‐and‐state frictionThe frictional state variable tracks the landslide fatigue manifested by progressive weakening of the slip surfaceLandslide triggering by low‐ and high‐frequency shaking is controlled by peak acceleration and velocity, respectively Numerical and analytical modeling of earthquake‐induced landslides on slip surfaces governed by rate‐and‐state friction The frictional state variable tracks the landslide fatigue manifested by progressive weakening of the slip surface Landslide triggering by low‐ and high‐frequency shaking is controlled by peak acceleration and velocity, respectively

We found extensive evidence that the vertical ground accelerations produced during the largest shock (M = 6.0) of the 1997 Umbria-Marche earthquake sequence exceeded 1g in two areas close to the heavily-damaged villages of Annifo and Colle Croce. This evidence comes from the striking observation of thousands of freshly fractured and broken rocks and stones in these areas. Some of the broken stones lie isolated on soft detritic soil while others had been previously piled up, probably a long time agoto clear the fields for farming. The freshness of the cuts and fractures and the consistency of the observations for thousands of rocks and stones in these areas indicate that these rocks were thrown upwards during the earthquake, with breakage occurring at the time of impact. Ground motion calculations consistent with the static deformation inferred from GPS and interferometry data, show that the broken stones and rocks are found in the zone where the strongest shaking took place during the earthquake and that most of the shaking there was vertical.

We present the spatio-temporal distribution of more than 2000 earthquakesthat occurred during the Umbria-Marche seismic crisis, between September 26and November 3, 1997. This distribution was obtained from recordings of atemporary network that was installed after the occurrence of the first two largest shocks (Mw =, 5.7, Mw = 6.0) of September 26. This network wascomposed of 27 digital 3-components stations densely distributed in theepicentral area. The aftershock distribution covers a region of about 40 km long and about2 km wide along the NW-SE central Apennines chain. The activity is shallow,mostly located at less than 9 km depth. We distinguished three main zonesof different seismic activity from NW to SE. The central zone, that containsthe hypocenter of four earthquakes of magnitude larger than 5, was the moreactive and the more complex one. Sections at depth identify 40–50°dipping structures that agree well with the moment tensor focalmechanisms results. The clustering and the migration of seismicity from NW to SE and the generalfeatures are imaged by aftershock distribution both horizontally and at depth.

We have implemented and tested a simple inversionscheme to retrieve source parameters of small andmoderate earthquakes recorded at close distances. Theinversion assumes that such events may be approximatedby a point-source shear dislocation, and the mediummay be considered an infinite space. Theoreticalseismograms used in the inversion include near- andintermediate-field contributions. The effect of freesurface is approximately taken into account bymultiplying the infinite-space synthetics by two. Thelocation of the event is assumed to be known. Based onan examination of the data, the user chooses thelength of the record and the weight of each trace tobe used in the inversion. The shape of the source-timefunction is estimated from the observed seismograms.A grid search is performed to determine the focalmechanism and the seismic moment which minimizes theerror between the observed and the syntheticseismograms. For two or more recordings, the inversiongives a solution which is consistent with thefirst-motion data and/or the moment tensor inversionof regional seismic waves. If only a singlethree-component recording is available then theinversion yields more than one equally acceptablefocal mechanisms. In such cases, the first-motionpolarities or a prior knowledge of the tectonics ofthe region is essential to constrain the solution. Thetest of the method on near-source broadband recordingsof small and moderate earthquakes in Mexico and theaftershock sequence of 1997 Umbria-Marche, Italy showsthat it gives fast, and surprisingly robust andreliable estimation of source parameters.

We present the results of a multidisciplinary study of the Ms= 6.2, 1995, June 15, Aigion earthquake (Gulf of Corinth, Greece). In order to constrain the rupture geometry, we used all available data from seismology (local, regional and teleseismic records of the mainshock and of aftershocks), geodesy (GPS and SAR interferometry), and tectonics. Part of these data were obtained during a postseismic field study consisting of the surveying of 24 GPS points, the temporary installation of 20 digital seismometers, and a detailed field investigation for surface fault break. The Aigion fault was the only fault onland which showed detectable breaks (< 4 cm). We relocated the mainshock hypocenter at 10 km in depth, 38 ° 21.7 ′ N, 22 ° 12.0 ′ E, about 15 km NNE to the damaged city of Aigion. The modeling of teleseismic P and SH waves provides a seismic moment Mo= 3.4 1018N.m, a well constrained focal mechanism (strike 277 °, dip 33 °, rake − 77°), at a centroidal depth of 7.2 km, consistent with the NEIC and the revised Harvard determinations. It thus involved almost pure normal faulting in agreement with the tectonics of the Gulf. The horizontal GPS displacements corrected for the opening of the gulf (1.5 cm/year) show a well-resolved 7 cm northward motion above the hypocenter, which eliminates the possibility of a steep, south-dipping fault plane. Fitting the S-wave polarization at SERG, 10 km from the epicenter, with a 33° northward dipping plane implies a hypocentral depth greater than 10 km. The north dipping fault plane provides a poor fit to the GPS data at the southern points when a homogeneous elastic half-space is considered: the best fit geodetic model is obtained for a fault shallower by 2 km, assuming the same dip. We show with a two-dimensional model that this depth difference is probably due to the distorting effect of the shallow, low-rigidity sediments of the gulf and of its edges. The best-fit fault model, with dimensions 9 km E–W and 15 km along dip, and a 0.87 m uniform slip, fits InSAR data covering the time of the earthquake. The fault is located about 10 km east-northeast to the Aigion fault, whose surface breaks thus appears as secondary features. The rupture lasted 4 to 5 s, propagating southward and upward on a fault probably outcropping offshore, near the southern edge of the gulf. In the shallowest 4 km, the slip – if any – has not exceeded about 30 cm. This geometry implies a large directivity effect in Aigion, in agreement with the accelerogram aig which shows a short duration (2 s) and a large amplitude (0.5 g) of the direct S acceleration. This unusual low-angle normal faulting may have been favoured by a low-friction, high pore pressure fault zone, or by a rotation of the stress directions due to the possible dip towards the south of the brittle-ductile transition zone. This fault cannot be responsible for the long term topography of the rift, which is controlled by larger normal faults with larger dip angles, implying either a seldom, or a more recently started activity of such low angle faults in the central part of the rift.

We use near-field accelerograms recorded by the very broadband seismographic station of PNIG to locate the Pinotepa Nacional earthquake of 27 March, 1996 (Mw = 5.4) and to determine its source parameters. The data from PNIG on P and S arrival times, the azimuth of the arrival of P wave, and the angle of incidence of the P wave at the free surface permit the determination of the location (16.365° N, 98.303° W, depth = 18 km) and the origin time (12:34;48.35) of the earthquake. The displacement seismograms of the earthquake clearly shows contribution from the near-field terms. We compute a suite of synthetic seismograms for local mechanisms in the vicinity of the mechanism reported by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and compare them with the observed seismograms at PNIG. The point whose synthetics fit the observed records well has the following parameters: seismic moment, M0 = 1.2 × 1024dyne-cm; source time function: a triangular pulse of 0.9 sec duration; fault plane: strike ϕ = 291°, dip δ = 10°, and rake λ = 80°. The location and the source parameters obtained from the analysis of PNIG records differ significantly from those reported by the USGS. This demonstrates again, what has been shown by some previous researchers, that high-quality recordings from a single near-field station can considerably improve the estimation of the source parameters of an earthquake. The main event was preceded by a subevent which occurred ∼0.18 sec before and whose seismic moment was ∼1% of the main event. It is possible that even this subevent was preceded by a couple of smaller subevents. This earthquake supports the body of evidence showing that an earthquake begins with a sequence of smaller subevents, cascading in the occurrence of the main event.

An analysis of the Zihuatanejo, Mexico, earthquake of 1994 December 10 (M=6.6), based on teleseismic and near-source data, shows that it was a normal-faulting, intermediate-depth (H=50 ± 5 km) event. It was located about 30 km inland, within the subducted Cocos plate. The preferred fault plane has an azimuth of 130°, a dip of 79° and a rake of −86°. The rupture consisted of two subevents which were separated in time by about 2 s, with the second subevent occurring downdip of the first. The measured stress drop was relatively high, requiring a Δσ of about a kilobar to explain the high-frequency level of the near-source spectra. A rough estimate of the thickness of the seismogenic part of the oceanic lithosphere below Zihuatanejo, based on the depth and the rupture extent of this event, is 40 km. This event and the Oaxaca earthquake of 1931 January 15 (M=7.8) are the two significant normal-faulting, intermediate-depth shocks whose epicentres are closest to the coast. Both of these earthquakes were preceded by several large to great shallow, low-angle thrust earthquakes, occurring updip. The observations in other subduction zones show just the opposite: normal-faulting events precede, not succeed, updip, thrust shocks. Indeed, the thrust events, soon after their occurrence, are expected to cause compression in the slab, thus inhibiting the occurrence of normal-faulting events. To explain the occurrence of the Zihuatanejo earthquake, we note that the Cocos plate, after an initial shallow-angle subduction, unbends and becomes subhorizontal. In the region of the unbending, the bottom of the slab is in horizontal extension. We speculate that the large updip seismic slip during shallow, low-angle thrust events increases the buckling of the slab, resulting in an incremental tensional stress at the bottom of the slab and causing normal-faulting earthquakes. This explanation may also hold for the 1931 Oaxaca event.

We propose a two-step inversion of three-component seismograms that (1) recovers the far-field source time function at each station and (2) estimates the distribution of co-seismic slip on the fault plane for small earthquakes (magnitude 3 to 4). The empirical Green's function (EGF) method consists of finding a small earthquake located near the one we wish to study and then performing a deconvolution to remove the path, site, and instrumental effects from the main-event signal. The deconvolution between the two earthquakes is an unstable procedure: we have therefore developed a simulated annealing technique to recover a stable and positive source time function (STF) in the time domain at each station with an estimation of uncertainties. Given a good azimuthal coverage, we can obtain information on the directivity effect as well as on the rupture process. We propose an inversion method by simulated annealing using the STF to recover the distribution of slip on the fault plane with a constant rupture-velocity model. This method permits estimation of physical quantities on the fault plane, as well as possible identification of the real fault plane. We apply this two-step procedure for an event of magnitude 3 recorded in the Gulf of Corinth in August 1991. A nearby event of magnitude 2 provides us with empirical Green's functions for each station. We estimate an active fault area of 0.02 to 0.15 km2 and deduce a stress-drop value of 1 to 30 bar and an average slip of 0.1 to 1.6 cm. The selected fault of the main event is in good agreement with the existence of a detachment surface inferred from the tectonics of this half-graben.