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There are at least 30 major plate boundary segments worldwide where the plate boundary changes from subduction to strike-slip; these include six triple junctions and 24 two-plate boundaries. This study investigates earthquake seismicity in the 24 two-plate subduction-to-strike-slip transition (SSST) regions by utilizing recently published earthquake relocations, ternary diagrams of focal mechanisms, and moment rate calculations. To facilitate cross-regional comparisons, we categorize the geometry of SSST plate boundaries in terms of (1) their radius of curvature, (2) their sense of curvature, that is, whether they are convex or concave as viewed from the downgoing plate, and (3) their tectonic complexity, that is, the variability of crustal thickness and the segmentation of the plate boundary trace. We observe three main trends in SSST regions: (1) there is a conspicuous scarcity of strike-slip earthquakes along plate boundary segments that plate motion models indicate are strike-slip boundaries; (2) in these apparent strike-slip segments, both the rate of occurrence of earthquakes of any kind and the moment release rate are low compared to adjacent subduction segments; and (3) there were few observable differences in seismicity between convex and concave boundaries. The observation that transform zones exhibit moment rate deficiencies, that is, have few large-magnitude earthquakes in the historical record, may have important implications for seismic hazard assessment in SSST regions. In particular, is motion along these boundaries aseismic with little seismic hazard, or is motion expressed in very large magnitude, infrequent, but potentially devastating earthquakes? In at least three such regions, New Zealand, the Philippines, and the Dominican Republic, paleoseismic evidence and the historical record of seismicity suggest that very large, infrequent earthquakes do occur.

New marine geophysical data along the Macquarie Ridge Complex, the Australia-Pacific plate boundary south of New Zealand, illuminate regional neotectonics. We identify tectonic spreading fabric and fracture zones and precisely locate the Australia-Pacific plate boundary along the Macquarie Ridge Complex. We interpret a ∼5–10 km wide Macquarie Fault Zone between the two plates along a bathymetrie high that extends nearly the entire length of the Australia-Pacific plate boundary south of New Zealand. We conclude that this is the active Australia-Pacific strike-slip plate boundary. Arcuate fracture zones become asymptotic as they approach the plate boundary. A broad zone of less intense deformation associated with the plate boundary extends ∼50 km on either side of the Macquarie Fault Zone. Marine geophysical data suggest that distinct segments of the plate boundary have experienced convergence and strike-slip deformation, although teleseismic evidence overwhelmingly indicates strike-slip motion along the entire surveyed boundary today. The McDougall and southernmost Puysegur segments show no evidence for past underthrusting, whereas data from the Macquarie and Hjort segments strongly suggest past convergence. The present-day strike-slip plate boundary along the Macquarie Ridge Complex coincides with the relict spreading center responsible for Australia-Pacific crust in the region. Our conceptual model for the transition from seafloor spreading to strike-slip motion along the Macquarie Ridge Complex addresses the decreasing length of spreading center segments and spacing between fracture zones, as well as the arcuate bend of the fracture zones that become asymptotic to the current transform plate boundary.

Seafloor structure at the Macquarie Ridge Complex strongly influences the intensity and circulation pattern of ocean currents south of New Zealand. New marine geophysical data show heterogeneous sedimentary environments on Macquarie seafloor that reflect interaction of highly variable bathymetry with the Antarctic Circumpolar Current and north flowing Antarctic Bottom Water. Acoustic backscatter, bathymetry, and seismic reflection data collected aboard R/V Rig Seismic in 1994 show five bathymetrically constrained sedimentary provinces flanking the ridge complex: (1) northwest Macquarie hemipelagic drifts, (2) current-modified Solander submarine fan complex, (3) southwest Macquarie manganese nodule province, (4) Emerald Basin pelagic drift province, and (5) sediment-free oceanic crust related to the 53.5°S passage in the Macquarie Ridge Complex. The late Miocene-Pliocene opening of a 53.5°S passage in the ridge complex caused a major increase in the intensity of ocean current circulation, sediment reworking, and erosion in all sedimentary provinces.

In this paper we investigate the value of b in the Gutenberg-Richter relation for four teleseismic catalogs of earthquakes: Abe's historical catalog, the Harvard Centroid Moment Tensor (CMT) catalog, the catalog of the International Seismological Centre (ISC), and the Blacknest catalog. An unfortunate result is that b differs by 30% or more when determined in different magnitude ranges, in different catalogs, or using different methods. For global catalogs separated into shallow, intermediate, and deep earthquake groups, all values determined for b lie between 0.72 and 1.34. We can identify no systematic global variation of b with depth. For teleseismic catalogs it is difficult to believe measured geographic variations in b because systematic errors cause problems of earthquake detection, earthquake location, aftershock identification, and magnitude determination. However, some variations in b are so persistent and large that they must be real. For deep earthquakes in Tonga-Fiji, for example, various measurements of b He between 1.06 and 1.57, comparable to b for shallow earthquakes, whereas measurements of b for deep earthquakes in the rest of the world are much lower, between 0.53 and 0.96. For shallow earthquakes in the Harvard CMT catalog, earthquakes with thrust and strike slip focal mechanisms have significantly lower b values (0.86 and 0.77) than earthquakes with normal faulting mechanisms (1.06). When we separate the ISC catalog into primary events (mainshocks and earthquakes with no aftershocks or foreshocks) and secondary events (aftershocks and foreshocks), we observe that b for secondary events is nearly always significantly higher than b for mainshocks. However, we show that the difference has no physical significance, as it arises simply from the act of choosing mainshocks as the largest earthquake in a foreshock-mainshock-aftershock sequence. When we correct for this systematic effect by comparing the real catalogs to identical catalogs with randomly reassigned magnitudes, we find that b for secondary events in the real catalog is actually lower than expected. Thus among aftershocks large earthquakes are relatively more common than expected, perhaps because the mainshock rupture loads asperities in adjacent regions.

The role of orbital forcing in glacioeustasy has long presented a major problem regarding the reconciliation of data-oriented seismic sequence stratigraphy with process-oriented dynamic stratigraphy. Dynamic stratigraphy commonly cites orbital forcing periods of approximately 20,000 years (precession), 40,000 years (tilt), and 100,000 years (eccentricity) which are too fine scale to be resolved consistently by seismic sequence stratigraphy. Seismic sequence stratigraphy consistently identifies seemingly eustatic events on a scale of millions of years which have no heretofore easily identifiable causal mechanisms. In this paper, we propose a geologic mechanism and realistic quantitative construct to explain how Antarctic ice volume varies as a function of orbital forcing in the Tertiary. We demonstrate that this mechanism, which has a nonlinear response to long-period modulation of the orbital forcing time series, can produce major glacioeustatic events with quasi-periodicities of the order of 2 m.y. We use a FORTRAN program, STRATA-various, to construct a two-dimensional forward model demonstrating that this proposed mechanism can produce a synthetic sequence stratigraphy which bears strong resemblance to the generalizations of seismic sequence stratigraphy. We acknowledge important achievements of seismic sequence stratigraphy. Nevertheless, we propose that the seismic sequence stratigraphy concepts of long-term and short-term eustatic curves be replaced by independent estimates of tectonoeustasy and glacioeustasy based upon data sets which are, wherever possible, independent of seismic sequence stratigraphy. Likewise, we propose that qualitative generalizations be replaced with explicit forward models as the targets for model/data convergence.

Using single-link cluster analysis, the authors investigate how various properties of aftershock sequences depend on their tectonic regime and focal depth. For International Seismological Centre earthquakes of m{sub b}{ge}4.8, they find that earthquakes deeper than 70 km have the fewest and smallest aftershock sequences. Even after accounting for differences in detectability and maximum magnitude, they find that ridge-transform earthquakes have smaller aftershock sequences that shallow subduction zone earthquakes. Among different subduction zones, they find that zones with high moment release rates possess larger aftershock sequences. Comparing ridge-transform zones, they find those with slower spreading rates possess larger aftershock sequences. By transposing origin times of several different aftershock sequences as if all had main shocks occurring at time zero, they are able to study the properties of aftershock sequences which individually have too few aftershocks to study by other means. Secondary events determined by single-link cluster analysis follow a modified Omori's (power law) decay for time separations of 0.1 day to 20 days from the parent event, with p values ranging from 0.539 {plus minus} 0.022 (intermediate- and deep-focus earthquakes) to 0.928 {plus minus} 0.024 (ridge-transform earthquakes). They find that earthquake foreshocks and multiplets also follow a modified Omori's law. Atmore » greater times from the main shock the decay is steeper than a power law decay, more like an exponential decay. Aftershocks in the Adak catalog (m{sub b}{ge}2.0) show a marked decrease in activity between 40 and 50 km depth. They speculate that the observed differences in number of aftershocks and p values may be caused by variations in fault heterogeneity or in fluid pressures.« less

One suggested explanation for the origin of deviatoric, non-double-couple earthquake sources is that there is slip along curved fault surfaces. Here we compute the moment tensor components for earthquakes along idealized faults which are surfaces of revolution. The calculations show that when the slip direction is around the axis of revolution, the earthquakes may possess purely double-couple sources, or purely compensated linear vector dipole (GLVD) sources, depending on the geometry of the fault and the slip. However, a surprising result is that the CLVD component is always zero for unidirectional slip along surfaces having a suitable degree of symmetry. Thus slip along a large variety of simple and plausible curved fault geometries produces a purely double-couple source.

We have examined teleseismic earthquake locations reported by the International Seismological Centre (ISC) for the Middle America region and selected 220 as the most reliable. These hypocenters and other data are used to delineate the deep structure of the subducted Cocos Plate. The results indicate that the subducted plate consists of three major segments: Segment I extends from the Panama Fracture Zone to the Nicoya Peninsula. The structure of this segment is poorly defined. Segment II is the largest and best-defined segment. This segment consists of two parts, IIA and IIB. Part IIA extends from the Nicoya Peninsula to western Guatemala and is very well defined and continuous in structure. Its strike follows the curvature of the trench and dips at about 60°. Part IIB extends from western Guatemala to Orizaba, Mexico. The dip of this part of the segment decreases slightly toward the northwest, and its strike is more northward than that of the trench. Segment III extends from Orizaba to the Rivera Fracture Zone, and is not well defined due to a lack of earthquake activity beneath about 100 km. Its orientation differs markedly from segment II and strikes somewhat more westward than the trench. Between parts IIA and IIB of segment II the subducted plate seems to be continuous, bending smoothly to accommodate the change in geometry. Local network data from Costa Rica suggest there may be a tear between segments I and II. Between segments II and III there is a gap in the hypocenters which makes it difficult to define the boundary. The change in geometry between these two segments indicates that there may be a tear, and two strike-slip focal mechanisms in the region support this conclusion. We find no convincing evidence supporting the existence of segments smaller than the three described above. If there is smaller-scale segmentation in the shallow part of the subducting plate the plate must still maintain enough continuity to appear continuous at greater depths. There is no evidence for any major tear in the subducted plate associated directly with either the Tehuantepec Ridge or the Orozco Fracture zone. The shallow subduction at the northwestern end of segment II may be related to the bouyancy of the Tehuantepec Ridge. The Cocos Ridge is probably directly responsible for the change in geometry between segments I and II and may even be slowing or stopping subduction in segment I. The structure of the subducted plate in segment II and the changes in the character of volcanism along the arc can be related to the relative motion of the North American and Caribbean Plates. The present geometry of part IIB of segment II is more consistent with the probable configuration of the trench about 7 Ma ago than with the present configuration, indicating that the North American plate is overriding the subduction zone. Appendices 2, 3, and 4 are available with entire article on microfiche. Order from American Geophysical Union, 2000 Florida Avenue, N.W., Washington, DC 20009. Document B84-009; $2.50.

Some earthquake sources are not double couples, i.e, they are not due solely to slip along a simple, planar fault surface. One possible explanation for such sources is that they occur because of source complexity, namely, they consist of simultaneous or time-separated double-couple subevents along different fault surfaces. For intermediate depth earthquakes consisting of only two subevents, we illustrate how non-double-couple earthquakes might occur (1) near the edges of subducting lithospheric slabs; or (2) in the interior of a slab if an earthquake with a downdip P (or T) axis triggers a “bending” subevent along the inside (outside) of the slab. We can choose between an edge, inside-bending or outside-bending interpretation by comparing the downdip direction of the Wadati-Benioff zone and the orientation of the moment tensor axes. While slip along a curved fault surface can produce a non-double-couple source, this can occur only for a limited class of slip and fault geometries. Non-double-couple sources can never be produced by double-couple subevents if (1) the subevents occur along parallel fault planes; (2) the subevents occur on a cylindrical fault surface, with slip due to rotation about the cylinder axis; or (3) the subevents occur on a cylindrical fault surface, with slip parallel to the axis.

Recent animal sensory literature has been analyzed to evaluate the plausibility of reports of unusual animal behavior prior to earthquakes. Some species of fish possess remarkable sensitivity to pressure waves with frequencies below 50 Hz, which would enable them to sense earthquakes at least 1 to 3 Richter Magnitudes smaller than those detectable by human beings. Fish also have organs which can detect slight movements of water, although the available experimental data do not allow us to determine quantitatively whether they are sensing accelerations of water or variations in water displacement. Thus observations of unusual behavior of fish before earthquakes may be explained if the fish are responding to small foreshocks.

We describe a new statistical method for identifying pairs or groups of related events in sequences which resemble, but are not identical to, a Poisson process. For a particular earthquake, we form the ratio r(Nb,Na) of the relative origin times of the Na th subsequent event and the Nb th previous event. We then find the probability that such a ratio could occur if the sequence were a Poisson process. Presumably, sequences where the ratio is too small to be probable contain related events, and the subsequent events are aftershocks. Since the method requires knowledge of the origin times of only a few preceding and subsequent events, it is more powerful than methods which require knowledge of the mean activity rate of the Poisson process. Using this ratios method, we searched the ISC catalog for aftershocks of earthquakes with focal depths exceeding 70 km. From the world as a whole, events with at least one aftershock can be found in all depth ranges, including 250 km to 450 km. However, the incidence of aftershocks is significantly lower for events between 100 and 450 km than for shallower or deeper events.

The maximum depth of seismic activity is a fundamental observation providing a constraint on models of mantle dynamics. Although most recent investigations of mantle seismicity and dynamics state that seismicity extends to “about 700 km,” focal depths of 720 km have been reported for large earthquakes, as well as depths greater than 800 km for small events. We have examined focal depths of events in several catalogs and conclude that (1) the deepest reliable focal depths are at about 670–680 km, and events with focal depths beneath 600 km occur in several widely separated geographic regions, (2) observations supporting focal depths exceeding 680 km are usually few, poor, or inconsistent, (3) the reduction of seismic activity beneath about 650 km is quite abrupt. However, we cannot determine whether activity stops completely at 670–680 km, or the maximum size of events decreases gradually beneath 650 km, with magnitudes of 6.5–7.0 occasionally occurring at 650 km, magnitudes of 5.5–6.0 at 680 km, 4.0–4.5 at 695 km, etc. Several models can explain the absence of seismic activity in the lower mantle. Two models are consistent with the abrupt termination of activity at about 650–680 km in widely separated areas: a barrier which resists penetration by the subducting lithosphere or a phase transition which modifies the properties of the subducted material as it goes into the lower mantle.

To determine whether reports of unusual animal behavior before earthquakes are plausible, we have compared these reports with recent laboratory studies of animal sensory thresholds. Our major conclusion is that some animals are much more capable than humans of perceiving certain kinds of geophysical stimuli which may precede earthquakes. These geophysical stimuli are seismic or acoustic waves at low frequency (below 50 Hz), electric field changes, and olfactory stimuli. For example, recent studies suggest that some birds and fish are more sensitive than humans to sounds with frequencies below 40 Hz, and many animals are exceptionally good at perceiving low-frequency vibrations through their skin. Certain fish are sensitive to electric field changes as small as 10−5 V/m, and some laboratory mammals also respond to significantly weaker fields than humans. For these electric and acoustic stimuli the reported levels of geophysical precursors are within the reported perceptible range of some animals which show unusual behavior prior to earthquakes. In addition, stimuli caused by the release of gases from small cracks may well be perceived by some animals before earthquakes. Recent research has confirmed the remarkable olfactory sensitivity of some animal species, but no quantitative comparisons with geochemical precursors can be made yet. We find no evidence that magnetic field precursors or precursory high-frequency (above 10 kHz) sounds are the cause of unusual animal behavior before earthquakes. Although some animals are highly sensitive to these stimuli, observed magnetic precursors tend to be of low amplitude amid relatively high noise levels, and high-frequency sound is severely attenuated within a short distance from the earthquake hypocenter. Knowledge of animal sensory capabilities may suggest an instrumental strategy for detecting earthquake precursors. We recommend further geophysical research in seismic areas to measure (1) seismic waves in the frequency range 10–50 Hz, (2) earthquake-related electric field changes and air ionization, and (3) coseismic or preseismic release of trapped gases other than radon. Further biological research can refine our understanding of (1) responses to sounds and vibrations with frequencies below 50 Hz, (2) the effects of electrical and electrostatic changes on animal behavior, (3) behavioral responses to odors, and (4) sensory capabilities of common domestic animals like horses, dogs, and chickens, which are seldom studied but commonly mentioned in the preearthquake reports.