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We used recent seismic data and advanced techniques to investigate 3D fault geometry over the transition from the partially coupled to the fully coupled plate interface inboard of the Nankai Trough off the Kii Peninsula, Japan. We found that a gently dipping plate boundary decollement with a thick underthrust layer extends beneath the entire Kumano forearc basin. The 1 April 2016 Off-Mie earthquake (Mw6.0) and its aftershocks occurred, where the plate boundary decollement steps down close to the oceanic crust surface. This location also lies beneath the trenchward edge of an older accretionary prism (∼14 Ma) developed along the coast of the Kii peninsula. The strike of the 2016 rupture plane was similar to that of a formerly active splay fault system in the accretionary prism. Thus, the fault planes of the 2016 earthquake and its aftershocks were influenced by the geometry of the plate interface as well as splay faulting. The 2016 earthquake occurred within the rupture area of large interplate earthquakes such as the 1944 Tonankai earthquake (Mw8.1), although the 2016 rupture area was much smaller than that of the 1944 event. Whereas the hypocenter of the 2016 earthquake was around the underplating sequence beneath the younger accretionary prism (∼6 Ma), the 1944 great earthquake hypocenter was close to oceanic crust surface beneath the older accretionary prism. The variation of fault geometry and lithology may influence the degree of coupling along the plate interface, and such coupling variation could hinder slip propagation toward the deeper plate interface in the 2016 event.

The M w 7.8 Ecuador earthquake on 16 April 2016 is the sixth earthquake larger than M w 7 to rupture the subduction megathrust between the Nazca and South American plates since the M w 8.8 Colombia–Ecuador earthquake in 1906. We use Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) images from Sentinel‐1A to determine coseismic surface displacements associated with this earthquake. The interferograms exhibit a relatively simple pattern of deformation, with maximum displacements of 0.7 and 0.3 m on the descending and ascending images, respectively. We invert the interferograms for both rupture geometry and slip distribution in the earthquake. We find that the data are best described by slip on a fault dipping 17° to the east and that these InSAR data cannot uniquely constrain the strike. The maximum inferred slip is just over 2.5 m at about 20 km depth, with the main slip in the depth range of about 10–25 km. The geodetic moment of our preferred slip model is 7.15×10 20 N·m, equivalent to M w 7.87. Our results suggest that there is little, if any, partitioning of the oblique plate convergence. The 2016 Ecuador earthquake is coincident with the location of the 1942 M w 7.8 earthquake, with both earthquakes most likely rupturing an asperity that also failed in the 1906 M w 8.8 earthquake.

This paper presents the results of reconstruction of the modern tectonic stress field of the northern part of the Kuril–Okhotsk region prior to the May 24, 2013 deep-focus earthquake. This earthquake is the strongest deep-focus earthquake not only in the Okhotsk region but also in the world over the entire period of seismic observations. The tectonic stress field is reconstructed using the method of cataclastic analysis (MCA) of the earthquake source mechanism data. New data on the depth variations of regional tectonic stress field are obtained.

Earthquakes in the Indo-Burmese wedge occur due to India-Sunda plate motion. These earthquakes generally occur at depth between 25 and 150 km and define an eastward gently dipping seismicity trend surface that coincides with the Indian slab. Although this feature mimics the subduction zone, the relative motion of Indian plate predominantly towards north, earthquake focal mechanisms suggest that these earthquakes are of intra-slab type which occur on steep plane within the Indian plate. The relative motion between the India and Sunda plates is accommodated at the Churachandpur-Mao fault (CMF) and Sagaing Fault. The 4 January 2016 Manipur earthquake (M 6.7) is one such earthquake which occurred 20 km west of the CMF at ∼60 km depth. Fortunately, this earthquake occurred in a very sparse population region with very traditional wooden frame houses and hence, the damage caused by the earthquake in the source region was very minimal. However, in the neighbouring Imphal valley, it caused some damage to the buildings and loss of eight lives. The damage in Imphal valley due to this and historical earthquakes in the region emphasizes the role of local site effect in the Imphal valley.

The 30 May 2015 Chichi-jima M8 earthquake is one of the largest deep focus earthquakes ever recorded and its depth of 682 km puts it near the base of the mantle transition zone. Before source mechanisms and slip models of this earthquake can be reliably assessed, a better understanding of the tectonic setting and structures of the region near the origin is required. Here we present evidence from receiver functions, a method of isolating subsurface material contrast with converted seismic waves, that the earthquake initiated within the upper mantle transition zone, above a significantly depressed 660 km phase boundary. Additionally, we observe multiple conversions within and below the transition zone, which we associate with seismic waves passing into and out of segments of the subducting Pacific plate. From this, we infer slab material is piling up at the base of the transition zone and segments are penetrating into the lower mantle.

The 2014 M w 7.9 Rat Islands intermediate-depth (∼107 km) earthquake is studied using seismic observations at teleseismic distances. The nodal plane with a steep-dip angle (87°) and a strike of 308° inferred from the Global CMT solution is selected as the causative fault plane because of the consistency with the distribution of the aftershocks relocated using the Joint Hypocenter Determination method. Its slip history is constrained using broadband P and SH waveforms and long-period (3–6 mHz) seismic waves in vertical and transverse components. The rupture process associated with this plane shows a rupture propagating at ∼2 km/s. The rupture essentially breaks one large slip patch (peak slip amplitude of 3.5 m) located 30 km west of the hypocenter. The size of this slip patch extends from 80 to 140 km depth, which would be the largest depth extent of earthquake slip ever documented. We show that this earthquake breaks the entire cold core of the subducting slab defined by the depth of the 600–650 °C isotherm. In addition, the lateral extent of the rupture appears to be bounded by the heterogeneities of subducting slab. Our results further indicate that, along this segment of Aleutian Arc, the intermediate-depth earthquakes might contribute to the westward transporting motion of Rat block. Lastly, the slip distribution of this earthquake as well as that of two other well studied M w > 7.5 intermediate-depth earthquakes suggests that the coldest portion of the subducting slab, outlined by the double Wadati–Benioff zone, is seismic during large intermediate-depth earthquakes. Such a result is important for estimating the seismic hazard of future large intermediate-depth earthquakes.

The existence of earthquakes within continental lithospheric mantle remains a highly controversial topic. Here, we present a detailed set of seismological analyses confirming the occurrence of a mantle earthquake beneath the Wind River Range of central Wyoming. Combining regional waveform inversion with the analysis of the delay and relative amplitudes of teleseismically-observed depth phases, we demonstrate that the 2013 Wind River earthquake – a M W 4.7 highly-oblique thrust-faulting event – occurred at 75 ± 8 km , well beneath the base of the crust. The magnitude, mechanism, and location of this earthquake suggest that it represents simple brittle failure at relatively high temperatures within the mantle lithosphere, as a result of tectonic, rather than magmatic, processes.

Constraints on the recurrence times of subduction zone earthquakes are important for seismic hazard assessment and mitigation. Models of such megathrust earthquakes often assume that subduction zones are segmented and earthquakes occur quasi-periodically owing to constant tectonic loading. Here we analyse the occurrence of small earthquakes compared to larger ones—the b-values—on a 1,000-km-long section of the subducting Pacific Plate beneath central and northern Japan since 1998. We find that the b-values vary spatially and mirror the tectonic regime. For example, high b-values, indicative of low stress, occur in locations characterized by deep magma chambers and low b-values, or high stress, occur where the subducting and overriding plates are strongly coupled. There is no significant variation in the low b-values to suggest the plate interface is segmented in a way that might limit potential ruptures. Parts of the plate interface that ruptured during the 2011 Tohoku-oki earthquake were highly stressed in the years leading up to the earthquake. Although the stress was largely released during the 2011 rupture, we find that the stress levels quickly recovered to pre-quake levels within just a few years. We conclude that large earthquakes may not have a characteristic location, size or recurrence interval, and might therefore occur more randomly distributed in time. The 2011 Tohoku-oki earthquake released stress within a subduction zone. Analysis of seismic data shows that stresses returned to pre-quake levels within a few years, implying that large quakes could occur more often than previously thought.

Earthquake activities along the Sumatra-Andaman Subduction Zone (SASZ) were clarified using the derived frequency-magnitude distribution in terms of the (i) most probable maximum magnitudes, (ii) return periods and (iii) probabilities of earthquake occurrences. The northern segment of SASZ, along the western coast of Myanmar to southern Nicobar, was found to be capable of generating an earthquake of magnitude 6.1–6.4 Mw in the next 30–50 years, whilst the southern segment of offshore of the northwestern and western parts of Sumatra (defined as a high hazard region) had a short recurrence interval of 6-12 and 10-30 years for a 6.0 and 7.0 Mw magnitude earthquake, respectively, compared to the other regions. Throughout the area along the SASZ, there are 70– almost 100% probabilities of the earthquake with Mw up to 6.0 might be generated in the next 50 years whilst the northern segment had less than 50% chance of occurrence of a 7.0 Mw earthquake in the next 50 year. Although Rangoon was defined as the lowest hazard among the major city in the vicinity of SASZ, there is 90% chance of a 6.0 Mw earthquake in the next 50 years. Therefore, the effective mitigation plan of seismic hazard should be contributed.

Earthquakes deep in the continental lithosphere are rare and hard to interpret in our current understanding of temperature control on brittle failure. The recent lithospheric mantle earthquake with a moment magnitude of 4.8 at a depth of ~75 km in the Wyoming Craton was exceptionally well recorded and thus enabled us to probe the cause of these unusual earthquakes. On the basis of complete earthquake energy balance estimates using broadband waveforms and temperature estimates using surface heat flow and shear wave velocities, we argue that this earthquake occurred in response to ductile deformation at temperatures above 750°C. The high stress drop, low rupture velocity, and low radiation efficiency are all consistent with a dissipative mechanism. Our results imply that earthquake nucleation in the lithospheric mantle is not exclusively limited to the brittle regime; weakening mechanisms in the ductile regime can allow earthquakes to initiate and propagate. This finding has significant implications for understanding deep earthquake rupture mechanics and rheology of the continental lithosphere., National Science Foundation (U.S.) (EAR-1521534), National Science Foundation (U.S.) (EAR-1261681)

The systematic behavior of earthquake rupture as a function of earthquake magnitude and/or tectonic setting is a key in our understanding of the physical mechanisms involved during earthquake rupture. Geophysical evidence suggests that although deep earthquakes—including intermediate-depth and deep—are similar to shallow ones, the mechanism involved during deep earthquakes is different from that of shallow ones. In particular, the magnitude and depth dependence of scaled duration, a measure of earthquake rupture duration, has led to controversy of what controls deep earthquake behavior. Here we estimate scaled source durations for 600 intermediate-depth and deep-focus earthquakes recorded at teleseismic distances and show deviation from self-similar scaling. No depth dependence is observed which we interpret as due to little differences between intermediate-depth and deep-focus earthquake mechanisms. The data show no correlation between durations and plate age or thermal parameters, suggesting that the thermal properties of the plate have little effect on source durations. We nevertheless report differences in average source duration and scaling between subduction zones and along-strike variations of source durations that more closely resemble the geometry of subduction (flat or steep subduction) rather than plate age.

The great Sanhe-Pinggu M8 earthquake occurred in 1679 was the largest surface rupture event recorded in history in the northern part of North China plain. This study determines the fault geometry of this earthquake by inverting seismological data of present-day moderate-small earthquakes in the focal area. We relocated those earthquakes with the double-difference method. Based on the assumption that clustered small earthquakes often occur in the vicinity of fault plane of large earthquake, and referring to the morphology of the long axis of the isoseismal line obtained by the predecessors, we selected a strip-shaped zone from the relocated earthquake catalog in the period from 1980 to 2009 to invert fault plane parameters of this earthquake. The inversion results are as follows: the strike is 38.23°, the dip angle is 82.54°, the slip angle is −156.08°, the fault length is about 80 km, the lower-boundary depth is about 23 km and the buried depth of upper boundary is about 3 km. This shows that the seismogenic fault is a NNE-trending normal dip-slip fault, southeast wall downward and northwest wall uplift, with the right-lateral strike-slip component. Moreover, the surface rupture zone, intensity distribution of the earthquake and seismic-wave velocity profile in the focal area all verified our study result.

After the occurrence of the 2011 magnitude 9 Tohoku earthquake, the seismicity in the overriding plate changed. The seismicity appears to form distinct belts. From the spatiotemporal distribution of hypocenters, we can quantify the evolution of seismicity after the 2011 Tohoku earthquake. In some earthquake swarms near Sendai (Nagamachi-Rifu fault), Moriyoshi-zan volcano, Senya fault, and the Yamagata–Fukushima border (Aizu-Kitakata area, west of Azuma volcano), we can observe temporal expansion of the focal area. This temporal expansion is attributed to fluid diffusion. Observed diffusivity would correspond to the permeability of about 10−15 (m2). We can detect the area from which fluid migrates as a seismic low-velocity area. In the lower crust, we found seismic low-velocity areas, which appear to be elongated along N–S or NE–SW, the strike of the island arc. These seismic low-velocity areas are located not only beneath the volcanic front but also beneath the fore-arc region. Seismic activity in the upper crust tends to be high above these low-velocity areas in the lower crust. Most of the shallow earthquakes after the 2011 Tohoku earthquake are located above the seismic low-velocity areas. We thus suggest fluid pressure changes are responsible for the belts of seismicity.

The deformation of the North Aegean Sea is mainly controlled by the westernmost segments of North Anatolian Fault System. On 8 January 2013, a moderate earthquake (Mw=5.7) occurred in the North Aegean Sea. A series of aftershocks were occurred within four months following the mainshock, which have magnitudes varying from Ml=0.9 to 5.0. We have obtained a total of 23 earthquake moment tensor solutions that belong to the 2013 earthquake sequence. The source of this earthquake sequence is a N75 degrees E trending pure dextral strike-slip fault. The temporal and spatial distribution of the earthquakes indicate that the rupture unilaterally propagates from SW to NE. The stress tensor analysis shows that the direction of the regional compressive stress is WNW-ESE. The 1968 Aghios earthquake (Ms=7.3) and the 2013 North Aegean Sea earthquake sequences indicate that the regional stress has been transferred from SW to NE in this region. The 1672 Bozcaada earthquake (M=7.0) had been occurred to the north-east of the 2013 earthquake sequence. The elapsed time (342year) and the regional stress transfer point out that the 1672 earthquake segment is probably a seismic gap and it is a potential earthquake hazard for this region.

From 2011 to 2012, we conducted marine seismic surveys using a multichannel seismic reflection (MCS) system and ocean bottom seismometers (OBSs) in and around the hypocentral region of the 1983 Nihonkai–Chubu earthquake. The survey covered the area from the Japan coast of the Japan Sea to the Yamato Basin and the Japan Basin. We investigated the relationship between the Nihonkai–Chubu earthquake and the crustal structure obtained from seismic reflection imaging and the P-wave velocity structure near the hypocentral region. The focus in the present paper is on seismic data that were acquired using both the MCS system and OBSs. Based on the results, the crustal structure of the Japan Sea around the hypocentral region of the 1983 Nihonkai–Chubu earthquake is divided into three types: island arc crust, thick oceanic crust, and oceanic crust. The Nihonkai–Chubu earthquake occurred near the boundary between the thick oceanic crust and the island arc crust. There is a strong possibility that the east-dipping reflector detected in the crust was the source fault of the Nihonkai–Chubu earthquake. In addition, the location of anticlines formed by the east-dipping reverse fault occurring in the boundary of the crustal structure associated with the source fault of the Nihonkai–Chubu earthquake was confirmed in the range of latitude from 39 ° 20 ′ to 41 ° 15 ′ N , although they were not found south of this segment. There is also a concentrated area of reverse faults and folds approximately 100 km west of the source region of the Nihonkai–Chubu earthquake. This area is located near the boundary between the thick oceanic crust and the oceanic crust.

Studies of slow earthquakes during the last decade have suggested a relationship between various types of earthquakes occurring at the interface between subducting oceanic plates and overlying continental plates. Such a relationship has been postulated for slow earthquakes, which are distributed between the stable sliding zone and the locked zone, and megathrust earthquakes, which are located in the locked zone. The adjacency of the respective sources of slow and megathrust earthquakes suggests expected interactions between these two types of earthquakes. Observed interactions between different types of slow earthquakes located at neighbor area suggest a common triggering mechanism in the seismogenic zone. Also, it is expected that stress accumulations in the locked zone should influence stress regimes in surrounding regions; thus, slow earthquake activity in the stable sliding zone may change in response to stress build-up in the locked zone. Numerical simulations reproducing both megathrust and slow earthquakes show a shortening of the recurrence interval between slow earthquake episodes leading up to the occurrence of a megathrust earthquake. Similarities between the activities of slow and megathrust earthquakes, such as those related to periodicity and patterns of multisegment ruptures, are useful for understanding megathrust earthquakes, particularly given the higher frequency of occurrence of slow earthquakes. From this perspective, the continuous and accurate monitoring of slow earthquake activity is important for evaluating the occurrence potential of megathrust earthquakes.

[1] Large intermediate-depth, intraslab normal-faulting earthquakes are a common, dangerous, but poorly understood phenomenon in subduction zones owing to a paucity of near-field geophysical observations. Seismological and high-quality geodetic observations of the 2013 Mw7.7 Khash, Iran earthquake reveal that at least half of the oceanic lithosphere, including the mantle and entire crust, ruptured in a single earthquake, confirming with unprecedented resolution that large earthquakes can nucleate in and rupture through the oceanic mantle. A rupture width of at least 55 km is required to explain both Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar observations and teleseismic waveforms, with the majority of slip occurring in the oceanic mantle. Combining our well-constrained earthquake slip distributions with the causative fault orientation and geometry of the local subduction zone, we hypothesize that the Khash earthquake likely occurred as the combined result of slab-bending forces and dehydration of hydrous minerals along a preexisting fault formed prior to subduction.

An earthquake of magnitude 7.3 Mw occurred on 18th January 2011 in Southwestern Pakistan, Baluchistan province (Dalbadin Region). The area has complex tectonics due to interaction of Indian, Eurasian and Arabian plates. Both thrust and strike slip earthquakes are dominant in this region with minor, localized normal faulting events. This earthquake under consideration (Dalbadin Earthquake) posed constraints in depth and focal parameters due to lack of data for evaluation of parameters from Pakistan, Iran or Afghanistan region. Normal faulting mechanism has been proposed by many researchers for this earthquake. In the present study the earthquake was relocated using the technique of travel time residuals. Relocated coordinates and depth were utilized to calculate the focal mechanism solution with outcome of a dominant strike slip mechanism, which is contrary to normal faulting. Relocated coordinates and resulting mechanism are more reliable than many reporting agencies as evaluation in this study is augmented by data from local seismic monitoring network of Pakistan. The tectonics in the area is governed by active subduction along the Makran Subduction Zone. This particular earthquake has strike slip mechanism due to breaking of subducting oceanic plate. This earthquake is located where oceanic lithosphere is subducting along with relative movements between Lut and Helmand blocks. Magnitude of this event i.e. Mw = 7.3, re evaluated depth and a previous study of mechanism of earthquake in same region ( Shafiq et al., 2011 ) also supports the strike slip movement.

A sequence of 98 teleseismically recorded earthquakes occurred off the east coast of Kamchatka at depths between 10-90 km around latitude 52.5°N and longitude 160°E on May 16–23, 2013. The swarm occurred along the northern limit of the rupture area of the 1952 Mw 9.0 great Kamchatka earthquake, the fifth largest earthquake in the history of seismic observations. On May 24, 2013 the strongest deep earthquake ever recorded of Mw 8.3 occurred beneath the Sea of Okhotsk at a depth of 610 km in the Pacific slab of the Kamchatka subduction zone, becoming the northernmost deep earthquake in the region. The deep Mw 8.3 earthquake occurred down-dip of the shallow swarm in a transition zone between the southern deep and northern shallow segments of the Pacific slab. Several deep aftershocks followed, covering a large, laterally elongated part of the slab. We suppose that the two described earthquake sequences, the May 16–23 shallow earthquake swarm and the May 24–28 deep mainshock-aftershock series, represent a single tectonic event in the Pacific slab having distinct properties at different depth levels. A low-angle underthrusting of the shallow part of the slab recorded by the shallow earthquake swarm activated the deep part; this process induced the deep mainshock-aftershock series only three days after the swarm. The domain of the subducting slab activated by the May 2013 earthquake occurrence was extraordinarily large both down-dip and along-strike.

The 2011 Tohoku earthquake occurred via subduction of an oceanic tectonic plate, where we had no historical record of this size of earthquake. We have examined shipboard geophysical observations conducted above the rupture area for any indications before the earthquake. The location of the largest slip along the fault surface coincides with gravity changes measured at the sea surface separated by three months all before the earthquake. This gravity change cannot be explained by the local gravity gradient due to bathymetry along the cruise tracks. The measured gravity changes can be interpreted either as an uplift of ocean bottom or a density increase along the fault surface of which the time scale of evolution is about 3 months. This observation may constrain the physical mechanism by which this large and slow slip can be generated along this fault.

Following the Mw7.9 Wenchuan earthquake, the Mw6.6 Lushan earthquake is another devastating earthquake that struck the Longmenshan Fault Zone (LFZ) and caused severe damages. In this study, we collected continuous broadband ambient noise seismic data and earthquake event data from Chinese provincial digital seismic network, and then utilized ambient noise tomography method and receiver function method to obtain high resolution shear wave velocity structure, crustal thickness, and Poisson ratio in the earthquake source region and its surroundings. Based on the tomography images and the receiver function results, we further analyzed the deep seismogenic environment of the LFZ and its neighborhood. We reveal three main findings: (1) There is big contrast of the shear wave velocities across the LFZ. (2) Both the Lushan earthquake and the Wenchuan earthquake occurred in the regions where crustal shear wave velocity and crustal thickness change dramatically. The rupture faults and the aftershock zones are also concentrated in the areas where the lateral gradients of crustal seismic wave speed and crustal thickness change significantly, and the focal depths of the earthquakes are concentrated in the transitional depths where shear wave velocities change dramatically from laterally uniform to laterally non-uniform. (3) The Wenchuan earthquake and its aftershocks occurred in low Poisson ratio region, while the Lushan earthquake sequences are located in high Poisson ratio zone. We proposed that the effect of the dramatic lateral variation of shear wave velocity, and the gravity potential energy differences caused by the big contrast in the topography and the crustal thickness across the LFZ may constitute the seismogenic environment for the strong earthquakes in the LFZ, and the Poisson ratio difference between the rocks in the south and north segments of the Longmenshan Fault zone may explain the 5 years delay of the occurrence of the Lushan earthquake than the Wenchuan earthquake.

We present results for joint kinematic inversion of high-rate GPS, strong motion and InSAR data for the 2016 M7.6 Melinka earthquake. We show that the source is a compact 35 s long rupture with 5.0 ± 0.15 m of peak slip. We find the Melinka earthquake occurs inside the slip region for the 1960 M9.5 Valdivia earthquake and within the highly locked portion of the megathrust inferred from inter-seismic velocity analysis. We show that there is very modest post-seismic deformation at a nearby GPS site QLLN and argue that this indicates the Melinka earthquake ruptures within the intermediate portion of the megathrust and is an isolated asperity surrounded by locked velocity weakening material. Further we find that the peak slip observed during this earthquake is larger than what has been accumulated in the intervening 57 years since the 1960 rupture and conclude that, at least in the area of the Melinka earthquake, this is indicates that the 1960 Valdivia event might not have used all the slip deficit available on the megathrust.

A M s6.4 earthquake occurred at Linkou country, Heilongjiang Province (44.8°N, 129.9°E) on January 2, 2016 at a depth of 580 km. Pre-seismic gravity anomalies obtained at a 1 Hz sampling rate from Crustal Movement Observation Network of China (CMONOC) are analyzed after the earthquake. The results show that: (1) different from previous studies, both pre-seismic amplitude perturbation and co-seismic amplitude perturbation are not critical inversely proportional to epicentral distance; (2) unlike shallow earthquake, the pre-seismic and co-seismic amplitude perturbation of gravity illustrate synchronous spatial variation characters with decrease of epicentral distance for Linkou earthquake. This may because Linkou earthquake is a deep earthquake and occurred in Pacific Plate subduction zone; (3) compared to basement and semi-basement, cave can provide a better observation environment for gPhone gravimeter to detect pre-seismic gravity anomalies.

The 2005 M-w 7.8 Tarapaca earthquake was the result of normal faulting on a west-dipping plane at a depth of similar to 90 km within the subducting slab down-dip of the North Chilean gap that partially ruptured in the 2014 M 8.2 Iquique earthquake. We use Envisat observations of nearly four years of postseismic deformation following the earthquake, together with some survey GPS measurements, to investigate the viscoelastic relaxation response of the surrounding upper mantle to the coseismic stress. We constrain the rheological structure by testing various 3D models, taking into account the vertical and lateral heterogeneities in viscosity that one would expect in a subduction zone environment. A viscosity of 4-8 x 10(18) Pa s for the continental mantle asthenosphere fits both InSAR line-of-sight (LOS) and GPS horizontal displacements reasonably well. In order to test whether the Tarapaca earthquake and associated postseismic relaxation could have triggered the 2014 Iquique sequence, we computed the Coulomb stress change induced by the co- and postseismic deformation following the Tarapaca earthquake on the megathrust interface and nodal planes of its M 6.7 foreshock. These static stress calculations show that the Tarapaca earthquake may have an indirect influence on the Iquique earthquake, via loading of the M 6.7 preshock positively. We demonstrate the feasibility of using deep intraslab earthquakes to constrain subduction zone rheology. Continuing geodetic observation following the 2014 Iquique earthquake may further validate the rheological parameters obtained here. (C) 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

[1] Intense swarm-like seismicity associated with shallow normal faulting was induced in Ibaraki and Fukushima prefectures, Japan, following the 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake. This seismicity shows a systematic spatiotemporal evolution, but little is known of the heterogeneity in crustal structure in this region, or its influence on the evolution of the seismicity. Here, we elucidate a high-resolution model of crustal structure in this region and determine precise hypocenter locations. Hypocenters in Ibaraki Prefecture reveal a planar earthquake alignment dipping SW at ~45°, whereas those in Fukushima Prefecture show a more complex distribution, consisting of conjugate sets of aligned small earthquakes. On the north of the hypocenter of the largest earthquake in the sequence (the M7.0 Iwaki earthquake), we imaged a high-velocity body at shallow depths that lacks aftershock seismicity. Based on fault source models, the large-slip region of the Iwaki earthquake is situated along a zone that roughly coincides with this high-velocity body. We delineated a separate low-velocity anomaly directly beneath the hypocenter of the Iwaki earthquake, indicating crustal fluids in this region. We hypothesize that strong crust underwent structural failure due to the infiltration of crustal fluids into the seismogenic zone from deeper levels, causing the Iwaki earthquake.

The 2016 Ecuador M _W 7.8 earthquake ruptured the subduction zone boundary between the Nazca and South American plates. Joint modeling of seismic and tsunami observations indicates an ∼120 km long rupture area beneath the coastline north of the 1998 M_W 7.2 rupture. The slip distribution reveals two discrete asperities near the hypocenter and around the equator. Their locations and the patchy pattern are consistent with the prior interseismic geodetic strain, which showed highly locked patches also beneath the coastline. Aftershocks cluster along two streaks, one aligned nearly parallel to the plate convergence direction up-dip of the main slip patches, and the other on a trench-perpendicular lineation south of the 1958 rupture zone. Comparisons of seismic waveforms and magnitudes show that the 2016 event and 1942 earthquakes have similar surface wave magnitude M_S 7.5), overlapping rupture areas, and similar main pulses of moment rate. The same area ruptured as the southernmost portion of the larger earthquake of 1906 (M_W 8.6, M_S 8.6). The seismic behavior reflects persistent heterogeneous frictional properties of the Colombia–Ecuador megathrust.

We integrated a regional tomography model, 20-year seismicity and earthquake focal mechanisms of the 4 March 2010 M L 6.4 Jiashian earthquake source region to delineate the seismogenic structure and mechanics of a relatively rare damaging inland earthquake that occurred in the southwestern fold-and-thrust belt of Taiwan. The main shock of the Jiashian earthquake occurred at a depth of 23 km beneath the slate belt of the southern Central Range with a sinistral thrust mechanism. Based on seismic tomography and seismicity, the Jiashian earthquake sequence occurred in the Chishan transfer fault zone, which we interpret to be located near the transition zone between the subducted Eurasian plate to the south and the arc–continent Taiwan collision to the north. The distribution of the Jiashian aftershocks define a WNW-ESE striking fault plane that dips 30–40° NNE which is consistent with the optimal fault plane of the GPS-derived coseismic slip model. Focal mechanisms and inverted stress results of the earthquake sequence indicate both thrust and strike–slip motions with the maximum compressive stress at nearly 90° to the regional compressive stress and thus sub-parallel to the strike of the Taiwan orogen. We propose that the 2010 Jiashian earthquake resulted from rupturing of a buried oblique fault within the Chishan transfer fault zone at the subduction–collision transition zone in southern Taiwan. The orogen-parallel P-axis of the 2010 Jiashian earthquake represents collision-related lateral compression, although a local stress deviation is also possible.

article The physical mechanism of intermediate-depth earthquakes is still under debate. In contrast to conditions in the crust and shallow lithosphere, at temperatures and pressures corresponding to depths >50 km, rocks ought to yield by creep or flow rather than brittle failure. Some physical process has to enable brittle or brittle-like failure for intermediate-depth earthquakes. The two leading candidates for that are dehydration embrittlement and ther- mal shear runaway. Given their great depth, intermediate-depth earthquake processes can't be observed direct- ly.Insteadwe must relyona combination ofseismologyand thestudy of laboratory analogs tounderstand them. Earthquake nests are regions of highly concentrated seismicity that are isolated from nearby activity. In this paper we focus on three intermediate-depth earthquake nests — Vrancea, Hindu Kush and Bucaramanga, and what they reveal about the mechanics of intermediate-depth earthquakes. We review published studies of tectonic setting, focal mechanisms, precise earthquake locations and earthquake source physics at these locations, with an emphasis on the Bucaramanga nest. All three nests are associated with subducting litho- sphere and at least two of the nests have consistently larger stress drops compared to shallow seismicity. In contrast, the Bucaramanga nest has a larger b-value, larger variability of focal mechanisms and shows no evidence of aftershock sequences unlike the other two. We also report for the first time finding a signifi- cant number of repeating earthquakes, some with reverse polarity.

We have done seismic tomography in and around the focal area of the 2008 Iwate-Miyagi Nairiku Earthquake (M 7.2) occurred on June 14, 2008 in NE Japan. We used data from temporary aftershock observation network deployed just after the occurrence of the present earthquake. Based on the distribution of aftershocks, the fault plane of the mainshock is inferred to dip to the west. Small immediate foreshocks and preceding seismic activity in 1999–2000 on the fault plane in the vicinity of the hypocenter of the mainshock of this earthquake were observed. Lower-seismic-velocity hanging wall can be imaged in the central and the northern part of the focal area. This possibly suggests the present earthquake is a compressional inversion earthquake. The low-velocity zone in the lower crust extends upward to the upper crust, branches into three portions and reaches each active volcano. This low-velocity region can be seen just beneath the mainshock hypocenter and the whole focal area, suggesting that crustal fluid possibly promote the occurrence of the 2008 earthquake.

On 23 July 2010, at 17:24 coordinated universal time (13:24 local time), a Nuttli magnitude ( m N ) 4.1 ( M w 3.5) earthquake occurred near Laurier‐Station, Quebec, approximately 40 km southwest of Quebec City, Quebec. The earthquake was widely felt by most people within 50 km of the epicenter and by some up to 170 km. The event had an oblique thrust mechanism at a depth of approximately 23.5 km. This focal depth indicates that the earthquake occurred in the Precambrian basement, much deeper than the 6‐km‐thick sedimentary layers at the surface. The earthquake could represent a reactivation of one of the regional normal faults imaged in the magnetic field and on reflection profiles. The immediate epicentral region is not very seismically active, and for this reason, the question arose as to whether local deep natural gas storage or shale gas hydraulic fracturing close to the area could have triggered the earthquake. The only aftershock‐recorded m N 2.1 was within 2 hours of the mainshock and took place before a field instrument was in place. Based mainly on the mid‐crustal focal depth of the earthquake, our study shows that the earthquake is not linked to the near‐surface natural gas storage or to the shale gas hydraulic fracturing in the area.

The 2001 Bhuj earthquake took place in a region away from the active plate boundaries, which qualifies this earthquake to be a typical intraplate event that claimed a death toll of 20,000 people. The aftershock sequence of this earthquake is still continuing for the last eleven years, which makes this aftershock sequence as a unique intraplate earthquake sequence in the world. This sequence is being monitored by a close digital seismic network consisting of 5–12 three-component broadband seismographs and 10–20 accelerographs that led to a homogeneous earthquake catalog consisting of precise and accurate estimates of hypocentral and source parameters. This catalog enabled us to examine the evolution of this earthquake sequence. Our study reveals a few interconnected regularities in the rate of earthquake occurrence, b-values, fractal dimensions, stress drops, and the mean earthquake depth values. We observe that a slow decrease in background seismic activity and a number of bursts in seismic activity characterize the 2001 Bhuj earthquake sequence. We also notice that the background seismic activity is associated with a monotonic decrease in the mean earthquake depth values while the bursts in seismic activity are found to be associated with a decrease in fractal dimension, b-value and mean earthquake depth estimates, and an increase in stress drop values. We propose that these bursts in seismic activity are related to the episodes of break in deep fluid circulation in the direction of the Earth's surface. The effective background permeability of the mid-crust in the 2001 Bhuj earthquake region is evaluated to be about k ≈ 10 − 13 m 2 based on the estimates of changes in mean earthquake depth. Thus, we infer that seismogenesis of the 2001 Bhuj earthquake sequence is probably connected with active deep fluid circulation underlying the Kachchh seismic zone.

Rock is weak to shear-stress and the energy released by the 26th December, 2004, M ≈ 9.2 Sumatra–Andaman Earthquake, the largest earthquake for four decades, must have accumulated over enormous volumes of crust and mantle, certainly plate-wide, possibly world-wide. Here we report evidence for plate-wide stress accumulation. Changes in seismic shear-wave splitting monitor stress-induced changes in the geometry of the microcrack distributions in almost all rocks in the Earth’s crust. Such changes observed in Iceland show stress-accumulation beginning at least four years before the Sumatra–Andaman Earthquake. These changes were recognised as monitoring stress-accumulation before an impending large earthquake and 10 ‘stress-forecasts’ were emailed to Iceland Meteorological Office for some 29 months forecasting an impending large earthquake. The remarkable sensitivity of critical-systems of microcrack geometry to miniscule changes of stress had not been recognised at that time and the stress-accumulation was expected to lead to a M ⩾ 7 earthquake somewhere in Iceland. Only now is it recognised that the changes in shear-wave splitting were monitoring stress-accumulation which would eventually lead to the Sumatra–Andaman Earthquake at a distance of some 10,500 km on the opposite side of the Eurasian Plate. This extreme sensitivity confirms the critical nature of fluid-saturated stress-aligned microcracks in the Earth’s crust.

We simulate the propagation of earthquake waves in the continental margin of Antarctica using the elastic wave modeling algorithm, which is modified to be suitable for acoustic-elastic coupled media and earthquake source. To simulate the various types of earthquake source, the staggered-grid finite-difference method, which is composed of velocity-stress formulae, can be more appropriate to use than the conventional, displacement-based, finite-difference method. We simulate the elastic wave propagation generated by earthquakes combining 3D staggered-grid finite-difference algorithm composed of displacement-velocity-stress formulae with double couple mechanisms for earthquake source. Through numerical tests for left-lateral strike-slip fault, normal fault and reverse fault, we could confirm that the first arrival of P waves at the surface is in a good agreement with the theoretically-predicted results based on the focal mechanism of an earthquake. Numerical results for a model made after the subduction zone in the continental margin of Antarctica showed that earthquake waves, generated by the reverse fault and propagating through the continental crust, the oceanic crust and the ocean, are accurately described.

Shallow seismic activity in the crust of the overriding plate west of the source area increased significantly after the 2011 Mw 9.0 Tohoku earthquake which ruptured the plate boundary to the east off northern Japan beneath the Pacific Ocean. In order to understand the cause of this distinctive change in seismicity, we have precisely relocated earthquake hypocenters for several earthquake sequences that occurred during the period March 11–April 6, 2011, following the Tohoku earthquake by the double-difference method. Hypocenter distributions were used to discriminate the fault plane from the auxiliary plane of the focal mechanisms for those earthquake sequences. We then calculated the Coulomb stress change on those fault planes caused by the 2011 Mw 9 earthquake. In all cases, the estimated Coulomb stress changes at the plausible fault planes for those post-mainshock sequences are positive. The positive Coulomb stress change is mainly due to the reduction of normal stress on the fault plane of the earthquake sequences by the large, low-angle thrust fault responsible for the 2011 Mw 9 earthquake. The present observations suggest that static stress transfer possibly triggered those post-mainshock earthquake sequences.

The recent 10 August 2009 Coco earthquake (Mw 7.5), the largest aftershock of the giant 2004 Sumatra Andaman earthquake, occurred within the subducting India plate under the Burma plate. The Coco earthquake nucleated near the northwestern edge of the 2004 Sumatra-Andaman earthquake rupture under the unruptured updip segment of the plate boundary interface. The earthquake with predominant normal motion on approximately north-south to northeast-southwest oriented plane is very similar to the 27 June 2008 Little Andaman earthquake which occurred in the South Andaman region near the trench. We provide the only available estimate of coseismic offset due to the 2009 Coco earthquake at a survey-mode GPS site in the north Andaman, located about 60 km south of the Coco earthquake epicentre. The not so large coseismic displacement of about 2 cm in the ESE direction is consistent with the earthquake focal mechanism and its magnitude. We suggest that, like the 2008 Little Andaman earthquake, this earthquake too occurred on one of the approximately north-south to northeast-southwest oriented steep planes of the obliquely subducting 90°E ridge which was reactivated in normal motion after subduction, under the favourable influence of coseismic and ongoing postseismic deformation due to the 2004 Sumatra-Andaman earthquake. Another notable feature of this earthquake is its relatively low aftershock productivity. We suggest that the earthquake occurred very close to the aseismic region of the Irrawaddy frontal arc of very low seismicity where pre-existing faults are not so critically stressed and because of which the earthquake could trigger only a few aftershocks in its immediate vicinity.

We use the movement velocities of GPS stations in western Sichuan province, China, to determine the distribution of horizontal strain accumulation before the 2008 Wenchuan Ms8.0 earthquake with a piecewise approximation approach and the coseismic displacements to determine the fault slips of the earthquake with an inversion analysis method. The results show that the distribution of the principal strain rates is strongly related to the active faults in the region, but along Longmenshan fault where the earthquake occurred, the strain rates are much lower than the others. The fault slip distribution shows mainly a thrusting with dextral striking, and the fault slips in the upper parts of the fault plane are in general bigger. Using the current strain accumulation rate and the released energy by the earthquake, we predict such a big earthquake in Longmenshan fault zone will happen in 460 to 1380 years.

The 1914 Akita-Senboku earthquake was investigated using seismic intensity data estimated from damage records to clarify their magnitudes and source areas related to short-period seismic waves. We evaluated the most appropriate fault model of the Akita-Senboku earthquake on the basis of grid search analysis and other existing research works such as hypocenter distribution of micro earthquakes and S-wave velocity perturbations [Okada et al. (2010)]. The seismic intensity inversion analysis for the Akita-Senboku earthquake assuming an east-dipping fault model (depth: 6-13 km) indicated that the short-period radiation zone was located in the north and deep part of the fault plane and there was a low S-wave velocity zone in the lower crust beneath it. The magnitude of 6.5.6.6 yielded the least evaluation error. The magnitude was also estimated from the area of seismic intensity .ve-lower or more using empirical relationship [Muramatsu (1969)]. It resulted in M=6.6.∼6.7 and reinforced the accuracy of the intensity inversion result. It is concluded that the magnitude of the Akita-Senboku earthquake should be considerably less than M=7.1 after Utsu (1979) even if considering the estimation error. The 1896 Rikuu earthquake was also analyzed to be compared with the Akita-Senboku’s results and to consider their dieffrences. The fault location of the Rikuu earthquake was already identi.ed from surface faults. We assumed two conjugate faults for the northern fault zone of the eastern margin of the Mahiru mountains and the northern fault zone of the eastern margin of the Yokote basin. The most appropriate magnitude was estimated to be M=7.1, which is equivalent to that after Utsu (1979). Therefore, our results indicate that the Rikuu earthquake was considerably larger than the Akita-Senboku earthquake. The short-period radiation zone of the Rikuu earthquake, which might be less accurate due to the lack of intensity data compared to the Akita-Senboku earthquake, was located in shallow zone at the intersection of two conjugate faults. This location contrasts with that of the Akita-Senboku earthquake without surface faults.

SUMMARY Earthquake source parameter determination is of great importance for hazard assessment, as well as for a variety of scientific studies concerning regional stress and strain release and volcano-tectonic interaction. This is especially true for poorly instrumented, densely populated regions such as encountered in Africa, where even the distribution of seismicity remains poorly documented. In this paper, we combine data from satellite radar interferometry (InSAR) and teleseismic waveforms to determine the source parameters of the Mw 5.9 earthquake that occurred on 2008 February 3 near the cities of Bukavu (DR Congo) and Cyangugu (Rwanda). This was the second largest earthquake ever to be recorded in the Kivu basin, a section of the western branch of the East African Rift (EAR). This earthquake is of particular interest due to its shallow depth and proximity to active volcanoes and Lake Kivu, which contains high concentrations of dissolved carbon dioxide and methane. The shallow depth and possible similarity with dyking events recognized in other parts of EAR suggested the potential association of the earthquake with a magmatic intrusion, emphasizing the necessity of accurate source parameter determination. In general, we find that estimates of fault plane geometry, depth and scalar moment are highly consistent between teleseismic and InSAR studies. Centroid-moment-tensor (CMT) solutions locate the earthquake near the southern part of Lake Kivu, while InSAR studies place it under the lake itself. CMT solutions characterize the event as a nearly pure double-couple, normal faulting earthquake occurring on a fault plane striking 350° and dipping 52° east, with a rake of –101°. This is consistent with locally mapped faults, as well as InSAR data, which place the earthquake on a fault striking 355° and dipping 55° east, with a rake of –98°. The depth of the earthquake was constrained by a joint analysis of teleseismic P and SH waves and the CMT data set, showing that the earthquake occurred in the shallow crust, at approximately 8 km depth. Inversions of ENVISAT (Environment Satellite) and ALOS (Advanced Land Observation Satellite) data place the earthquake at 9 km. A comparison of the scalar moment (9.43 ± 0.06 × 1017 Nm from seismology and 8.99 ± 0.010 × 1017 Nm from the joint InSAR solution) shows good agreement between the two data sets. Such an agreement is in contrast to the large discrepancies observed (up to an order of magnitude) in other places along the EAR where similar earthquake sequences are associated with magmatic intrusion. From this, we infer that the rupture was brittle and occurred with little aseismic deformation as might be expected from magma injection. Our results provide insights into the style of rifting occurring in the South Kivu Volcanic Province and hence will aid future studies on seismic risk in the context of Lake Kivu and underline the importance of systematic monitoring of the EAR area.

The 1963 great Kurile earthquake was an underthrust earthquake occurred in the Kurile–Kamchatka subduction zone. The slip distribution of the 1963 earthquake was estimated using 21 tsunami waveforms recorded at tide gauges along the Pacific and Okhotsk Sea coasts. The extended rupture area was divided into 24 subfaults, and the slip on each subfault was determined by the tsunami waveform inversion. The result shows that the largest slip amount of 2.8 m was found at the shallow part and intermediate depth of the rupture area. Large slip amounts were found at the shallow part of the rupture area. The total seismic moment was estimated to be 3.9 × 1021 Nm (Mw 8.3). The 2006 Kurile earthquake occurred right next to the location of the 1963 earthquake, and no seismic gap exists between the source areas of the 1963 and 2006 earthquakes.

SUMMARY We study a large M w = 7.6 earthquake that occurred on 2007 November 14 in the Northern Chile seismic gap near the city of Tocopilla. Using a variety of seismic data we show that this earthquake ruptured only the lower part of the interplate seismic zone and generated a series of plate interface aftershocks. Two large aftershocks on 2007 November 15 ruptured the interplate zone oceanwards of the Mejillones Peninsula, a major geographical feature in the Antofagasta region. On 2007 December 16, a large M w = 6.8 aftershock, that occurred near the southern bottom of the fault plane of the main event, is shown to be a slab-push earthquake located inside the subducted Nazca Plate and triggered by along slab compression. Aftershocks of this event demonstrate that it occurred on an almost vertical fault. The Tocopilla earthquake took place just after the installation of a new seismological network by Chilean, German and French researchers. The accelerometric data combined with far field seismic data provide a quite complete and consistent view of the rupture process. The earthquake broke a long (130 km) and narrow (about 30–50 km) zone of the plate interface just above the transition zone. Using a non-linear kinematic inversion method, we determined that rupture occurred on two well-defined patches of roughly elliptical shape. We discuss the consequences of this event for models of gap filling earthquakes in Chile proposed in the 1970s.

SUMMARY The 2005 June 13, an intraplate, intermediate depth earthquake (M w = 7.8, 98 km depth) occurred in northern Chile. Previous studies show that this earthquake is a slab-pull event with down dip extensional source mechanism. However, the physical origin and the role in seismic cycle of this kind of event are still under debate. We present a seismological source study from strong motion data, based on the simplified slip patch kinematic parametrization. We find two distinct sources. The main source is almost centred around the hypocentre and triggers the secondary one, situated deeper in the slab. The weaknesses and uncertainties of the kinematic models are partly resolved and discussed by constructing dynamic spontaneous rupture models with two radiative asperities and one embedding zone of non-radiative slip process, a required feature to fulfil the seismic moment constraint. Two kinds of models are compatible with observations: a crack mode model (combined with fast rupture velocity and small zone of non-radiative slip) and a pulse mode model (combined with slower rupture velocity and large zone of non-radiative slip). The fast rupture model is preferred for its physical simplicity. Replacing our result in the geometry and thermal contexts of the subduction, we conclude that the rupture has probably broken the whole lithosphere by encountering little resistance and without being very sensitive to the presence of the double seismic zone. This suggests that the rupture happens along a weak plane, on which large slab instabilities can take place.

SUMMARY investigation of the SH wave seismograms indicates that rupture occurred on a shallowly dipping fault, propagating in all directions from the hypocentre. The average rupture velocity in the downdip and updip directions are ∼2.0-3 and ∼1.0 km s −1 , respectively. The maximum slip is found to be ∼12 m and is located downdip of the earthquake's hypocentre. Taken over the fault as a whole, the average stress drop is ∼0.55 MPa. Used in conjunction with relocated aftershocks, we find that two barriers constrain the faulting extent of slip, creating a rupture area of ∼165 km × 140 km. These barriers coincide with submarine topographic features, are domain boundaries for the seismic gaps along the arc, and have high concentrations of large aftershocks near them. The high slip regions align with the orientation of the subducting plate, and resemble in size and shape the many seamounts about to subduct. The 2003 Tokachi-Oki earthquake was the largest earthquake to occur globally in that year and reruptured the portion of the Kuril- Japan Trench that last broke in the great Tokachi-Oki earthquake of 1952 (Hamada & Suzuki 2004). The abundance of local data in this region coupled with the large magnitude of the event has led to a range of models for the rupture being proposed. These solutions are summarised in Table 1. All of these solutions have the total moment for the earthquake significantly below that obtained from the long-period seismological data by the global CMT (GCMT) solution, with some solutions having less than one third of the GCMT moment. This study aims to address this anomaly, by first investigating the long-period moment tensor solution and then by finding a rupture model which is consistent with both broad-band teleseismic data and the long-period solution.

To recognize the seismogenic process, mechanism and behavior of seismic precursors, as well as look for the ways of earthquake prediction the granular physics principle is applied based on the basic structure of the crust and mantle and existing experimental observations, where we treat the earth crust and mantle as large scale discrete matters. Main outcomes are: A granular model of the structure and movement of the earth crust and mantle is established. A formation mechanism of the tectonic forces, which causes the earthquakes, and a model of propagation for precursive signals are proposed. Properties of the seismic precursive signal and its relevance with the earthquake occurrence are illustrated, and principle of ways to detect the effective seismic precursor is elaborated. In the paper the mechanism of palintectic earthquake is also explained by the jamming-unjamming transition of the granular flow. Some earthquake phenomena which were previously difficult to understand are explained, and the predictability of the earthquake is discussed. Due to the discrete nature of the earth crust and mantle, the continuum theory no longer applies during the quasi-static seismogenic process. In all in this paper, based on granular physics, we study the causes of earthquakes, earthquake precursors and earthquake prediction, and a new understanding, different from the traditional seismological point of view, is obtained.

Relationships between relative plate velocity and seismicity differ by plate-boundary class. We test the null hypothesis of linearity of earthquake rates with velocity in each of seven classes. A linear relationship is expected if earthquake rate is proportional toseismicmoment rate, whichis proportional torelative platevelocity. To reducebiasbyaftershocksandswarms,weestimateindependenceprobabilitiesofearth- quakes and use them as weights. We assign shallow earthquakes to boundary steps and classes,thensortboundarystepswithineachclassbyvelocityandplotcumulativeearth- quakesagainstcumulativemodelmomentrate.Weusetwomeasuresofnonlinearityand 10 4 stochastic simulations to assess significance. In subduction zones the relationship betweenseismicityandvelocityisnonlinearwith99.9%confidence.Slowersubduction at

The Ms7.4 earthquake of 18 July, 1969 is the only strong earthquake in the Bohai Sea that has been recorded by seismometers. Arguments about this large earthquake are focused on its causative fault. To tackle this problem, three cruises in the epicenter region from 2005 to 2008 were executed and 3 kinds of acoustic data with high-resolution, including shallow penetrated single channel seismic data, sidescan sonar data and CHIRP data were collected. This paper presents the results based on these new acoustic data. A small depression zone 2~3 m beneath the seabed is first found in the Holocene sediments in the epicenter region. The zone with an NE30- strike is 20 km long and 3 km wide. CHIRP data reveal that depositional border formed at about 5000 a B.P. has a throw of 1.5 m in the zone. The good match of the locations of the depression zone and the BZ28 fault and aftershocks distribution of the 1969 earthquake suggests that the depression zone is the result of tectonic activities of the BZ28 fault and the bottom deformation of sequence A which was formed since 150 a B.P. is caused by 1969 earthquake. The BZ28 fault with a NE30° strike, a branch fault of the Tan-Lu Fault Zone, is the causative fault of the Ms7.4 earthquake. CHIRP data show that the latest faulting age is the late Holocene. Based on the forming age of stratigraphic sequences and vertical displacement of the fault, the vertical slip rate of the BZ28 fault since late Pleistocene is calculated. The results show that the rate during the Holocene is 0.3 mm/a, which is larger than 0.05 mm/a during the late Pleistocene-Holocene, reflecting a trend of aggrandizement.

Seismogenic zones of interplate megathrust earthquakes along the Nankai Trough can be subdivided into several segments. At each segment, seismic rupture has occurred at a recurrence interval of about one century. In many cases, some neighboring segments ruptured simultaneously or sequentially after a short interval. One of the factors that controls the properties of such seismic ruptures is the underground structure, including the plate configuration and heterogeneity around the subducting plate (slab) interface. To clarify the mechanism of megathrust earthquakes, detailed surveys and analyses of the underground structures are required. Moreover, the detection of seismic phenomena on the plate interface is important in discussing interplate coupling and interactions between such events and megathrust earthquakes. More and better knowledge of the underground structure around the plate interface has been accumulated by analyses of high-quality data from high-density seismograph networks in inland areas and from joint seismic explorations of the sea and land. Moreover, knowledge regarding a wide variety of newly detected slow earthquakes has contributed toward our understanding of the subducting plate interface. Additional information about underground structures, such as slab segmentations, is expected to provide a better understanding of the occurrence of megathrust earthquakes.

SUMMARY We investigate the 2007 Pisco, Peru, earthquake (M8.0) using seismological and geodetic data. Analysis of teleseismic records indicates that the earthquake is characterized by a steadily increasing moment rate, with the maximum occurring between about 55 and 70 s and the associated slip occurring about 40 km south of the epicentre. We combine InSAR data from L-band (ALOS) and C-band (Envisat) satellites to produce a 3-D image of the ground displacements caused by the earthquake. Distributed slip inversions of the interferograms identify a single large patch of slip in the location of the maximum moment rate identified by seismology. Despite a clear spatial coincidence between the location of the coseismic slip and the anomalously high topography of the Paracas Peninsula, we find no evidence that the earthquake was directly responsible for motion on any upper plate faults.

On 12 May 2008, an MS8.0 earthquake occurred in Wenchuan, Sichuan Province. Its causative fault is the Yingxiu–Beichuan fault. Analysis of the velocity field before the earthquake discovers that the shortening rate along the direction of N103°E from west Bayan Har block (BHB) to the Longmen Shan fault zone (LFZ) is 13.0 mm/a, the right lateral slipping rate of LFZ is 1.1 mm/a, and the faults are locked. The coseismic displacement field shows that the earthquake maybe was caused by the thrust of BHB in direction of SE and the underthrust of Sichuan Basin (SB) in the direction at NW simultaneously. Analysis of the strain field shows that the principal compressive and the principal tensile strain rates in the epicenter area are –30.840×10–9/a and 13.956×10–9/a, respectively before the earthquake, and the principal compressive strain axis is in a direction of N105.4°E which is consistent with the direction of N103°E of the principal compressive stress axis from focal mechanism results. The earthquake fault trend and slipping direction obtained by the mechanism proposed in the paper are also consistent with the results of the focal mechanism and earthquake field investigations. The interactions of the Indian, the Philippine Sea and the Pacific plates with the Eurasian plate are long-term acting forces responsible for the Wenchuan great earthquake occurrence. The Sumatra-Andaman huge earthquake on December 2004 promoted occurrence of the Wenchuan earthquake.