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A large non-double-couple component of a tectonic earthquake indicates that its rupture likely was complex and likely involved multiple faults. Detailed source models of such earthquakes can add to our understanding of earthquake source complexity. The 2007 Martinique earthquake in the Caribbean Sea is one of the largest recent earthquakes with a known large non-double-couple component. It was an intermediate depth intraslab earthquake within the South America plate where it is subducting beneath the Caribbean plate. We applied potency density tensor inversion (PDTI) to teleseismic P waves generated by the 2007 Martinique earthquake to model its source processes and focal mechanism distribution. We identified two focal mechanisms: a strike-slip mechanism with a north–south T axis, and a down-dip extension (DDE) mechanism with an east–west T axis. Rupture by the DDE mechanism was predominant in the northern part of the source region and strike-slip rupture in the southern part. These two focal mechanisms had approximately parallel P axes and approximately orthogonal T axes. The seismic moments released by both types of rupture were almost equal. These results indicate that the 2007 Martinique earthquake had a large non-double-couple component. We identified five sub-events with two predominant directions of rupture propagation: two strike-slip sub-events propagated to the southeast and three DDE sub-events propagated to the east. Although the directions of propagation were consistent for each focal mechanism, each sub-event appears to have occurred in isolation. For example, the rupture of one DDE sub-event propagated from the edge of the source region back towards the hypocentre. Complex ruptures that include multiple sub-events may be influenced by high pore fluid pressure associated with slab dehydration. Our results show that PDTI can produce stable estimates of complex seismic source processes and provide useful information about the sources of complex intermediate depth intraslab earthquakes for which fault geometry assumptions are difficult.

SUMMARY In the Gulf of California, Mexico, the relative motion across the North America–Pacific boundary is accommodated by a series of marine transform faults and spreading centres. About 40 M> 6 earthquakes have occurred in the region since 1960. On 2009 August 3, an Mw 6.9 earthquake occurred near Canal de Ballenas in the region. The earthquake was a strike-slip event with a shallow hypocentre that is likely close to the seafloor. In contrast to an adjacent M7 earthquake, this earthquake triggered a ground-motion-based earthquake early warning algorithm being tested in southern California (∼600 km away). This observation suggests that the abnormally large ground motions and dynamic strains observed for this earthquake relate to its rupture properties. To investigate this possibility, we image the rupture process and resolve the slip distribution of the event using a P-wave backprojection approach and a teleseismic, finite-fault inversion method. Results from these two independent analyses indicate a relatively simple, unilateral rupture propagation directed along-strike in the northward direction. However, the average rupture speed is estimated around 4 km s−1, suggesting a possible supershear rupture. The supershear speed is also supported by a Rayleigh wave Mach cone analysis, although uncertainties in local velocity structure preclude a definitive conclusion. The Canal de Ballenas earthquake dynamically triggered seismicity at multiple sites in California, with triggering response characteristics varying from location-to-location. For instance, some of the triggered earthquakes in California occurred up to 24 hr later, suggesting that nonlinear triggering mechanisms likely have modulated their occurrence.

On September 5, 2022, a strike-slip earthquake with a moment magnitude (Mw) 6.7 occurred along the Moxi segment of the Xianshuihe fault zone in Luding, Sichuan province, China. To estimate the rupture evolution of the 2022 Luding earthquake, we inverted teleseismic P-waves by applying the Potency Density Tensor Inversion, a novel method that can estimate fault geometry and source process. We found the rupture process can be divided into two episodes. In the first episode, the initial deep rupture continues for 2 second on a westward tilting fault plane. In the next episode (3 to 7 s), the main rupture propagated along the Xianshuihe fault zone toward the south-southeast and halts ~15 km south-southeast from the epicentre. An isolated rupture also occurred ~10 km west from the Xianshuihe fault zone. The main rupture propagated in a south-southeast direction where strain have been accumulating, and our resolved strike direction rotated counterclockwise as it propagated from the epicentre to south-southeast. The along-strike migration of the main rupture stopped in a region with a complex fault network, and the along-dip migration did not go through the shallow-most region to the surface. Our seismic source model suggests that the 2022 Luding earthquake has failed to cascade up to a lager event, contrary to the last largest 1786 Kangding-Luding earthquake in this region, due to the fault geometry and shallow sedimentary layers inhibiting rupture propagation.

SUMMARY The 26 May 2019 MW 8.0 Peru intraslab earthquake ruptured the subducting Nazca Plate where the dip angle of the slab increases sharply and the strike angle rotates clockwise from the epicentre to north. To obtain a detailed seismic source model of the 2019 Peru earthquake, including not only the rupture evolution but also the spatiotemporal distribution of focal mechanisms, we performed comprehensive seismic waveform analyses using both a newly developed flexible finite-fault teleseismic waveform inversion method and a back-projection method. The source model revealed a complex rupture process involving a back-propagating rupture. The initial rupture propagated downdip from the hypocentre, then unilaterally northward along the strike of the slab. Following a large slip occurring ∼50–100 km north of the hypocentre, the rupture propagated bilaterally both further northward and back southward. The spatial distribution of focal mechanisms shows that the direction of T-axis azimuth gradually rotated clockwise from the epicentre northward, corresponding to the clockwise rotation of the strike of the subducting Nazca Plate, and the large-slip area corresponds to the high-curvature area of the slab iso-depth lines. Our results show that the complex rupture process, including the focal-mechanism transition, of the Peru earthquake was related to the slab geometry of the subducting Nazca Plate.

Copyright © The Author(s) 2022. Eastern Mediterranean Sea has experienced four tsunamigenic earthquakes since 2017, which delivered moderate damage to coastal communities in Turkey and Greece. The most recent of these tsunamis occurred on 30 October 2020 in the Aegean Sea, which was generated by an Mw 7.0 normal-faulting earthquake, offshore Izmir province (Turkey) and Samos Island (Greece). The earthquake was destructive and caused death tolls of 117 and 2 in Turkey and Greece, respectively. The tsunami produced moderate damage and killed one person in Turkey. Due to the semi-enclosed nature of the Aegean Sea basin, any tsunami perturbation in this sea is expected to trigger several basin oscillations. Here, we study the 2020 tsunami through sea level data analysis and numerical simulations with the aim of further understanding tsunami behavior in the Aegean Sea. Analysis of data from available tide gauges showed that the maximum zero-to-crest tsunami amplitude was 5.1–11.9 cm. The arrival times of the maximum tsunami wave were up to 14.9 h after the first tsunami arrivals at each station. The duration of tsunami oscillation was from 19.6 h to > 90 h at various tide gauges. Spectral analysis revealed several peak periods for the tsunami; we identified the tsunami source periods as 14.2–23.3 min. We attributed other peak periods (4.5 min, 5.7 min, 6.9 min, 7.8 min, 9.9 min, 10.2 min and 32.0 min) to non-source phenomena such as basin and sub-basin oscillations. By comparing surveyed run-up and coastal heights with simulated ones, we noticed the north-dipping fault model better reproduces the tsunami observations as compared to the south-dipping fault model. However, we are unable to choose a fault model because the surveyed run-up data are very limited and are sparsely distributed. Additional researches on this event using other types of geophysical data are required to determine the actual fault plane of the earthquake. National Science Foundation under Cooperative Support Agreement; Royal Society

SUMMARY Landslides can cause devastating damage. In particular, heavy rainfall-triggered landslides pose a chain of natural hazards. However, such events are often difficult to detect, leaving the physical processes poorly understood. Here we apply a novel surface-wave detector to detect and locate landslides during the transit of Typhoon Talas 2011. We identify multiple landslides triggered by Typhoon Talas, including a landslide in the Tenryu Ward, Shizuoka prefecture, Japan, $\sim 400\, {\rm km}$ east from the typhoon track. The Tenryu landslide displaced a total volume of $1.2\!-\!1.5 \times 10^{6}\, {\rm m}^3$ . The landslide is much smaller than those detected by using globally recorded surface waves, yet the event generated coherent seismic signals propagating up to 3000 km away. Our observations show that attributes of small and large landslides may follow the same empirical scaling relationships, indicating possible invariant failure mechanisms. Our results also suggest an alerting technology to detect and locate landslides with a sparse seismic network.

SUMMARYConventional seismic source inversion estimates the earthquake rupture process on an assumed fault plane that is determined a priori. It has been a difficult challenge to obtain the fault geometry together with the rupture process by seismic source inversion because of the nonlinearity of the inversion technique. In this study, we propose an inversion method to estimate the fault geometry and the rupture process of an earthquake from teleseismic P waveform data, through an elaboration of our previously published finite-fault inversion analysis (Shimizu et al. 2020). That method differs from conventional methods by representing slip on a fault plane with five basis double-couple components, expressed by potency density tensors, instead of two double-couple components compatible with the fault direction. Because the slip direction obtained from the potency density tensors should be compatible with the fault direction, we can obtain the fault geometry consistent with the rupture process. In practice we rely on an iterative process, first assuming a flat fault plane and then updating the fault geometry by using the information included in the obtained potency density tensors. In constructing a non-planar model-fault surface, we assume for simplicity that the fault direction changes only in either the strike or the dip direction. After checking the validity of the proposed method through synthetic tests, we applied it to the MW 7.7 2013 Balochistan, Pakistan, and MW 7.9 2015 Gorkha, Nepal, earthquakes, which occurred along geometrically complex fault systems. The modelled fault for the Balochistan earthquake is a curved strike-slip fault convex to the south-east, which is consistent with the observed surface ruptures. The modelled fault for the Gorkha earthquake is a reverse fault with a ramp-flat-ramp structure, which is also consistent with the fault geometry derived from geodetic and geological data. These results exhibit that the proposed method works well for constraining fault geometry of an earthquake.

SUMMARYDue to complex 3-D heterogeneous structures, conventional 1-D analysis techniques using onshore seismograms can yield incorrect estimation of earthquake source parameters, especially dip angles and centroid depths of offshore earthquakes. Combining long-term onshore seismic observations and numerical simulations of seismic wave propagation in a 3-D model, we conducted centroid moment tensor (CMT) inversions of earthquakes along the Nankai Trough between April 2004 and August 2019 to evaluate decade-scale seismicity. Green's functions for CMT inversions of earthquakes with moment magnitudes of 4.3–6.5 were evaluated using finite-difference method simulations of seismic wave propagation in the regional 3-D velocity structure model. Significant differences of focal mechanisms and centroid depths between previous 1-D and our 3-D catalogues were found in the solutions of offshore earthquakes. By introducing the 3-D structures of the low-velocity accretionary prism and the Philippine Sea Plate, dip angles and centroid depths for offshore earthquakes were well-constrained. Teleseismic CMT also provides robust solutions, but our regional 3-D CMT could provide better constraints of dip angles. Our 3-D CMT catalogue and published slow earthquake catalogues depicted spatial distributions of slip behaviours on the plate boundary along the Nankai Trough. The regular and slow interplate earthquakes were separately distributed, with these distributions reflecting the heterogeneous distribution of effective strengths along the Nankai Trough plate boundary. By comparing the spatial distribution of seismic slip on the plate boundary with the slip-deficit rate distribution, regions with strong coupling were clearly identified.

SUMMARY Large earthquakes are often accompanied by complex fault rupture, but it has been difficult to reliably estimate such a complex rupture process with conventional waveform analysis tools due to modelling errors originating from limited accuracy of the fault geometry. Recently, a potency density tensor inversion method has been developed to solve this problem; allowing any types of faulting mechanism on an assumed model plane, the method replaces the modelling error of fault orientation with that of fault location, which is insensitive in teleseismic waveforms with low spatial resolution. The method has successfully unveiled earthquake source processes with geometrically complex fault rupture. However, the method imposes the same intensity of smoothing constraint on all the basis slip components irrespective of possible changes of slip direction during the rupture. This leads to excessive smoothing to a slip component with large amplitude, which results in obscuring the rupture process. In this study, we propose a time-adaptive smoothing constraint that dynamically adjusts the smoothness intensity inversely proportional to the amplitude for each basis slip function. Through a numerical experiment assigning an input model involving a drastic change in the focal mechanism (reverse, strike-slip and normal faulting) during the rupture, we find that the time-adaptive smoothing constraint solves the problem of excessive smoothing to the dominant slip component, and the spatiotemporally non-uniform rupture episodes with different focal mechanisms are successfully reproduced. To evaluate the feasibility and effectiveness of the time-adaptive smoothing constraint, we apply the method to the teleseismic body waves of the 2002 Denali fault and the 2008 Wenchuan earthquakes, which involve complex fault ruptures with changing focal mechanisms. We find that the developed method well captures the focal mechanism transition in space and time from reverse to strike-slip faulting during the ruptures of the 2002 Denali fault and the 2008 Wenchuan earthquakes. Even though these source models are built using only the teleseismic P waveforms with simple model fault geometry that is represented by a horizontal rectangular plane, they well explain the complex observed waveforms and agree with characteristics of source processes obtained in previous studies using seismic and geodetic data as well as field surveys. The potency density tensor inversion method with time-adaptive smoothing constraint is a powerful tool to analyse earthquake rupture processes with complex fault geometries involving different faulting types.

A devastating magnitude 7.2 earthquake struck Southern Haiti on 14 August 2021. The earthquake caused severe damage and over 2000 casualties. Resolving the earthquake rupture process can provide critical insights into hazard mitigation. Here we use integrated seismological analyses to obtain the rupture history of the 2021 earthquake. We find the earthquake first broke a blind thrust fault and then jumped to a disconnected strike-slip fault. Neither of the fault configurations aligns with the left-lateral tectonic boundary between the Caribbean and North American plates. The complex multi-fault rupture may result from the oblique plate convergence in the region, so that the initial thrust rupture is due to the boundary-normal compression and the following strike-slip faulting originates from the Gonâve microplate block movement, orienting SW-NE direction. The complex rupture development of the earthquake suggests that the regional deformation is accommodated by a network of segmented faults with diverse faulting conditions.

We developed a flexible finite-fault inversion method for teleseismic P waveforms to obtain a detailed rupture process of a complex multiple-fault earthquake. We estimate the distribution of potency-rate density tensors on an assumed model plane to clarify rupture evolution processes, including variations of fault geometry. We applied our method to the 23 January 2018 Gulf of Alaska earthquake by representing slip on a projected horizontal model plane at a depth of 33.6 km to fit the distribution of aftershocks occurring within one week of the mainshock. The obtained source model, which successfully explained the complex teleseismic P waveforms, shows that the 2018 earthquake ruptured a conjugate system of N-S and E-W faults. The spatiotemporal rupture evolution indicates irregular rupture behavior involving a multiple-shock sequence, which is likely associated with discontinuities in the fault geometry that originated from E-W sea-floor fracture zones and N-S plate-bending faults., 2018年アラスカ湾地震の複雑な破壊過程を解析 --間欠的に加速・減速する奇妙な巨大地震--. 京都大学プレスリリース. 2021-03-22.

The 30 October 2020 tsunami in the Aegean Sea was generated by an Mw 7.0 normal-faulting earthquake at a depth of 21 km. The earthquake epicenter was near the city of Izmir (Turkey) in the Aegean Sea and left 117 fatalities in Turkey and two deaths in Greece. A moderate tsunami was generated, which attacked the nearby coast of Turkey and the north coast of Samos island, Greece. A maximum runup height of ~3.8 m was observed in Akarca with extensive inundation at the low elevation nearshore areas of the small bays from Akarca (South) to Alacati (North) of the central Aegean coast of Turkey (field surveys by Yalciner et al., 2020). The maximum tsunami penetration was ~2500 m along Azmak streambed at Alacati, Turkey. One casualty and at least one injury were directly attributed to the tsunami in Sigacik, Turkey. The predecessors of this event were other normal-faulting events: i) Lesvos-Karaburun (Mw 6.3) earthquake (Greece-Turkey) on 12 June 2017 approximately 110 km to the North-northwest, and ii) Bodrum-Kos (Mw 6.6) earthquake (Turkey-Greece) on 20 July 2017 approximately 110 km to the south-southeast of the epicenter of the 30 October 2020 event. The events of 2017 and 2020 show high similarities in terms of faulting mechanism and tsunami-genesis. The tsunami generated by the last event caused extensive loss of properties and damage to marine vessels. Here, we study the 30 October 2020 tsunami through analysis of eight tide gauge records as well as numerical simulations. Tide gauge data revealed that the tsunami’s zero-to-crest amplitudes, on tide gauges, was in the range of 5 – 12 cm with maximum amplitude (12 cm) recorded at Kos (Greece). The tsunami duration was unusually long and varied from 20 h to 35 h. Such long tsunami oscillations are not expected from an Mw 7.0 normal-faulting tsunamigenic earthquake and can be most likely attributed to several reflections due to the confined nature of the Aegean Sea region. We conducted Fourier and Wavelet analyses to detect tsunami’s spectral characteristics. Our tsunami simulation was able to reproduce most features of the recorded waves both in terms of amplitudes and duration. This research is suported by Royal Society (UK), grant number CHL/R1/180173.

How does fault slip follow an earthquake rupture front propagating faster than the local shear-wave velocity (i.e., at supershear speed)? How does a supershear rupture front pass through a geometrically complex fault system? Resolving the evolution of such complex earthquake ruptures is fundamental to our understanding of earthquake-source physics, but these events have not been well captured by conventional waveform inversions of observational data. We applied a new framework of finite-fault inversion to globally observed teleseismic waveforms and resolved both the spatiotemporal evolution of slip and the fault geometry of the 2018 Palu earthquake (moment magnitude 7.6) in Sulawesi, Indonesia. We show that supershear rupture propagation for this event was sustained by transient slip stagnation and advancement as the rupture front passed through the geometrically complex fault system. This peculiar inchworm-like slip evolution was caused by the rupture front encountering fault bends with favorable and unfavorable orientations for rupture propagation. Our analysis also identified the possible existence of a fault junction beneath Palu Bay connecting an unmapped primary fault in northern Sulawesi with the Palu-Koro fault in the south.

How an earthquake rupture propagates strongly influences the potentially destructive ground shaking. Complex ruptures often involve slip along multiple faults, which masks information on the frictional behaviour of fault zones. Geometrically smooth ocean transform fault plate boundaries offer a favourable environment to study fault dynamics, because strain is accommodated along a single, wide fault zone that offsets the homogeneous geology. Here we present an analysis of the 2016 Mw 7.1 earthquake on the Romanche fracture zone in the equatorial Atlantic, using data from both nearby seafloor seismometers and global seismic networks. We show that this rupture had two phases: (1) upward and eastward propagation towards a weaker region where the transform fault intersects the mid-ocean ridge, and then (2) an unusual back-propagation westwards at a supershear speed towards the centre of the fault. We suggest that deep rupture into weak fault segments facilitated greater seismic slip on shallow locked zones. This highlights that even earthquakes along a single distinct fault zone can be highly dynamic. Observations of back-propagating ruptures are sparse, and the possibility of reverse propagation is largely absent in rupture simulations and unaccounted for in hazard assessments. In one earthquake, an oceanic transform fault ruptured in one direction and then backwards at a speed exceeding that of shear-wave propagation, according to an analysis of data recorded by nearby seafloor and global seismometers.

Devastating landslides can cause significant damage. In particular, typhoon-triggered landslides pose a chain of natural hazards. However, such events are difficult to detect due to their remote locations, leaving the physical processes poorly understood. Here we apply a novel surface-wave detector using intermediate-period surface waves to detect and locate landslides during the transit of Typhoon Talas 2011. We identify multiple landslides triggered by Typhoon Talas, including a landslide in the Tenryu Ward, Shizuoka, Japan, ~400 km east from the Typhoon’s track. The Tenryu landslide only displaced a total mass of 3.1×10^9 kg, which is much smaller than typical seismically-detectable landslides, yet generated coherent seismic signals propagating up to 3,000 km away. Our observations demonstrate that typhoons can potentially trigger landslides that are hundreds of kilometers away from their tracks. Our results also suggest an alerting technology to detect and locate landslides with only a sparse seismic network.

Conventional seismic source inversion estimates the earthquake rupture process on an assumed fault plane that is determined a priori. It has been a difficult challenge to obtain the fault geometry together with the rupture process by seismic source inversion because of the nonlinearity of the inversion technique. In this study, we propose an inversion method to estimate the fault geometry and the rupture process of an earthquake from teleseismic P waveform data, through an elaboration of our previously published finite-fault inversion analysis (Shimizu et al. 2020). That method differs from conventional methods by representing slip on a fault plane with five basis double-couple components, expressed by potency density tensors, instead of two double-couple components compatible with the fault direction. Because the slip direction obtained from the potency density tensors should be compatible with the fault direction, we can obtain the fault geometry consistent with the rupture process. In practice we rely on an iterative process, first assuming a flat fault plane and then updating the fault geometry by using the information included in the obtained potency density tensors. In constructing a non-planar model-fault surface, we assume for simplicity that the fault direction changes only in either the strike or the dip direction. After checking the validity of the proposed method through synthetic tests, we applied it to the Mw 7.7 2013 Balochistan, Pakistan, and Mw 7.9 2015 Gorkha, Nepal, earthquakes, which occurred along geometrically complex fault systems. The modelled fault for the Balochistan earthquake is a curved strike-slip fault convex to the south-east, which is consistent with the observed surface ruptures. The modelled fault for the Gorkha earthquake is a reverse fault with a ramp-flat-ramp structure, which is also consistent with the fault geometry derived from geodetic and geological data. These results exhibit that the proposed method works well for constraining fault geometry of an earthquake.

Rupture propagation of an earthquake strongly influences potentially destructive ground shaking. Variable rupture behaviour is often caused by complex fault geometries, masking information on fundamental frictional properties. Geometrically smoother ocean transform fault (OTF) plate boundaries offer a favourable environment to study fault zone dynamics because strain is accommodated along a single, wide zone (up to 20 km width) offsetting homogeneous geology comprising altered mafic or ultramafic rocks. However, fault friction during OTF ruptures is unknown: no large (Mw>7.0) ruptures had been captured and imaged in detail. In 2016, we recorded an Mw 7.1 earthquake on the Romanche OTF in the equatorial Atlantic on nearby seafloor seismometers. We show that this rupture had two phases: (1) up and eastwards propagation towards the weaker ridge-transform intersection (RTI), then (2) unusually, back-propagation westwards at super-shear speed toward the fault’s centre. Deep slip into weak fault segments facilitated larger moment release on shallow locked zones, highlighting that even ruptures along a single distinct fault zone can be highly dynamic. The possibility of reversing ruptures is absent in rupture simulations and unaccounted for in hazard assessments.

Summary The largest recordable earthquake in Thailand occurred on Chiang Rai province at the conjugate of Phayao fault zone between Mae Lao and Phan strike-slip faults. To explain the source processing of the earthquake mainshock, the modern teleseismic waveform inversion method was applied to investigate the fault rupture propagation along the assumed model fault plane. According to our results, the estimated seismic moment is 0.36 x 1019 Nm (Mw6.3) with around 9 second rupture-time duration. The largest potency-slip was around 1 m being located on the middle of Mae Loa aftershock zone. The rupture propagation originated from the hypocenter and moved toward south direction. Then, the rupture mechanism initiated on Mae Lao fault and sequentially migrated to southwestward. Our rupture process was supported by the first aftershock occurring on Mae Lao fault trend. Furthermore, our potency rate-density demonstrated low slip-rate on the transition zone related to the low seismicity gap of the relocated aftershocks.

The September 28 2018 Palu tsunami surprised the scientific community, as neither the earthquake magnitude nor its strike-slip mechanism were deemed capable of producing the wave heights that were observed. However, recent research has shown that the earthquake generated several landslides inside Palu bay. The authors conducted a post-disaster field survey of the area affected to collect spatial data on tsunami inundation heights, nearshore and bay bathymetry, and carried out eyewitness interviews to collect testimonies of the event. In addition, numerical simulations of the tsunami generation and propagation mechanisms were carried out and validated with the inferred time series. Seven small submarine landslides were identified along the western shore of the bay, and one large one was reported on the eastern shore of Palu City. Most of these landslides occurred at river mouths and reclamation areas, where soft submarine sediments had accumulated. The numerical simulations support a scenario in which the tsunami waves that arrived at Palu city 4–10 min after the earthquake were caused by the co-seismic seafloor deformation, possibly coupled with secondary waves generated from several submarine landslides. These findings suggest that more comprehensive methodologies and tools need to be used when assessing probabilistic tsunami hazards in narrow bays.

We constructed a seismic source model for the 2015 MW 8.3 Illapel, Chile earthquake, which was carried out with the kinematic waveform inversion method adopting a novel inversion formulation that takes into account the uncertainty in the Green’s function, together with the hybrid backprojection method enabling us to track the spatiotemporal distribution of high-frequency (0.3–2.0 Hz) sources at high resolution by using globally observed teleseismic P-waveforms. A maximum slip amounted to 10.4 m in the shallow part of the seismic source region centered 72 km northwest of the epicenter and generated a following tsunami inundated along the coast. In a gross sense, the rupture front propagated almost unilaterally to northward from the hypocenter at

A large strike-slip earthquake occurred in the Caribbean Sea on 28 January 2020. We inverted teleseismic P-waveforms from the earthquake to construct a finite-fault model by a new method of inversi...

SUMMARYTeleseismic waveforms contain information on fault slip evolution during an earthquake, as well as on the fault geometry. A linear finite-fault inversion method is a tool for solving the slip-rate function distribution under an assumption of fault geometry as a single or multiple-fault-plane model. An inappropriate assumption of fault geometry would tend to distort the solution due to Green’s function modelling errors. We developed a new inversion method to extract information on fault geometry along with the slip-rate function from observed teleseismic waveforms. In this method, as in most previous studies, we assumed a flat fault plane, but we allowed arbitrary directions of slip not necessarily parallel to the assumed fault plane. More precisely, the method represents fault slip on the assumed fault by the superposition of five basis components of potency-density tensor, which can express arbitrary fault slip that occurs underground. We tested the developed method by applying it to real teleseismic P waveforms of the MW 7.7 2013 Balochistan, Pakistan, earthquake, which is thought to have occurred along a curved fault system. The obtained spatiotemporal distribution of potency-density tensors showed that the focal mechanism at each source knot was dominated by a strike-slip component with successive strike angle rotation from 205° to 240° as the rupture propagated unilaterally towards the south-west from the epicentre. This result is consistent with Earth’s surface deformation observed in optical satellite images. The success of the developed method is attributable to the fact that teleseismic body waves are not very sensitive to the spatial location of fault slip, whereas they are very sensitive to the direction of fault slip. The method may be a powerful tool to extract information on fault geometry along with the slip-rate function without requiring detailed assumptions about fault geometry.

Waveform backprojection is a key technique of earthquake-source imaging, which has been widely used for extracting information of earthquake source evolution that cannot be obtained by kinematic source inversion. The technique enjoys considerable popularity, owing to the simplicity of its implementation and the robustness of its processing, but the physical meaning of backprojection images has remained elusive. In this study, we reviewed the mathematical representation of backprojection (BP) and hybrid backprojection (HBP) methods, following the pioneering work of Fukahata et al. (Geophys. J. Int. (2014) 196, 552–559), to clarify the physical implications of BP images. We found that signal intensity in BP and HBP images is scaled with the amplitude of the Greens function that corresponds to a unit-step slip, which results in the signal intensity being depth dependent. We propose variants of BP and HBP, which we call kinematic BP and HBP, respectively, to relate the BP signal intensity to slip motion of an earthquake by modifying the normalizing factors used in the original BP and HBP methods. The original BP and HBP images remain useful for assessing the spatiotemporal strength of the wave radiation, which scales with the amplitude of the Greens function, whereas the kinematic BP and HBP methods are suitable for imaging the slip motion that is responsible for the high-frequency radiation produced during the source-rupture process.

On September 16, 2015 a magnitude Mw 8.3 earthquake took place off the coast of the Coquimbo Region, Chile. Three tsunami survey teams covered approximately 700 km of the Pacific coast. The teams surveyed the area, recording 83 tsunami flow depth and runup measurements. The maximum runup was found to be 10.8 m at only one small bay, in front of the inferred tsunami source area. However, it was observed that runup in other locations rarely exceed 6 m. Tsunami runup was larger than those of the 2014 Pisagua event, despite the similar earthquake magnitude. Moreover, tsunami arrival times were found to be shorter than those of previous tsunamis along the Chilean subduction zone. Numerical simulations of the tsunami event showed a good agreement with field data, highlighting that tsunami arrival time and the spatial variation of the tsunami amplitudes were strongly influenced by the bathymetry, coastal morphology and the slip distribution of the causative earthquake.

The last earthquake which affected Coquimbo city took place in September 2015, with localized damage observed in low areas of the city. In addition, another seismic gap north of the 2015 earthquake rupture area has been identified; therefore, a significant earthquake and tsunami could occur in the near future. The present paper develops the tsunami fragility curve for the city of Coquimbo based on field survey data and tsunami numerical simulations. The inundation depth of the 2015 Chile tsunami in Coquimbo was estimated by means of numerical simulation with the NEOWAVE model and 5 nested grids with a maximum grid resolution of 10 m. The fragility curve exhibited behavior similar to that of other curves in plain areas in Japan, where low damage was observed at relatively high inundation depths. The new fragility curve was used to estimate the damage by possible future tsunamis in the area. The damage assessment showed that ~ 50 % of the structures in the lower area of Coquimbo have a high probability of damage in case of a tsunami generated off the coast of the study area if the city is rebuilt with the same type of structures.

The rupture process of the 2014 Iquique, Chile earthquake is inverted from teleseismic P wave data applying a novel formulation that takes into account the uncertainty of Green's function, which has been a major error source in waveform inversion. The estimated seismic moment is 1.5 × 1021 Nm (Mw = 8.1), associated with a 140 km long and 140 km wide fault rupture along the plate interface. The source process is characterized by unilateral rupture propagation. During the first 20 s, the dynamic rupture front propagated from the hypocenter to the large asperity located about 50 km southward, crossing a remarkably active foreshock area at high velocity (of about 3.0 km/s), but small and irregular seismic moment release rate. Our result may suggest that the 20 s long initial phase was influenced by the stress drop due to the foreshock activity near the main shock hypocenter. Moreover, the 2 week long swarm-like foreshock activity migrating roughly at 5 km/day toward the main shock hypocenter, and possibly associated slow slip, contributed to the stress accumulation prior to the Mw 8.1 megaquake. The main shock initial rupture phase might have triggered the rupture of the large asperity, which had large fracture energy.

We constructed the rupture process model for the 2016 Kumamoto, Japan, earthquake from broadband teleseismic body waveforms (P-waves) by using a novel waveform inversion method that takes into account the uncertainty of Green’s function. The estimated source parameters are: seismic moment = 5.1 × 1019 Nm (Mw = 7.1), fault length = 40 km, and fault width = 15 km. The mainshock rupture mainly propagated northeastward from the epicenter, for about 30 km, along an active strike-slip fault. The rupture propagation of the mainshock decelerated and terminated near the southwest side of the Aso volcano; the aftershock activity was low around the northeastern edge of the major slip area. Our results suggest that the rupture process of the mainshock and the distribution of aftershocks were influenced by the high-temperature area around the magma chamber of Mt. Aso.

A seismic source model for the Mw 8.1 2017 Chiapas, Mexico, earthquake was constructed by kinematic waveform inversion using globally observed teleseismic waveforms, suggesting that the earthquake was a normal-faulting event on a steeply dipping plane, with the major slip concentrated around a relatively shallow depth of 28 km. The modeled rupture evolution showed unilateral, down-dip propagation northwestward from the hypocenter, and the down-dip width of the main rupture was restricted to less than 30 km below the slab interface, suggesting that the down-dip extensional stresses due to the slab bending were the primary cause of the earthquake. The rupture front abruptly decelerated at the northwestern end of the main rupture where it intersected the subducting Tehuantepec Fracture Zone, suggesting that the fracture zone may have inhibited further rupture propagation.

Finite-fault earthquake source inversions infer the (time-dependent) displacement on the rupture surface from geophysical data. The resulting earthquake source models document the complexity of the rupture process. However, multiple source models for the same earthquake, obtained by different research teams, often exhibit remarkable dissimilarities. To address the uncertainties in earthquake-source inversion methods and to understand strengths and weaknesses of the various approaches used, the Source Inversion Validation (SIV) project conducts a set of forward-modeling exercises and inversion benchmarks. In this article, we describe the SIV strategy, the initial benchmarks, and current SIV results. Furthermore, we apply statistical tools for quantitative waveform comparison and for investigating source-model (dis)similarities that enable us to rank the solutions, and to identify particularly promising source inversion approaches. All SIV exercises (with related data and descriptions) and statistical comparison tools are available via an online collaboration platform, and we encourage source modelers to use the SIV benchmarks for developing and testing new methods. We envision that the SIV efforts will lead to new developments for tackling the earthquake-source imaging problem.

To evaluate diagnostic usefulness and reliability of the detection of protease-resistant prion protein in urine, we extensively analyzed proteinase K (PK)-resistant protein in patients affected with prion diseases and the control subjects by Western blot, a coupled liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry analysis, and N-terminal sequence analysis. The PK-resistant signal migrating around 32 kDa previously reported by Shaked et al. was not observed in this study. Instead, discrete protein bands with an apparent molecular mass of approximately 37 kDa were detected in the urine of many patients affected with prion diseases and two diseased controls. Although these proteins also gave strong signals in the Western blot using a variety of anti-PrP antibodies as a primary antibody, we found that the signals were still detectable by the incubation of secondary antibodies alone, i.e., in the absence of the primary anti-PrP antibodies. Mass spectrometry and N-terminal protein sequencing analysis revealed that majority of the PK-resistant 37 kDa proteins in patients’ urine were outer membrane proteins (OMPs) of Enterobacterial species. OMPs isolated from these bacteria were resistant to PK and the PK-resistant OMPs from Enterobacterial species migrated around 37 kDa on SDS-PAGE. Furthermore, non-specific binding of OMPs to antibodies could be mistaken for PrPSc. These findings caution that bacterial contamination can affect the immunological detection of prion protein. Therefore, the presence of Enterobacterial species should be excluded in the immunological tests for PrPSc in clinical samples, in particular, urine.

A few low-angle normal fault earthquakes at approximately the depth of the plate interface, with a strike nearly parallel to the trench axis, were detected immediately after the 2011 Tohoku-oki earthquake. After that, however, no such normal fault events have been observed until the occurrence of the 2014 M W 6.6 Fukushima-oki earthquake. Here we analyze the teleseismic body waveforms of the 2014 Fukushima-oki earthquake. We first compare the observed teleseismic body waves of the 2014 Fukushima-oki earthquake with those of the largest previous low-angle normal fault aftershock (M W 6.6), which occurred on 12 March 2011, and then estimate the centroid depth and moment tensor solution of the 2014 Fukushima-oki earthquake. The teleseismic body waves and moment tensor solution of the 2014 Fukushima-oki earthquake are similar to those of the 2011 normal fault aftershock, which suggests that the 2014 Fukushima-oki earthquake occurred at a similar depth and had a similar mechanism to that of the 2011 aftershock. We detected five low-angle normal fault aftershocks at approximately the depth of the plate interface, with a strike nearly parallel to the trench axis, and confirmed that all of them except for the 2014 Fukushima-oki earthquake occurred within 17 days after the mainshock. The occurrence of these low-angle normal fault events is likely to reflect the reversal of shear stress due to overshooting of slip during the 2011 Tohoku-oki earthquake. We speculate that a fast but heterogeneous recovery of stress state at the plate interface may explain why these events preferentially occurred immediately after the megathrust event, while one of them occurred with a significant delay. In order to better understand the characteristics of stress state in the crust, we have to carefully observe the ongoing seismic activity around this region.

High-frequency seismic waves are generated by abrupt changes of rupture velocity and slip-rate during an earthquake. Therefore, analysis of high-frequency waves is crucial to understanding the dynamic rupture process. Here, we developed a hybrid back-projection method that considers variations in focal mechanisms by introducing a non-planar fault model that reflects the subducting slab geometry. We applied it to teleseismic P-waveforms of the Mw 8.8 2010 Chile earthquake to estimate the spatiotemporal distribution of high-frequency (0.5–2.0 Hz) radiation. By comparing the result with the coseismic slip distribution obtained by waveform inversion, we found that strong high-frequency radiation can precede and may trigger a large asperity rupture. Moreover, in between the large slip events, high-frequency radiation of intermediate strength was concentrated along the rupture front. This distribution suggests that by bridging the two large slips, this intermediate-strength high-frequency radiation might play a key role in the interaction of the large slip events.

We resolve the density structure of a possible magma reservoir beneath Aso, an active volcano on Kyushu Island, Japan, by inverting gravity data. In the context of the resolved structure, we discuss the relationship between the fault rupture of the 2016 Kumamoto earthquake and Aso volcano. Low-density bodies were resolved beneath central Aso volcano using a three-dimensional inversion with an assumed density contrast of ±0.3 g/cm3. The resultant location of the southern low-density body is consistent with a magma reservoir reported in previous studies. No Kumamoto aftershocks occur in the southern low-density body; this aseismic anomaly may indicate a ductile feature due to high temperatures and/or the presence of partial melt. Comparisons of the location of the southern low-density body with rupture models of the mainshock, obtained from teleseismic waveform and InSAR data, suggest that the rupture terminus overlaps the southern low-density body. The ductile features of a magma reservoir could have terminated rupture propagation. On the other hand, a northern low-density body is resolved in the Asodani area, where evidence of current volcanic activity is scarce and aftershock activity is high. The northern low-density body might, therefore, be derived from a thick caldera fill in the Asodani area, or correspond to mush magma or a high-crystallinity magma reservoir that could be the remnant of an ancient intrusion.

Because a definite diagnosis of prion diseases relies on the detection of the abnormal isoform of prion protein (PrPSc), it has been urgently necessary to establish a non-invasive diagnostic test to detect PrPSc in human prion diseases. To evaluate diagnostic usefulness and reliability of the detection of protease-resistant prion protein in urine, we extensively analyzed proteinase K (PK)-resistant proteins in patients affected with prion diseases and control subjects by Western blot, a coupled liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry analysis, and N-terminal sequence analysis. The PK-resistant signal migrating around 32 kDa previously reported by Shaked et al. (Shaked, G. M., Shaked, Y., Kariv-Inbal, Z., Halimi, M., Avraham, I., and Gabizon, R. (2001) J. Biol. Chem. 276, 31479-31482) was not observed in this study. Instead, discrete protein bands with an apparent molecular mass of approximately 37 kDa were detected in the urine of many patients affected with prion diseases and two diseased controls. Although these proteins also gave strong signals in the Western blot using a variety of anti-PrP antibodies as a primary antibody, we found that the signals were still detectable by incubation of secondary antibodies alone, i.e. in the absence of the primary anti-PrP antibodies. Mass spectrometry and N-terminal protein sequencing analysis revealed that the majority of the PK-resistant 37-kDa proteins in the urine of patients were outer membrane proteins (OMPs) of the Enterobacterial species. OMPs isolated from these bacteria were resistant to PK and the PK-resistant OMPs from the Enterobacterial species migrated around 37 kDa on SDS-PAGE. Furthermore, nonspecific binding of OMPs to antibodies could be mistaken for PrPSc. These findings caution that bacterial contamination can affect the immunological detection of prion protein. Therefore, the presence of Enterobacterial species should be excluded in the immunological tests for PrPSc in clinical samples, in particular, urine.