interseismic strain accumulation in south central chile from gps measurements 1996 1999 1 two campaigns of global positioning system gps measurements were carried out in the concepcion constitucion area of chile in 1996 and 1999 it is very likely that this area is a mature seismic gap since no subduction earthquake has occurred there since 1835 in 1996 32 sites were occupied in the range 35 s 37 s between the pacific coast of chile and the andes near the chile argentina border in 1999 the network was extended by the installation of 9 new points in the arauco region whereas 13 points among the 1996 stations were reoccupied the analysis of this campaign data set together with the data recorded at eight continuous gps sites mostly igs stations in south america and surrounding regions indicates a velocity of about 40 10 mm yr in the direction n80 90 s for the coastal sites with respect to stable cratonic south america this velocity decreases to about 20 25 mm yr towards the andes we interpret this result as reflecting interseismic strain accumulation above the nazca south america subduction zone due to a locked thrust zone extending down to about 60 km depth

seismic velocity structure of the slab and continental plate in the region of the 1960 valdivia chile slip maximum insights into fluid release and plate coupling the south central chilean subduction zone has witnessed some of the largest earthquakes in history making this region particularly important for understanding plate coupling here we present the results of a local earthquake tomography study from a temporary local seismic network in the villarrica region between 39 and 40 s where the largest coseismic displacement of the 1960 valdivia earthquake occurred a lowvelocity anomaly and high vp vs values occur under the coastal region indicating mantle serpentinisation and or underthrusting of forearc material further east a high velocity anomaly is observed interpreted as normal high velocity mantle under the active volcanic arc a low velocity anomaly together with high vp vs ratios 1 8 and higher likely images fluid ascent beneath the volcanoes close to the subducting valdivia fracture zone the coastal low velocity anomaly extends further inland where it interrupts and shifts the high velocity anomalies associated with normal fast mantle velocities this may indicate enhanced fluid presence along this part of the margin probably caused by a stronger hydration of the incoming plate along the valdivia fracture zone this is consistent with geochemical fluid proxies u th pb ce ba nb in young volcanic rocks displaying peak values along the volcanic front at llaima and villarrica volcanoes and with recent gps measurements which suggested a local reduction in plate coupling in this region the shift in the high velocity anomaly underlying the central part may be caused by a north to south decrease in plate age and hydration across the valdivia fracture zone and may explain why a central valley is absent in this segment of the margin the low la yb ratios in the volcanic rocks from villarrica and llaima suggest that the high slab derived fluid flux causes elevated degrees of melting beneath these volcanoes providing an explanation as to why these are amongst the most active volcanoes in south america

quantifying slip balance in the earthquake cycle coseismic slip model constrained by interseismic coupling the long term slip on faults has to follow on average the plate motion while slip deficit is accumulated over shorter timescales e g between the large earthquakes accumulated slip deficits eventually have to be released by earthquakes and aseismic processes in this study we propose a new inversion approach for coseismic slip taking interseismic slip deficit as prior information we assume a linear correlation between coseismic slip and interseismic slip deficit and invert for the coefficients that link the coseismic displacements to the required strain accumulation time and seismic release level of the earthquake we apply our approach to the 2011 m9 tohoku oki earthquake and the 2004 m6 parkfield earthquake under the assumption that the largest slip almost fully releases the local strain as indicated by borehole measurements our results suggest that the strain accumulated along the tohoku oki earthquake segment has been almost fully released during the 2011 m9 rupture the remaining slip deficit can be attributed to the postseismic processes similar conclusions can be drawn for the 2004 m6 parkfield earthquake we also estimate the required time of strain accumulation for the 2004 m6 parkfield earthquake to be 25 years confidence interval of 17 43 years consistent with the observed average recurrence time of 22 years for m6 earthquakes in parkfield for the tohoku oki earthquake we estimate the recurrence time of 500 700 years this new inversion approach for evaluating slip balance can be generally applied to any earthquake for which dense geodetic measurements are available

rapid crustal uplift in patagonia due to enhanced ice loss abstract a vertical crustal uplift rate of 39 mm yr 1 is measured between 2003 and 2006 using global positioning system gps measurements at the northeastern edge of the southern patagonia icefield spi this is the largest present day glacial isostatic rate ever recorded the combination of spi s rapid melting and the unique regional slab window tectonics that promotes a relatively low viscosity is central to our interpretation of the observations the two effects lead to a strong interaction of short relaxation times with ice loads that change on a comparable time scale the profile of gps observations link ice loss to the soft viscoelastic isostatic flow response over the time scale of the little ice age lia including ice loss in the period of observation the agreement of the results with our model predictions strongly suggests the large crustal uplift in patagonia is due an accelerated glacier wasting since the termination of the lia and that the effective regional mantle viscosity is near 4 0 8 0 10 18 pa s a century long diminution of the icefields at rates that are about 1 4 1 2 the contemporary loss rates is consistent with multidecadal scale temperature trends estimated for the past 50 100 years and is in fact a key feature in any model capable of explaining the uplift data

itrf2000 a new release of the international terrestrial reference frame for earth science applications 1 for the first time in the history of the international terrestrial reference frame the itrf2000 combines unconstrained space geodesy solutions that are free from any tectonic plate motion model minimum constraints are applied to these solutions solely in order to define the underlying terrestrial reference frame trf the itrf2000 origin is defined by the earth center of mass sensed by satellite laser ranging slr and its scale by slr and very long baseline interferometry its orientation is aligned to the itrf97 at epoch 1997 0 and its orientation time evolution follows conventionally that of the no net rotation nnr nuvel 1a model the itrf2000 orientation and its rate are implemented using a consistent geodetic method anchored over a selection of itrf sites of high geodetic quality ensuring a datum definition at the 1 mm level this new frame is the most extensive and accurate one ever developed containing about 800 stations located at about 500 sites with better distribution over the globe compared to past itrf versions but still with more site concentration in western europe and north america about 50 of station positions are determined to better than 1 cm and about 100 sites have their velocity estimated to at or better than 1 mm yr level the itrf2000 velocity field was used to estimate relative rotation poles for six major tectonic plates that are independent of the trf orientation rate a comparison to relative rotation poles of the nuvel 1a plate motion model shows vector differences ranging between 0 03 and 0 08 m y equivalent to approximately 1 7 mm yr over the earth s surface itrf2000 angular velocities for four plates relative to the pacific plate appear to be faster than those predicted by the nuvel 1a model the two most populated plates in terms of space geodetic sites north america and eurasia exhibit a relative euler rotation pole of about 0 056 0 005 m y faster than the pole predicted by nuvel 1a and located about 10 n 7 e more to the northwest compared to that model

middle and late holocene paleotemperatures reconstructed from oxygen isotopes and gdgts of sediments from lake pupuke new zealand abstract quantitative holocene temperature reconstructions for southern hemisphere terrestrial environments are still restricted to few records and multi proxy methods are rarely applied to the same system here we test the applicability and comparability of temperature reconstructions inferred from different methodological approaches we combined sedimentary cellulose and diatom oxygen isotope data from lake pupuke north island new zealand to derive a record of lake water temperatures this record is complemented with mean annual air temperatures derived from the branched gdgt index mbt measured on the same sedimentary record the datasets of both reconstructions show little temperature variation for the period 1320 7110 cal bp the exceptions are a warmer period culminating between 1700 and 1600 cal bp reflected in both proxies and centennial scale intervals with cooler water temperatures at 3380 and 2750 cal bp recorded in the oxygen isotope based temperature reconstruction but not in the mbt inferred air temperature estimates we suggest that variations in lake circulation are the likely reason for deviations between temperature reconstructed from different proxies

the 1960 chile earthquake inversion for slip distribution from surface deformation summary a total of 166 observations of sea level change 130 measurements of elevation difference and 16 determinations of horizontal strain provide an excellent view of the quasi static source process of the great 1960 chilean earthquake these surface deformation data were employed in classical uniform slip fault models as well as more recently developed models that allow spatial variability of slip the best uniform slip planar usp model is 850km long 130km wide and dips 20 seventeen metres of fault displacement contributed to a usp moment of 9 4 times 1022 n m the variable slip planar vsp model concentrates slip on a 900 km long 150 km wide band parallel to the coast several peaks of slip with dimensions of 50 100 km appear in this band and are thought to represent major subduction zone asperities important fractures of the oceanic lithosphere bound the 1960 rupture and are offered as a potential source of fault segmentation within the chilean subduction zone the vsp moment for 1960 earthquake totals 9 5 times 1022 n m about one fifth of the value estimated for the foreshock mainshock sequence from seismic methods except for areas out to sea geodetic resolution on the fault is fairly uniform thus it is unlikely that slip missed by the network could increase the vsp moment much beyond 1 8 times 1023 n m several patches of moment isolated from the main body at 80 110 km depth are found down dip in the vsp model and are presumably indicative of aseismic slip one patch at the northern end of the rupture is probably associated with the initiation phase of the mainshock although the time sequence of the relationship is unknown tide gauge records suggest that another patch between 40 and 43 s responsible for the observed strain and uplifts inland at those latitudes is not of coseismic origin but derives from in place post seismic creep over several years apparently great 1960 type events are not typical members of the 128 yr earthquake cycle in south central chile the nazca south america boundary here is characterized by a variable rupture mode in which major asperities are completely broken by great earthquakes only once in four or five earthquake cycles the more frequent large earthquakes that geographically overlap the great events fill in between the locked zones

strain and rotation rate from gps in tibet anatolia and the altiplano 1 deformation measured by regional gps networks in continental plateaus reflects the geologic and tectonic variability of the plateaus for two collisional plateaus tibet and anatolia and one noncollisional the altiplano we analyze the regional strain and rotation rate by inverting gps velocities to calculate the full two dimensional velocity gradient tensor to test the method we use gridded velocities determined from an elastic block model for the eastern mediterranean middle east region and show that to a first order the deformation calculated directly from the gps vectors provides an accurate description of regional deformation patterns principal shortening and extension rate axes vertical axis rotation and two dimensional 2 d volume strain dilatation are very consistent with long term geological features over large areas indicating that the gps velocity fields reflect processes responsible for the recent geologic evolution of the plateaus differences between geological and gps descriptions of deformation can be attributed either to gps networks that are too sparse to capture local interseismic deformation or to permanent deformation that accrues during strong earthquakes the altiplano has higher internal shortening magnitudes than the other two plateaus and negative 2 d dilatation everywhere vertical axis rotation changes sign across the topographic symmetry axis and is due to distributed deformation throughout the plateau in contrast the collisional plateaus have large regions of quasi rigid body rotation bounded by strike slip faults with the opposite rotation sense from the rotating blocks tibet and anatolia are the mirror images of each other both have regions of positive dilatation on the outboard sides of the rotating blocks positive dilatation in the aegean correlates with a region of crustal thinning whereas that in eastern tibet and yunnan province in china is associated with an area of vertical uplift rollback of the hellenic trench clearly facilitates the rotation of anatolia rollback of the sumatra burma trench probably also enables rotation about the eastern syntaxis of tibet

full interseismic locking of the nankai and japan west kurile subduction zones an analysis of uniform elastic strain accumulation in japan constrained by permanent gps we analyze permanent global positioning system gps data obtained over japan between 1995 and 1997 to estimate the instantaneous interseismic coupling ratio of the seismogenic zones due to the subduction of the pacific and philippine sea plates below the japanese islands we first derive the gps strain rate fields that characterize the crustal deformation of southern and northern japan and invert them to determine the effective subduction velocity along the central nankai trough on one side and the japan west kurile trench on the other these reference free velocities are close to those predicted by plate motion models with respect to eurasia we conclude that the eurasian reference frame gives a good approximation to the subduction motion and that to first order both subduction zones were fully locked during the period of measurements we then test whether the coupling ratio shows local variations within the seismogenic zones to do this we divide the subduction interface into 35 km 30 km elements that we model by point source groups and we invert the gps velocity field referenced to eurasia to derive the coupling ratio between 0 and 1 on each fault element the results are coherent over the 3 years and confirm that both the central nankai and the japan west kurile seismogenic zones are homogeneously fully locked most of the coupling ratios are close to 1 and a few are close to 0 intermediate values are rare the zones of decoupling correspond either to strong postseismic afterslip associated with the 1994 sanriku oki interplate earthquake japan trench or to a small overestimation of the actual lower limit of the locked zone we conclude that within the resolution of the gps data and the model 1 partial coupling did not exist during these 3 years along the nankai and japan west kurile trenches 2 the small seismic coupling ratio previously derived from earthquakes analysis for the japan and kurile trenches may indicate that a significant part of the elastic energy is dissipated silently through slow earthquakes and postseismic afterslip and 3 the heterogeneous coseismic slip pattern observed for the large and great earthquakes that rupture both subduction zones is in great contrast to the homogeneous loading finally we discuss the nonelastic residual deformation within the frame of the long term deformation of the japanese islands

crustal earthquake triggering by modern great earthquakes on subduction zone thrusts among the many questions raised by the recent abundance of great m 8 0 subduction thrust earthquakes is their potential to trigger damaging earthquakes on crustal faults within the overriding plate and beneath many of the world s densely populated urban centers we take advantage of the coincident abundance of great earthquakes globally and instrumental observations since 1960 to assess this triggering potential by analyzing centroids and focal mechanisms from the centroid moment tensor catalog for events starting in 1976 and published reports about the m9 5 1960 chile and m9 2 1964 alaska earthquake sequences we find clear increases in the rates of crustal earthquakes in the overriding plate within days following all subduction thrust earthquakes of m 8 6 within about 10 of the triggering event centroid latitude and longitude this result is consistent with dynamic triggering of more distant increases of shallow seismicity rates at distances beyond 10 suggesting that dynamic triggering may be important within the near field too crustal earthquake rate increases may also follow smaller m 7 5 subduction thrust events but because activity typically occurs offshore in the immediately vicinity of the triggering rupture plane it cannot be unambiguously attributed to sources within the overriding plate these observations are easily explained in the context of existing earthquake scaling laws

quantifying offshore fore arc deformation and splay fault slip using drowned pleistocene shorelines arauco bay chile most of the deformation associated with the seismic cycle in subduction zones occurs offshore and has been therefore difficult to quantify with direct observations at millennial time scales here we study millennial deformation associated with an active splay fault system in the arauco bay area off south central chile we describe hitherto unrecognized drowned shorelines using high resolution multibeam bathymetry geomorphic sedimentologic and paleontologic observations and quantify uplift rates using a landscape evolution model along a margin normal profile uplift rates are 1 3 m ka near the edge of the continental shelf 1 5 m ka at the emerged santa maria island 0 1 m ka at the center of the arauco bay and 0 3 m ka in the mainland the bathymetry images a complex pattern of folds and faults representing the surface expression of the crustal scale santa maria splay fault system we modeled surface deformation using two different structural scenarios deep reaching normal faults and deep reaching reverse faults with shallow extensional structures our preferred model comprises a blind reverse fault extending from 3 km depth down to the plate interface at 16 km that slips at a rate between 3 0 and 3 7 m ka if all the splay fault slip occurs during every great megathrust earthquake with a recurrence of 150 200 years the fault would slip 0 5 m per event equivalent to a magnitude 6 4 earthquake however if the splay fault slips only with a megathrust earthquake every 1000 years the fault would slip 3 7 m per event equivalent to a magnitude 7 5 earthquake

joint determination of slip and stress drop in a bayesian inversion approach a case study for the 2010 m8 8 maule earthquake stress drop is a key factor in earthquake mechanics and engineering seismology however stress drop calculations based on fault slip can be significantly biased particularly due to subjectively determined smoothing conditions in the traditional least square slip inversion in this study we introduce a mechanically constrained bayesian approach to simultaneously invert for fault slip and stress drop based on geodetic measurements a gaussian distribution for stress drop is implemented in the inversion as a prior we have done several synthetic tests to evaluate the stability and reliability of the inversion approach considering different fault discretization fault geometries utilized datasets and variability of the slip direction respectively we finally apply the approach to the 2010 m8 8 maule earthquake and invert for the coseismic slip and stress drop simultaneously two fault geometries from the literature are tested our results indicate that the derived slip models based on both fault geometries are similar showing major slip north of the hypocenter and relatively weak slip in the south as indicated in the slip models of other studies the derived mean stress drop is 5 6 mpa which is close to the stress drop of 7 mpa that was independently determined according to force balance in this region luttrell et al j geophys res 2011 these findings indicate that stress drop values can be consistently extracted from geodetic data

the north sea pole tide described through a tide surge numerical model monthly mean sea level values from tide gauges at the coasts of the north sea are compared with the monthly means from an operational tide surge numerical model for the time period 1955 1984 the model describes most of the variability at all frequencies except the annual most of the energy around the pole tide frequency is also reproduced by the model and since its tidal forcing does not include the equilibrium pole tide frequencies it is concluded that the deviations from the equilibrium pole tide are of meteorological origin the east west wind stress component is found to be energetic at this frequency thus providing the meteorological forcing the annual cycle due to steric effects is also estimated the meteorological correction modifies the determined sea level secular trends by up to 0 8mm yr for this 30 year period for stations in the eastern north sea

strain accumulation across the denali fault in the delta river canyon alaska deformation along the denali fault in the delta river canyon was determined from geodetic surveys in 1941 1942 1970 1975 and 1979 the data were best for the 1975 1979 interval in that period the average strain accumulation was essentially pure right lateral shear at a rate of 0 6 0 1 rad a a is years engineering shear across a vertical plane striking n87 e the plane of maximum shear is rotated about 30 counterclockwise from the local strike of the denali fault but closely coincides with the strike of a major linear segment of the fault that begins 50 km farther west the deformation between 1941 1942 and 1970 is consistent with a similar rate of strain accumulation if one removes the coseismic strain step contributed by the 1964 alaska earthquake the 1970 1975 deformation is poorly defined owing to uncertainties in the 1970 survey but the strain accumulation during that period is certainly much less than during the 1975 1979 interval the 1975 1979 strain accumulation is interpreted by means of a dislocation model which suggests that the denali fault in the vicinity of the delta river canyon behaves as a leaky transform fault i e a source of spreading as well as lateral slip the block south of the denali fault appears to be moving westward parallel to the strike of the denali fault west of the 147th meridian at the rate of about 20 mm a relative to the north american plate because the linear segment of the denali fault east of the 147th meridian along which the geodetic network is located strikes n63 w accommodation of the westward motion of the southern block requires some spreading within the fault zone as well as right lateral slip on the fault

paleomagnetic rotation pattern of the southern chile fore arc sliver 38 s 42 s a new tool to evaluate plate locking along subduction zones the chile fore arc at 37 s 47 s represents the coseismic deformation zone of the 1960 mw 9 5 valdivia earthquake here we report on the paleomagnetism of 43 oligocene pleistocene volcanic sites from the fore arc sliver between 38 s and 42 s sites were gathered west of the 1000 km long liquine ofqui dextral fault zone lofz that represents the eastern fore arc sliver boundary nineteen reliable sites reveal that the fore arc is characterized by counterclockwise ccw rotations of variable magnitude except at 40 s 41 s where ultrafast 50 myr clockwise cw rotations occur within a 30 km wide zone adjacent to the lofz ccw rotation variability even at close sites and rapidity 10 myr suggest that the observed block rotation pattern is related to nw se seismically active sinistral faults crosscutting the whole fore arc according to previously published data cw rotations up to 170 also occur east of the lofz and have been related to ongoing lofz shear we suggest that the occurrence and width of the eastern fore arc sliver undergoing cw rotations is a function of plate coupling along the subduction zone interface zones of high coupling enhance stress normal to the lofz induce high lofz strength and yield a wide deformation zone characterized by cw rotations conversely low coupling imply a weak lofz a lack of cw rotations and a fore arc entirely dominated by ccw rotations related to sinistral fault kinematics our locking inferences are in good agreement with those recently derived by gps analysis and indicate that seismotectonic segment coupling has remained virtually unchanged during the last 5 ma

coseismic slip of the 2010 mw 8 8 great maule chile earthquake quantified by the inversion of grace observations abstract the 27 february 2010 mw 8 8 maule chile earthquake ruptured over 500 km along a mature seismic gap between 34 s and 38 s the concepcion constitucion gap where no large megathrust earthquakes had occurred since the 1835 mw 8 5 event notable discrepancies exist in slip distribution and moment magnitude estimated by various models inverted using traditional observations such as teleseismic networks coastal river markers tsunami sensors global positioning system gps and interferometric synthetic aperture radar insar we conduct a spatio spectral localization analysis based on slepian basis functions of data from gravity recovery and climate experiment grace to extract coseismic gravity change signals of the maule earthquake with improved spatial resolution 350 km half wavelength our results reveal discernible differences in the average slip between the grace observation and predictions from various coseismic models the sensitivity analysis reveals that grace observation is sensitive to the size of the fault but unable to separate depth and slip here we assume the depth of the fault is known and simultaneously invert for the fault plane area and the average slip using the simulated annealing algorithm our grace inverted fault plane length and width are 429 6 km 146 5 km respectively the estimated slip is 8 1 1 2 m indicating that most of the strain accumulated since 1835 in the concepcion constitucion gap was released by the 2010 maule earthquake

tectonics climate and mountain topography 1 by regressing simple independent variables that describe climate and tectonic processes against measures of topography and relief of 69 mountain ranges worldwide we quantify the relative importance of these processes in shaping observed landscapes climate variables include latitude as a surrogate for mean annual temperature and insolation but most importantly for the likelihood of glaciation and mean annual precipitation to quantify tectonics we use shortening rates across each range as a measure of topography we use mean and maximum elevations and relief calculated over different length scales we show that the combination of climate negative correlation and tectonics positive correlation explain substantial fractions 25 but 50 of mean and maximum elevations of mountain ranges but that shortening rates account for smaller portions 25 of the variance in most measures of topography and relief i e with low correlations and large scatter relief is insensitive to mean annual precipitation but does depend on latitude especially for relief calculated over small 1 km length scales which we infer to reflect the importance of glacial erosion larger scale averaged over length scales of 10 km relief however correlates positively with tectonic shortening rate moreover the ratio between small scale and large scale relief as well as the relative relief the relief normalized by the mean elevation of the region varies most strongly with latitude strong positive correlation therefore the location of a mountain range on earth with its corresponding climatic conditions not just tectonic forcing appears to be a key factor in determining its shape and size in any case the combination of tectonics and climate as quantified here can account for approximately half of the variance in these measures of topography the failure of present day shortening rates to account for more than 25 of most measures of relief raises the question is active tectonics overrated in attempts to account for present day relief and exhumation rates of high terrain

the southern andes between 36 and 40 s latitude seismicity and average seismic velocities abstract the project issa 2000 integrated seismological experiment in the southern andes consists of a temporary seismological network and a seismic refraction profile a network of 62 seismological stations was deployed across the southern andes at 38 s three hundred thirty three local seismic events were observed in a 3 month period p and s arrival times of a subset of high quality data were inverted simultaneously for 1 d velocity structure hypocentral coordinates and station delays seismic refraction data along a transect at 39 s provide further constraints on the crustal structure low crustal velocities beneath the forearc may be either due to subducted trench sediments or serpentinized mantle material of the continental lithosphere the continental moho is not clearly observed in this region average velocities of the crust beneath the arc are higher than those beneath the forearc crustal thickness is about 40 km crustal seismicity concentrates in the forearc region along the bio bio and gastre fault zones the area between these two prominent fault zones seems to be nearly devoid of crustal seismicity but shows highest uplift and topography in the forearc region benioff seismicity is observed down to 150 km depth resulting in the first accurate image of the benioff zone in the southern andes a maximum of seismicity at 60 km depth may be caused by dehydration embrittlement

the earthquake deformation cycle recurrence and the time predictable model geodetic and geologic observations from a handful of well studied great plate boundary earthquakes provide a basis for exploring those features of the deformation cycle having the strongest influence on recurrence estimation in ideal circumstances the time predictable model requires knowledge of only the seismic slip and time of the last earthquake and the rate of relative plate motion or fault slip practically indirect measurements must usually suffice local coseismic strain changes rather than seismic slip and local deformation rate rather than slip rate permanent nonrecoverable deformation often roughly half the coseismic strain offset near great thrust earthquakes complicates the inference of interplate seismic slip owing to short and long term postseismic transients commonly 20 40 of the coseismic strain drop deformation rates are variable and not simply related to the plate motion rate at strike slip plate boundaries these complications can sometimes be avoided and seismic slip and slip rate can be obtained more or less directly when these favorable circumstances are absent and when knowledge of the deformation cycle is incomplete recurrence accuracy can be improved by empirically correcting for unknown elements of the cycle systematic features in the spatial distribution of the transients and permanent deformation near subduction zones help identify the regions where these corrections are largest and where the shortcomings of the empirical approach are most severe

towards inferring earthquake patterns from geodetic observations of interseismic coupling ultimately seismotectonic studies seek to provide ways of assessing the timing magnitude and spatial extent of future earthquakes ample observations document the spatial variability in interseismic coupling defined as a degree of locking of a fault during the period of stress build up between seismic events fully or nearly locked fault patches are often surrounded by aseismically creeping areas however it is unclear how these observations could help assess future earthquakes here we simulate spontaneous seismic and aseismic fault slip with a fully dynamic numerical model our simulations establish the dependence of earthquake rupture patterns and interseismic coupling on spatial variations of fault friction we consider the long term evolution of slip on a model fault where two seismogenic locked segments are separated by an aseismically slipping patch where rupture is impeded we find that the probability for a large earthquake to break through the rupture impeding patch is correlated with the interseismic coupling averaged over this patch in addition the probability that an earthquake breaks through the rupture impeding patch and interseismic coupling are both related to fault friction properties through a single non dimensional parameter our study opens the possibility of predicting seismic rupture patterns that a fault system can produce on the basis of observations of its interseismic coupling and suggests that regions of low interseismic coupling may reveal permanent barriers to large earthquakes

splay fault slip during the mw 8 8 2010 maule chile earthquake splay faults are thrusts that emerge from the plate boundaries of subduction zones such structures have been mapped at several convergent margins and their activity commonly ascribed to large megathrust earthquakes however the behavior of splay faults during the earthquake cycle is poorly constrained because typically these structures are located offshore and are difficult to access here we use geologic mapping combined with space and land geodesy as well as offshore sonar data to document surface fault ruptures and coastal uplift at isla santa maria in south central chile 37 s caused by the 27 february 2010 maule earthquake m w 8 8 during the earthquake the island was tilted parallel to the margin and normal faults ruptured the surface and adjacent ocean bottom we associate tilt and crestal normal faulting with growth of an anticline above a blind reverse fault rooted in the nazca south america plate boundary which slipped during the maule earthquake the splay fault system has formed in an area of reduced coseismic plate boundary slip suggesting that anelastic deformation in the upper plate may have restrained the 2010 megathrust rupture surface fault breaks were accompanied by prominent discharge of fluids our field observations support the notion that splay faulting may frequently complement and influence the rupture of subduction zone earthquakes

segmentation of the 2010 maule chile earthquake rupture from a joint analysis of uplifted marine terraces and seismic cycle deformation patterns abstract the segmentation of major fault systems in subduction zones controls earthquake magnitude and location but the causes for the existence of segment boundaries and the relationships between long term deformation and the extent of earthquake rupture are poorly understood we compare permanent and seismic cycle deformation patterns along the rupture zone of the 2010 maule earthquake m8 8 which ruptured 500 km of the chile subduction margin we analyzed the morphology of mis 5 marine terraces using lidar topography and established their chronology and coeval origin with twelve luminescence ages stratigraphy and geomorphic correlation obtaining a virtually continuous distribution of uplift rates along the entire rupture zone the mean uplift rate for these terraces is 0 5 m ka this value is exceeded in three areas which have experienced rapid emergence of up to 1 6 m ka they are located at the northern central and southern sectors of the rupture zone referred to as topocalma carranza and arauco respectively the three sectors correlate with boundaries of eight great earthquakes dating back to 1730 the topocalma and arauco sectors located at the boundaries of the 2010 rupture consist of broad zones of crustal warping with wavelengths of 60 and 90 km respectively these two regions coincide with the axes of oroclinal bending of the entire andean margin and correlate with changes in curvature of the plate interface rapid uplift at carranza in turn is of shorter wavelength and associated with footwall flexure of three crustal scale normal faults the uplift rate at carranza is inversely correlated with plate coupling as well as with coseismic slip suggesting permanent deformation may accumulate interseismically we propose that the zones of upwarping at arauco and topocalma reflect changes in frictional properties of the megathrust resulting in barriers to the propagation of great earthquakes slip during the 1960 m9 5 and 2010 events overlapped with the 90 km long zone of rapid uplift at arauco similarly slip in 2010 and 1906 extended across the 60 km long section of the megathrust at topocalma but this area was completely breached by the 1730 m 9 event which propagated southward until carranza both arauco and topocalma show evidence of sustained rapid uplift since at least the middle pleistocene these two sectors might thus constitute discrete seismotectonic boundaries restraining most but not all great earthquake ruptures based on our observations such barriers might be breached during multi segment super cycle events

using uplifted holocene beach berms for paleoseismic analysis on the santa maria island south central chile major earthquakes m 8 have repeatedly ruptured the nazca south america plate interface of south central chile involving meter scale land level changes earthquake recurrence intervals however extending beyond limited historical records are virtually unknown but would provide crucial data on the tectonic behavior of forearcs we analyzed the spatiotemporal pattern of holocene earthquakes on santa maria island smi 37 degrees s located 20 km off the chilean coast and approximately 70 km east of the trench smi hosts a minimum of 21 uplifted beach berms of which a subset were dated to calculate a mean uplift rate of 2 3 0 2 m ky and a tilting rate of 0 022 0 002 degrees ky the inferred recurrence interval of strandline forming earthquakes is similar to 180 years combining coseismic uplift and aseismic subsidence during an earthquake cycle the net gain in strandline elevation in this environment is similar to 0 4 m per event

toward understanding tectonic control on the mw 8 8 2010 maule chile earthquake the maule earthquake of 27th february 2010 m w 8 8 affected similar to 500 km of the nazca south america plate boundary in south central chile producing spectacular crustal deformation here we present a detailed estimate of static coseismic surface offsets as measured by survey and continuous gps both in near and far field regions earthquake slip along the megathrust has been inferred from a joint inversion of our new data together with published gps insar and land level changes data using green s functions generated by a spherical finite element model with realistic subduction zone geometry the combination of the data sets provided a good resolution indicating that most of the slip was well resolved coseismic slip was concentrated north of the epicenter with up to 16 m of slip whereas to the south it reached over 10 m within two minor patches a comparison of coseismic slip with the slip deficit accumulated since the last great earthquake in 1835 suggests that the 2010 event closed a mature seismic gap slip deficit distribution shows an apparent local overshoot that highlight cycle to cycle variability which has to be taken into account when anticipating future events from interseismic observations rupture propagation was obviously not affected by bathymetric features of the incoming plate instead splay faults in the upper plate seem to have limited rupture propagation in the updip and along strike directions additionally we found that along strike gradients in slip are spatially correlated with geometrical inflections of the megathrust our study suggests that persistent tectonic features may control strain accumulation and release along subduction megathrusts c 2012 elsevier b v all rights reserved

earthquake cycle dominates contemporary crustal deformation in central and southern andes with the advent of global positioning system gps technology and its applications to high precision geodesy earth scientists have gained an unprecedented opportunity to study the kinematics and dynamics of present day deformation processes along plate boundary zones however until now our knowledge of the deformation processes associated with the andean subduction along the western coast of south america has been limited here we present first estimates of present day crustal deformation rates in the central and southern sections of the andes between latitudes 22 s and 42 s we find that the deformation in the central section of our study area is dominated by the interseismic phase of an earthquake deformation cycle caused by 100 coupling of the thrust interface between the subducting nazca and the overriding south america plates the estimated depth of coupling is not uniform along strike north of 30 s it is v33 km deep while south of 35 s it reaches 50 km depth in addition we observed postseismic relaxation effects in the northern part of our network in the area of the 1995 mw8 0 antofagasta earthquake south of 38 s we detected a similar deformation pattern as in the antofagasta area which we attribute to postseismic relaxation effects of the 1960 mw9 5 valdivia earthquake fl 2001 elsevier science b v all rights reserved

active faulting and heterogeneous deformation across a megathrust segment boundary from gps data south central chile 36 39 s 1 this study focuses on the present day deformation mechanisms of the south central chile margin at the transition zone between two megathrust earthquake segments defined from historical data the valdivia and concepcion sectors new gps data and finite element models with complex geometries constrained by geophysical data are presented to gain insight into forearc kinematics and to address the role of upper plate faults on contemporary deformation gps vectors are heterogeneously distributed in two domains that follow these two earthquake segments we find that models which simulate only interseismic locking on the plate interface fail to reproduce surface deformation in the entire study area in the concepcion domain models that include a crustal scale fault in the upper plate better reproduce the gps observations in the valdivia domain gps data show regional scale vertical axis rotations which could reflect postseismic deformation processes at the edge of the mw 9 5 earthquake that ruptured in 1960 and or activity of another crustal fault related to motion of a forearc sliver our study suggests that upper plate faults in addition to earthquake cycle transients may exert an important control on the surface velocity of subduction zone forearcs

interseismic coupling segmentation and mechanical behavior of the central chile subduction zone global positioning system gps measurements carried out in chile over the last two decades showed that an entire portion of the nazca south america subduction zone 38 s 24 s was locked over this period of time the induced accumulation of elastic deformation in the upper plate was not released until the recent maule earthquake of 27 february 2010 mw 8 8 that ruptured the southern part of this section locking or coupling between the two plates varies both with depth and along strike here we use our own gps data an updated solution of our extended network in central chile combined with other published data sets to quantify the spatial variations of the coupling that prevailed before the maule earthquake using a simple elastic model based on the back slip assumption we show that coupling variations on the subduction plane are sufficient to explain the observed surface deformation with no need of a sliver in central chile we identify four segments characterized by higher coupling and separated by narrow areas of lower coupling this segmentation is in good agreement with historical and recent seismicity in chile in particular the narrow zones of lower coupling seem to have stopped most large seismic ruptures including maule s these zones are often associated with irregular bathymetric or coastal features fracture zones or peninsulas finally coseismic and early post seismic slip distribution of the maule earthquake occurring either in previously highly or weakly coupled zones map a complex distribution of velocity weakening and velocity strengthening patches on the subduction interface

heterogeneous plate locking in the south central chile subduction zone building up the next great earthquake abstract we use global positioning system gps velocities and kinematic finite element models fe models to infer the state of locking between the converging nazca and south america plates in south central chile 36 s 46 s and to evaluate its spatial and temporal variability gps velocities provide information on earthquake cycle deformation over the last decade in areas affected by the megathrust events of 1960 m w 9 5 and 2010 m w 8 8 our data confirm that a change in surface velocity patterns of these two seismotectonic segments can be related to their different stages in the seismic cycle accordingly the northern 2010 segment was in a final stage of interseismic loading whereas the southern 1960 segment is still in a postseismic stage and undergoes a prolonged viscoelastic mantle relaxation after correcting the signals for mantle relaxation the residual gps velocity pattern suggests that the plate interface accumulates slip deficit in a spatially and presumably temporally variable way towards the next great event though some similarity exist between locking and 1960 coseismic slip extrapolating the current decadal scale slip deficit accumulation towards the 300 yr recurrence times of giant events here does neither yield the slip distribution nor the moment magnitude of the 1960 earthquake this suggests that either the locking pattern is evolving in time to reconcile a slip deficit distribution similar to the 1960 earthquake or that some asperities are not persistent over multiple events the accumulated moment deficit since 1960 suggests that highly locked patches in the 1960 segment are already capable of producing a m 8 event if triggered to fail by stress transfer from the 2010 event

space geodetic estimation of the nazca south america euler vector abstract gps data from four sites in the nazca plate easter island galapagos robinson crusoe and san felix islands and from five sites in the stable core of the south american plate enabled us to estimate the euler vector of the nazca plate with respect to south america the observed velocities of easter island 6 6 cm yr at 102 3 galapagos 5 1 cm yr at 90 0 robinson crusoe 6 6 cm yr at 80 1 and san felix 6 0 cm yr at 82 1 are significantly slower than the global plate model nuvel 1a velocites for those four sites our estimated euler pole is located at 48 8 n 91 7 w with a rate of 0 59 m y the nuvel 1a and earlier space geodetic studies give rotation rates that are 20 faster

interseismic coupling megathrust earthquakes and seismic swarms along the chilean subduction zone 38 18 s the recent expansion of dense gps networks over plate boundaries allows for remarkably precise mapping of interseismic coupling along active faults the interseismic coupling coefficient is related to the ratio between slipping velocity on the fault during the interseismic period and the long term plates velocity but the interpretation of coupling in terms of mechanical behavior of the fault is still unclear here we investigate the link between coupling and seismicity over the chilean subduction zone that ruptured three times in the last 5 years with major earthquakes maule mw 8 8 in 2010 iquique mw 8 1 in 2014 and illapel mw 8 4 in 2015 we combine recent gps data acquired over the margin 38 18 s with older data to get the first nearly continuous picture of the interseismic coupling variations on the subduction interface here we show that at least six low coupling zones lcz areas where coupling is low relatively to the neighboring highly coupled segments can be identified we also find that for the three most recent mw 8 events co seismic asperities correlate well with highly coupled segments while lczs behaved as barriers and stopped the ruptures the relation between coupling and background seismicity in the interseismic period before the events is less clear however we note that swarm sequences are prone to occur in intermediate coupling areas at the transition between lcz and neighboring segments and that the background seismicity tends to concentrate on the downdip part of the seismogenic locked zone thus highly coupled segments usually exhibit low background seismicity in this overall context the metropolitan segment that partly ruptured during the 2015 illapel earthquake appears as an outlier since both coupling and background seismicity were high before the rupture raising the issue of the remaining seismic hazard in this very densely populated area

impact of megathrust geometry on inversion of coseismic slip from geodetic data application to the 1960 chile earthquake 1 we analyze the role of megathrust geometry on slip estimation using the 1960 chile earthquake mw 9 5 as an example a variable slip distribution for this earthquake has been derived by barrientos and ward 1990 applying an elastic dislocation model with a planar fault geometry their model shows slip patches at 80 110 km depth isolated from the seismogenic zone interpreted as aseismic slip we invert the same geodetic data set using a finite element model fem with precise geometry derived from geophysical data isoparametric fem is implemented to constrain the slip distribution of curve shaped elements slip resolved by our precise geometry model is limited to the shallow region of the plate interface suggesting that the deep patches of moment were most likely an artifact of the planar geometry our study emphasizes the importance of fault geometry on slip estimation of large earthquakes

heterogeneous coupling of the sumatran megathrust constrained by geodetic and paleogeodetic measurements geodetic and paleogeodetic measurements of interseismic strain above the sumatran portion of the sunda subduction zone reveal a heterogeneous pattern of coupling annual banding in corals provides vertical rates of deformation spanning the last half of the 20th century and repeated gps surveys between 1991 and 2001 and continuous measurements at gps stations operated since 2002 provide horizontal velocities near the equator the megathrust is locked over a narrow width of only a few tens of kilometers in contrast the locked fault zone is up to about 175 km wide in areas where great interplate earthquakes have occurred in the past formal inversion of the data reveals that these strongly coupled patches are roughly coincident with asperities that ruptured during these events the correlation is most spectacular for rupture of the m w 8 7 nias simeulue earthquake of 2005 which released half of the moment deficit that had accumulated since its previous rupture in 1861 suggesting that this earthquake was overdue beneath the mentawai islands strong coupling is observed within the overlapping rupture areas of the great earthquakes of 1797 and 1833 the accumulated slip deficit since these events is slowly reaching the amount of slip that occurred during the 1833 earthquake but already exceeds the slip that occurred during the 1797 earthquake thus rerupture of part of the mentawai patch in september 2007 was not a surprise in contrast coupling is low below the batu islands near the equator and around enggano island at about 5 s where only moderate earthquakes m w 8 0 have occurred in the past two centuries the correlation of large seismic asperities with patches that are locked during the interseismic period suggests that they are persistent features this interpretation is reinforced by the fact that the large locked patches and great ruptures occur beneath persistent geomorphologic features the largest outer arc islands depth and convergence rate dependent temperature might influence the pattern of coupling through its effect on the rheology of the plate interface but other influences are required to account for the observed along strike heterogeneity of coupling in particular subduction of the investigator fracture zone could be the cause for the low coupling near the equator

crustal earthquake instability in relation to the depth variation of frictional slip properties recent stability studies using constitutive relations of the type found by dieterich ruina and others to describe frictional slip of rocks in the laboratory have provided a new explanation of the depth cutoff of shallow crustal earthquakes the class of friction laws discussed has the property that the sliding stress depends on normal stress temperature slip rate and slip history for sliding at a fixed slip rate v and fixed environment e g normal stress temperature etc the shear strength evolves toward a steady state value ss v stability analysis show that for d ss v dv 0 velocity strengthening implies stable steady state sliding at least for a broad class of constitutive laws more fully described in the paper experiments by dieterich and by tullis and weeks on westerly granite with mature sliding surfaces indicate that d ss v dv is negative at room temperature whereas higher temperature experiments by stesky show that d ss v dv becomes positive above approximately 300 c therefore in the case of the earth where temperature increases with depth the above observations seem to suggest that the depth cutoff of crustal earthquake activity can be understood in terms of the variation of the frictional response with depth from a regime with d ss v dv 0 this is not inconsistent with but rather refines the suggestion by sibson and others that the depth cutoff is due to a transition from brittle friction to ductile flow further our results show definitively that the shallow depth confinement of seismicity is compatible with a model in which deformation is localized to a fault zone extending well below the seismogenic depth the depth confinement does not require a model showing transition to a zone of broadly distributed creep flow beneath the seismogenic zone following mavko a two dimensional quasi static strike slip fault model is analyzed but using different numerical procedures and a depth variation of frictional properties based on the laboratory data mentioned above and the lachenbruch sass depth variation of temperature for the san andreas fault the resulting predictions of such features as the confinement of crustal earthquakes to shallow depths the development of locked patches the recurrence time for the seismic cycle the seismic stress drop and displacement etc are generally in agreement with the observed characteristics of large scale strike slip earthquakes along the san andreas fault calculations based on the laboratory data predict for example that stick slip nucleates around 5 7 km that large seismic motion occurs around the nucleation depth and above but diminishes gradually to zero at 13 15 km depths that rapid postseismic creep occurs over another 3 4 km depth and that at greater depths steady slip consistent with the average plate velocity is only modestly perturbed by the earthquakes occurring above the most uncertain parameter is the slip weakening distance l for evolution of fault surface state we illustrate how features of the predicted earthquake cycles vary with l over the range for which calculations are feasible

control of forearc density structure on megathrust shear strength along the chilean subduction zone abstract unveiling how the interaction of friction pore pressure p and normal stress n controls the shear strength distribution along megathrust faults at convergent plate boundaries is crucial to our understanding of processes leading to the occurrence of devastating earthquake and the construction of mountains an existing density model of the chilean margin 18 45 s allows the computation of the so called vertical stress anomaly vsa that accounts for the component of normal stress due to the weight of the overlying crustal column a spatial correlation between vsa surface geology and several earthquake parameters suggests a significant control exerted by the geologically dominated density structure of the crust on megathrust shear strength the very seismogenic forearc in front of the high central andes 18 34 s has positive vsa values up to 60 mpa and a mafic dominated crust which suggest high values of shear strength at the megathrust that are partially controlled by the weight of a dense forearc crustal column in addition to a likely dry subduction channel characterized by high and low p in contrast the southern andean forearc 34 45 s shows neutral to negative vsa down to 30 mpa correlated with a felsic dominated crust which added to a presumably wet subduction channel low and high p configures a rather weak megathrust below a light forearc earthquakes here are concentrated around the arauco peninsula a first order morpho structural anomaly characterized by comparatively higher values of vsa than the rest of this segment which is the nest of the giant mw 9 5 valdivia 1960 earthquake and the southern rupture termination of the recent mw 8 8 maule earthquake the ultimately giant size of the 1960 earthquake resulted from rupture propagation along a 1000 km long region characterized by negative vsa values the correlation between vsa and the along strike segmentation of the andean orogen indicates that the geologically inherited density structure of the forearc also rules long term mechanical coupling between converging plates and prescribes the possible structure of the orogen because central and southern andes represent two extremes in terms of orogenic structure and seismogenic behavior results presented here have significant implications for the general comprehension of processes occurring at short and long time scale at convergent margins

frictional afterslip following the 2005 nias simeulue earthquake sumatra continuously recording global positioning system stations near the 28 march 2005 rupture of the sunda megathrust moment magnitude m w 8 7 show that the earthquake triggered aseismic frictional afterslip on the subduction megathrust with a major fraction of this slip in the up dip direction from the main rupture eleven months after the main shock afterslip continues at rates several times the average interseismic rate resulting in deformation equivalent to at least a m w 8 2 earthquake in general along strike variations in frictional behavior appear to persist over multiple earthquake cycles aftershocks cluster along the boundary between the region of coseismic slip and the up dip creeping zone we observe that the cumulative number of aftershocks increases linearly with postseismic displacements this finding suggests that the temporal evolution of aftershocks is governed by afterslip

a comparison of the sedimentary records of the 1960 and 2010 great chilean earthquakes in 17 lakes implications for quantitative lacustrine palaeoseismology seismically induced event deposits embedded in the sedimentary infill of lacustrine basins are highly useful for palaeoseismic reconstructions recent well documented great megathrust earthquakes provide an ideal opportunity to calibrate seismically induced event deposits for lakes with different characteristics and located in different settings this study used 107 short sediment cores to investigate the sedimentary impact of the 1960 mw 9 5 valdivia and the 2010 mw 8 8 maule earthquakes in 17 lakes in south central chile i e lakes negra lo encanado aculeo vichuquen laja villarrica calafquen pullinque pellaifa panguipulli neltume rinihue ranco maihue puyehue rupanco and llanquihue a combination of image analysis magnetic susceptibility and grain size analysis allows identification of five types of seismically induced event deposits i mass transport deposits ii in situ deformations iii lacustrine turbidites with a composition similar to the hemipelagic background sediments lacustrine turbidites type 1 iv lacustrine turbidites with a composition different from the background sediments lacustrine turbidites type 2 and v megaturbidites these seismically induced event deposits were compared to local seismic intensities of the causative earthquakes eyewitness reports post earthquake observations and vegetation and geomorphology of the catchment and the lake megaturbidites occur where lake seiches took place lacustrine turbidites type 2 can be the result of i local near shore mass wasting ii delta collapse iii onshore landslides iv debris flows or mudflows or v fluvial reworking of landslide debris on the contrary lacustrine turbidites type 1 are the result of shallow mass wasting on sublacustrine slopes covered by hemipelagic sediments due to their more constrained origin lacustrine turbidites type 1 are the most reliable type of seismically induced event deposits in quantitative palaeoseismology because they are almost exclusively triggered by earthquake shaking moreover they most sensitively record varying seismic shaking intensities the number of lacustrine turbidites type 1 linearly increases with increasing seismic intensity starting with no lacustrine turbidites type 1 at intensities between v and vi and reaching 100 when intensities are higher than vii combining different types of seismically induced event deposits allows the reconstruction of the complete impact of an earthquake

estimating coseismic coastal uplift with an intertidal mussel calibration for the 2010 maule chile earthquake mw 8 8 abstract coseismic coastal uplift has been quantified using sessile intertidal organisms after several great earthquakes following fitzroy s pioneer measurements in 1835 a dense survey of such markers may complement space geodetic data to obtain an accurate distribution of fault slip and earthquake segmentation however uplift estimates based on diverse intertidal organisms tend to differ because of few methodological and comparative studies here we calibrate and estimate coastal uplift in the southern segment of the 2010 maule chile earthquake m w 8 8 using 1100 post earthquake elevation measurements of the sessile mussel perumytilus purpuratus this mussel is the predominant competitor for rocky shores all along the pacific coast of south america where it forms fringes or belts distinctively in the middle intertidal zone these belts are centered at mean sea level and their width should equal one third of the tidal range we measured belt widths close to this value at 40 of the sites but overall widths are highly variable due to the unevenness in belt tops belt bases in turn are rather regular belt top unevenness apparently results from locally enhanced wave splash whereas belt base evenness is controlled by predation according to our measurements made beyond the earthquake rupture the belt base is at the bottom of the middle intertidal zone and thus we propose to estimate coastal uplift using the belt base mean elevation plus one sixth of the tidal range to reach mean sea level within errors our estimates agree with gps displacements but differ from other methods comparisons of joint inversions for megathrust slip suggest combining space geodetic data with estimates from intertidal organisms may locally increase the detail of slip distributions

late cenozoic evolution and earthquake potential of an active listric thrust complex above the hikurangi subduction zone new zealand in the center of the frontal wedge of the hikurangi subduction zone new zealand mahia peninsula and its submarine continuation lachlan ridge are being uplifted and folded above an active landward dipping thrust fault complex that is 80 km long high quality marine seismic reflection profiles reveal complex deformation of a cretaceous to holocene sedimentary section and enable a detailed analysis of the stratigraphy structural evolution deformation rates and future earthquake potential the structural analysis is facilitated by uplifted marine terraces on mahia peninsula and by 14 submarine unconformities in the hanging wall sequence five of which are correlated across the eroded crest of lachlan ridge and into the footwall basin the ages of the unconformities are determined by seismic ties to an offshore exploration well onshore outcrops on the peninsula and seabed samples dated by pollen coccolith nannoflora and foraminifera biostratigraphy nine regional quaternary unconformities which developed in response to eustatic fluctuations in sea level and are not older than ca 1 ma are correlated with oxygen isotope stages in equatorial pacific ocean drilling project core 677 the ages of fault growth strata and progressive restorations of deformed stratigraphy indicate that lachlan ridge developed during three phases of deformation since subduction of the pacific plate commenced beneath the australian plate in the early miocene these include an initial phase of thrust faulting a subsequent phase dominated by extensional faulting and the current mainly pleistocene to holocene phase of structural inversion reactivated listric thrust faulting and folding early to middle miocene thrusts in the deeper core of the complex developed out of sequence by sequentially stepping up into the hanging wall section creating an imbricate fan with emerging thrust tips now buried within the forelimb basin in the middle miocene early pliocene listric extensional faults developed in the active thrust wedge possibly as a result of substantial relief on the subducted pacific plate and controlled the development of lachlan basin to the west of the ridge the principal active thrust is the lachlan fault a listric extensional detachment reactivated to accommodate thrust movement and consisting of at least three right stepping segments depth converted seismic profiles indicate that the fault dips westward at 15 20 6 8 km beneath the western flank of lachlan ridge and steepens to 55 70 or even steeper in the upper 1 2 km of section beneath the eastern flank syninversion pleistocene fault growth strata on both flanks of the associated anticline provide an exceptional record of progressive fold limb rotation resulting from the listric fault geometry a geometric analysis of the fault growth strata and deformed terraces was used to derive a maximum dip slip displacement rate of as fast as 3 0 6 5 mm yr the implied shortening rate of 2 6 6 3 mm yr represents 8 20 of the total 31 mm yr of orthogonal plate convergence across this part of the upper plate of the hikurangi subduction zone the top of the pre fault growth paleogene section reveals as much as 5 8 1 5 km of vertical separation in the north decreasing to 30 50 of this value in the south temporal 10 3 10 6 yr and spatial 10 3 10 4 m of strike length variations in vertical deformation rate have occurred during the past 1 m y maximum rates occurred in the holocene and middle quaternary a long term increase in vertical separation rate on all segments during the pleistocene largely reflects a change in thrust kinematics associated with structural inversion the relatively greater increase in uplift rate on the northern part of the fault during the past 1 m y could be related to the possibility that a subducted seamount lies 10 km beneath the peninsula estimates of earthquake source parameters incorporating paleoseismic uplift data from mahia peninsula indicate a potential moment magnitude of up to m w 7 6 8 0 for an earthquake that ruptures all three segments of the lachlan fault the average recurrence interval for such events is estimated to be 615 2333 yr which is consistent with a mean recurrence interval of 1062 yr for four late holocene earthquakes thus the uplift and folding of mahia peninsula and lachlan ridge results from coseismic displacements on a major listric thrust fault that ruptures the upper plate frequently in association with large magnitude earthquakes

coastal deformation and great subduction earthquakes isla santa maria chile 37 s isla santa maria at the active margin of south central chile is the result of earthquake related uplift and deformation in the forearc since at least late pleistocene time field mapping dating of key depositional horizons and analysis of seismic refl ection profi les reveal ongoing deformation in this sector of the chilean forearc the 30 km 2 island is located 12 km above the interplate seismogenic zone and 75 km landward of the trench it is situated near the southern termination of the concepcion earthquake rupture segment where charles darwin measured 3 m of coseismic uplift during a m 8 megathrust earthquake in 1835 permanent postearthquake deformation from this earthquake and an earlier event in 1751 is registered by emerged landward tilted abrasion surfaces uplift at 2 m k y and tilting at 0 025 k y of the island have been fairly constant throughout the late quaternary and have resulted in emergence of the island above sea level 31 k y ago the island is composed of a late pleistocene upper tilted surface with two asymmetric tilt domains and holocene lowlands characterized by uplifted and tilted strandlines industry offshore seismic refl ection profi les covering an area of 1800 km 2 and crustal seismicity reveal active reversefault cored anticlines surrounding isla santa maria the principal fault apparently roots in the plate interface thrust these reverse faults in the upper plate result from inversion of late cretaceous to early pliocene normal faults and rift structure of the arauco forearc basin positive inversion of these inherited structures started between 3 6 and 2 5 ma and resulted in continuous shortening rates of 0 8 mm yr the seismic refl ection profi les show that the asymmetric tilt domains and progressive syntectonic sedimentation are linked to the position of the island in the forelimbs of two converging anticlines whereas their backlimbs have been removed by cliff retreat the 2 m uplift contour of the 1835 earthquake is parallel to the strike of active faults and antiforms in the arauco concepcion region the close relation among the asymmetric uplift and tilt of the island modern deformation patterns and reverse faults rooted in the plate interface suggests that slip on the plate interface thrust infl uences localizes and segments surface deformation during large interplate earthquakes furthermore the link between positive inversion of pre existing structures uplift and tilt patterns in the forearc emphasizes the importance of inherited structural fabrics in guiding plate boundary deformation

permanent fore arc extension and seismic segmentation insights from the 2010 maule earthquake chile 1 geologists have long known that young normal faults are an important structural element of the andean coastal cordillera but their relationship to the subduction seismic cycle is still unclear some of the largest aftershocks of the 2010 mw 8 8 maule earthquake in central chile were nucleated on upper plate normal faults including the mw 6 9 and 7 0 events of the pichilemu earthquake sequence we use the available coseismic gps displacements moment tensor sums and slip distribution models for the maule earthquake to compute the static strain and stress fields imposed on the upper plate by slip on the subduction interface the extensional strains calculated from coseismic gps and from a moment tensor sum of the pichilemu events have similar orientations and orders of magnitude the normal coulomb stress increment csi on the pichilemu fault has maximum positive stresses as high as 4 9 mpa regionally the maule event produced a semi elliptical radial pattern of static extension and deviatoric tension csi 1 5 mpa along the coastal cordillera enclosing the rupture area this elliptical pattern mimics the trends of the major upper crustal structures the static deformation field produced by a great subduction earthquake is an effective mechanism for generating permanent extension above the seismogenic zone reactivating suitably oriented long lived normal faults we suggest that the semi elliptical outline of the first order structures along the coastal cordillera may define the location of a characteristic long lived megathrust segment this observation implies a persistence at least over the quaternary of great subduction ruptures along the maule segment

terrane motion by strike slip faulting of forearc slivers forearc slivers bounded by a trench and an active strike slip fault occur in about 50 of modern subduction zones analysis of earthquake slip vectors indicates that modern sliver terranes typically migrate at rates of 1 2 cm yr tertiary transport of some forearc slivers by 1000 km or more is therefore expected as a consequence of normal subduction active arc parallel strike slip faulting occurs whenever interplate coupling is strong and convergence is somewhat oblique strike slip rate increases with greater convergence obliquity

the reflection seismic survey of project tipteq the inventory of the chilean subduction zone at 38 2 s summary we describe results of an active source seismology experiment across the chilean subduction zone at 38 2 s the seismic sections clearly show the subducted nazca plate with varying reflectivity below the coast the plate interface occurs at 25 km depth as the sharp lower boundary of a 2 5 km thick highly reflective region which we interpret as the subduction channel that is a zone of subducted material with a velocity gradient with respect to the upper and lower plate further downdip along the seismogenic coupling zone the reflectivity decreases in the area of the presumed 1960 valdivia hypocentre the plate interface itself can be traced further down to depths of 50 60 km below the central valley we observe strong reflectivity at the plate interface as well as in the continental mantle wedge the sections also show a segmented forearc crust in the overriding south american plate major features in the accretionary wedge such as the lanalhue fault zone can be identified at the eastern end of the profile a bright west dipping reflector lies perpendicular to the plate interface and may be linked to the volcanic arc

three dimensional viscoelastic finite element model for postseismic deformation of the great 1960 chile earthquake 2 5 10 19 pa s for the continental upper mantle the model well explains the gps observations numerical tests suggest that the continental mantle viscosity value is reasonably well constrained the model shows the prolonged postseismic seaward motion of the inland area to be a unique feature of earthquakes with very long rupture along strike and large coseismic fault slip for short rupture and small coseismic slip the motion will stop very quickly after the earthquake explaining why this phenomenon is not more commonly observed with an oceanic mantle viscosity of 10 20 pa s the model also provides an explanation for tide gauge constrained postseismic uplift 200 km from the trench that had previously been explained using a model of prolonged afterslip of a deep segment of the chile subduction fault index terms 1236 geodesy and gravity rheology of the lithosphere and mantle 8160 1242 geodesy and gravity seismic deformations 7205 3230 mathematical geophysics numerical solutions 7209 seismology earthquake dynamics and mechanics 7260 seismology theory and modeling keywords postseismic deformation viscoelastic stress relaxation gps finite element modeling chile subduction zone upper mantle viscosity

2010 maule earthquake slip correlates with pre seismic locking of andean subduction zone analysis of seismic data and global positioning system gps observations from the region around the site of the recent magnitude 8 8 maule earthquake in chile have been combined with modelling of the andean subduction zone to build up a detailed image of the event the earthquake occurred at a seismic gap part of the fault that has not experienced a major earthquake since 1835 and it seems to have released most of the stress accumulated since that time the observations suggest that coseismic slip heterogeneity at the scale of single asperities and therefore the seismic potential of future great earthquakes might be anticipated by geodetic observations these authors show evidence for a high coherence between the slip distribution inferred from the 2010 maule earthquake chile and the patchwork of interseismic locking distribution derived from global positioning system observations during the previous decade their work suggests that coseismic slip heterogeneity at the scale of single asperities should indicate the seismic potential of future earthquakes which thus might be anticipated by geodetic observations the magnitude 8 8 maule chile earthquake of 27 february 2010 ruptured a segment of the andean subduction zone megathrust that has been suspected to be of high seismic potential1 2 3 4 5 6 it is the largest earthquake to rupture a mature seismic gap in a subduction zone that has been monitored with a dense space geodetic network before the event this provides an image of the pre seismically locked state of the plate interface of unprecedentedly high resolution allowing for an assessment of the spatial correlation of interseismic locking with coseismic slip pre seismic locking might be used to anticipate future ruptures in many seismic gaps6 7 8 9 10 11 12 given the fundamental assumption that locking and slip are similar this hypothesis however could not be tested without the occurrence of the first gap filling earthquake here we show evidence that the 2010 maule earthquake slip distribution correlates closely with the patchwork of interseismic locking distribution as derived by inversion of global positioning system gps observations during the previous decade the earthquake nucleated in a region of high locking gradient and released most of the stresses accumulated in the area since the last major event in 1835 two regions of high seismic slip asperities appeared to be nearly fully locked before the earthquake between these asperities the rupture bridged a zone that was creeping interseismically with consistently low coseismic slip the rupture stopped in areas that were highly locked before the earthquake but where pre stress had been significantly reduced by overlapping twentieth century earthquakes our work suggests that coseismic slip heterogeneity at the scale of single asperities should indicate the seismic potential of future great earthquakes which thus might be anticipated by geodetic observations

kinematic constraints on intra arc shear and strain partitioning in the southern andes between 38 s and 42 s latitude 1 on the basis of structural field work fault kinematic analysis and the analysis of digital imagery we describe the northern part of the southern andean intra arc liquine ofqui fault zone lofz as an sc like fault zone system accommodating part of the nazca south american plate convergence obliquity kinematic modeling suggests that the lofz accommodated 124 24 21 km of dextral displacement between 40 s and 42 s and 67 13 11 km between 38 s and 40 s since the pliocene associated vertical axis rotations are 31 4 clockwise and 9 1 counterclockwise along synthetic and antithetic faults respectively mean pliocene to recent shear rates along the lofz decrease northward from 32 6 mm yr to 13 3 mm yr compatible with partitioning of half of the convergence obliquity into the intra arc zone north of 40 s and complete partitioning to the south the displacement gradient along the intra arc zone results in margin parallel shortening of the fore arc

splay fault branching along the nankai subduction zone seismic reflection profiles reveal steeply landward dipping splay faults in the rupture area of the magnitude m 8 1 tonankai earthquake in the nankai subduction zone these splay faults branch upward from the plate boundary interface that is the subduction zone at a depth of approximately 10 kilometers approximately 50 to 55 kilometers landward of the trough axis breaking through the upper crustal plate slip on the active splay fault may be an important mechanism that accommodates the elastic strain caused by relative plate motion

forearc uplift rates deduced from sediment cores of two coastal lakes in south central chile abstract the present paper introduces a new approach for deriving information about local forearc tectonics and related uplift rates based on the study of lake sediments we investigated two coastal lakes at the south central chile margin lakes lanalhue and lleu lleu located south of the arauco peninsula 38 s both lakes developed within the valleys of ancient rivers that once drained to the pacific ocean being subsequently dammed by rising sills in the late pleistocene early holocene seismic profiling and sedimentological analyses of cores from both lakes revealed similar successions consisting of marine to brackish sediments covered by lacustrine deposits radiocarbon dating indicates that the marine lacustrine transition occurred at 8 ka and 8 15 ka respectively the correlation of this transition with global sea level curves allowed the calculation of local uplift rates for the holocene uplift rates for the lake basins amount to 0 42 0 71 and 0 49 0 44 mm a respectively which are consistent with rates determined from a late pleistocene marine terrace in the area however conspicuously higher though likely transient vertical movements at 8 83 2 7 mm a and 11 36 1 77 mm a respectively were calculated for the sills that block both lakes nowadays these barriers are interpreted to be the surface expression of a blind reverse fault associated to the morguilla fault system a seismically active structure that controls uplift and folding along the adjacent arauco peninsula

observations of flexure and the rheology of oceanic lithosphere the principal evidence for the long term i e 1 myr mechanical behaviour of the oceanic lithosphere has come from studies of how it deforms in response to large loads such as volcanoes and sediments a model widely used to explain the deformation is an elastic plate in which flexural rigidity depends on the thermal age of the lithosphere at the time of loading an elastic model however is time invariant and does not take into account temporal changes that may occur in the flexural rigidity as a consequence of loading there is evidence for example that the flexural rigidity of the oceanic lithosphere also depends on load age being large at short times and small at long times thus competing effects may exist between thermal cooling which strengthens the lithosphere and some form of load induced stress relaxation which weakens it in order to investigate the relative roles of these processes we have developed a multilayered viscoelastic model which is based on the results of experimental rock mechanics that creep in the lithosphere is a thermally activated process and on a thermal structure that is given by the plate cooling model by comparing the predictions of the model with a new compilation of flexural rigidity estimates we have found that if the upper mantle viscosity is 1020 pa s the activation energy that best describes the long term mechanical behaviour of the oceanic lithosphere is 120 kj mol 1 this parameter pair explains the dependence of flexural rigidity on both plate and load age it also helps account for the subsidence and uplift history of oceanic islands and the stratigraphic patterns that develop in the flexural moats that flank them at atolls a multilayered viscoelastic model explains the rapid subsidence that follows shield building and does not require that the age of the lithosphere that supports a volcano is thermally re set to a younger value our studies suggest that while the oceanic lithosphere has viscoelastic properties the viscosity of its upper layers is so much higher than that of its lower layers that in effect it behaves as a thin elastic plate on long timescales there will therefore be a certain permanence to the observations of oceanic flexure such that they may be used with some confidence to evaluate the tectonic setting of individual features of the seafloor and in some cases their age

interaction between forearc and oceanic plate at the south central chilean margin as seen in local seismic data we installed a dense amphibious temporary seismological network to study the seismicity and structure of the seismogenic zone in southern chile between 37 and 39 s the nucleation area of the great 1960 chile earthquake 213 local earthquakes with 14 754 onset times were used for a simultaneous inversion for the 1 d velocity model and precise earthquake locations relocated artificial shots suggest an accuracy of the earthquake hypocenter of about 1 km horizontally and 500 m vertically crustal events along trench parallel and transverse deep reaching faults reflect the interseismic transpressional deformation of the forearc crust due to the subduction of the nazca plate the transverse faults seems to accomplish differential lateral stresses between subduction zone segments many events situated in an internally structured planar seismicity patch at 20 to 40 km depth near the coast indicate a stress concentration at the plate s interface at 38 s which might in part be induced by the fragmented forearc structure

a dislocation model of strain accumulation and release at a subduction zone strain accumulation and release at a subduction zone are attributed to stick slip on the main thrust zone and steady aseismic slip on the remainder of the plate interface this process can be described as a superposition of steady state subduction and a repetitive cycle of slip on the main thrust zone consisting of steady normal slip at the plate convergence rate plus occasional thrust events that recover the accumulated normal slip because steady state subduction does not contribute to the deformation at the free surface deformation observed there is completely equivalent to that produced by the slip cycle alone the response to that slip is simply the response of a particular earth model to embedded dislocations for a purely elastic earth model the deformation cycle consists of a coseismic offset followed by a linear in time recovery to the initial value during the interval between earthquakes for an elastic viscoelastic earth model elastic lithosphere over a viscoelastic asthenosphere the postearthquake recovery is not linear in time records of local uplift as a function of time indicate that the long term postseimic recovery is approximately linear suggesting that elastic earth models are adequate to describe the deformation cycle however the deformation predicted for amore simple elastic half space earth does not reproduce the deformation observed along the subduction zones in japna at all well if stick slip is restricted to the main thrust zone as recognized earlier by shimazaki seno and kato the uplift profiles could be explained if stick slips were postulated to extend along the plate interface beyond the main thrust zone to a depth of perhaps 100 km but independent evidence suggests that stick slip at such depths if unlikely less

seismic and aseismic slip on the central peru megathrust slip on a subduction megathrust can be seismic or aseismic with the two modes of slip complementing each other in time and space to accommodate the long term plate motions although slip is almost purely aseismic at depths greater than about 40 km heterogeneous surface strain suggests that both modes of slip occur at shallower depths with aseismic slip resulting from steady or transient creep in the interseismic and postseismic periods thus active faults seem to comprise areas that slip mostly during earthquakes and areas that mostly slip aseismically the size location and frequency of earthquakes that a megathrust can generate thus depend on where and when aseismic creep is taking place and what fraction of the long term slip rate it accounts for here we address this issue by focusing on the central peru megathrust we show that the pisco earthquake with moment magnitude m w 8 0 ruptured two asperities within a patch that had remained locked in the interseismic period and triggered aseismic frictional afterslip on two adjacent patches the most prominent patch of afterslip coincides with the subducting nazca ridge an area also characterized by low interseismic coupling which seems to have repeatedly acted as a barrier to seismic rupture propagation in the past the seismogenic portion of the megathrust thus appears to be composed of interfingering rate weakening and rate strengthening patches the rate strengthening patches contribute to a high proportion of aseismic slip and determine the extent and frequency of large interplate earthquakes aseismic slip accounts for as much as 50 70 of the slip budget on the seismogenic portion of the megathrust in central peru and the return period of earthquakes with m w 8 0 in the pisco area is estimated to be 250 years

incipient axial collapse of the main cordillera and strain partitioning gradient between the central and patagonian andes lago laja chile 1 lago laja is a late quaternary volcanic dammed lake located near the drainage divide of the south central andes field observations lake reflection seismic profiles bathymetry and remote sensing data reveal an active fault system that runs parallel to the volcanic arc along the axis of the main cordillera the lago laja fault system llfs normal faults of this extensional system cut late pleistocene volcanics 2 7 mm yr since 7 1 ka the llfs accounts for 0 7 of arc normal extension at an average minimum rate of 1 2 mm yr and strain rate of 10 14 s 1 seismites and surface ruptures evidence m 6 paleoearthquakes the main cordillera at 37 s is a large scale pop up structure uplifted by thrusting along its foothills in this light we interpret extension in the axial and highest part of the andes as incipient synorogenic gravitational collapse in response to uplift and crustal thickening thermal weakening due to elevated heat flow and postglacial lithospheric rebound and unbending have probably contributed to the arc limited collapse and holocene acceleration of deformation rates the lack of significant strike slip offsets along the llfs as well as along both foothills thrust systems at 37 s contrasts with the intra arc dextral fault zone south of 38 s regional structural data indicates that north of 38 s diffusely distributed strain reflects low partitioning of oblique subduction while to the south deformation is localized in a discrete strike slip fault zone along the volcanic arc reflecting a higher degree of partitioning we relate this strain partitioning gradient to favorable fault orientations in the fore arc north of the arauco peninsula a major seismotectonic boundary

limited overlap between the seismic gap and coseismic slip of the great 2010 chile earthquake the mw 8 8 chile earthquake on 27 february 2010 occurred in a broad region where tectonic loading has been accumulating since the great 1835 earthquake a joint inversion of tsunami and geodetic data suggests that the 2010 earthquake rupture only partly overlapped with the zone of preseismic locking

intra arc crustal seismicity seismotectonic implications for the southern andes volcanic zone chile we examine the intra arc crustal seismicity of the southern andes volcanic zone svz our aim is to resolve inter seismic deformation in an active magmatic arc dominated by both margin parallel liquine ofqui fault system lofs and andean transverse faults atf crustal seismicity provides information about the schizosphere tectonic state delineating the geometry and kinematics of high strain domains driven by oblique subduction here we present local seismicity based on 16 months data collected from 34 seismometers monitoring a 200 km long section of the southern volcanic zone including the lonquimay and villarrica volcanoes we located 356 crustal events with magnitudes between mw 0 6 and mw 3 6 local seismicity occurs at depths down to 40 km in the forearc and consistently shallower than 12 km beneath the volcanic chain suggesting a convex shape of the crustal seismogenic layer bottom focal mechanisms indicate strike slip faulting consistent with ene wsw shortening in line with the long term deformation history revealed by structural geology studies however we find regional to local scale variations in the shortening axes orientation as revealed by the nature and spatial distribution of microseismicity within three distinctive latitudinal domains in the northernmost domain seismicity is consistent with splay faulting at the northern termination of the lofs in the central domain seismicity distributes along ene and wnw striking discrete faults spatially associated with hitherto seismic atf the southernmost domain in turn is characterized by activity focused along a n15 e striking master branch of the lofs these observations indicate a complex strain compartmentalization pattern within the intra arc crust where variable strike slip faulting dominates over dip slip movements

compressional and transpressional stress pattern for pliocene and quaternary brittle deformation in fore arc and intra arc zones andes of central and southern chile kinematic analysis of fault slip data for stress determination was carried out on late miocene to quaternary rocks from the fore arc and intra arc regions of the chilean andes between 33 and 46 south latitudes studies of neogene and quaternary infilling the central depression as well as plutonic rocks of the north patagonian batholith along the liquine ofqui fault zone have revealed various compressional and or transpressional states of stress in the pliocene the maximum compressional stress 1 was generally oriented east west during the quaternary the deformation was partitioned into two coeval distinctive states of stress in the fore arc zone the state of stress was compressional with 1 oriented in a n s to nne ssw direction in the intra arc zone the state of stress was transpressional with 1 striking ne sw along the coast in one site 37 30 s the quaternary strain deformation is extensional with an e w direction which can be explained by a co seismic crustal bending readjustment

prolonged post seismic deformation of the 1960 great chile earthquake and implications for mantle rheology 1 contemporary crustal deformation of the southern andean margin shows an interesting feature while nearly all coastal gps sites move landward consistent with inter seismic deformation near a locked subduction fault sites 300 400 km landward of the rupture region of the mw9 5 1960 chile earthquake are moving in the opposite direction we attribute the seaward motion of these inland sites to a prolonged crustal deformation due to mantle stress relaxation following the 1960 great earthquake in order to reproduce the observed seaward motion using a three dimensional finite element model we need to incorporate a mantle viscosity of about 3 1019 pa s the possibility that the seaward motion is caused by a silent slip event on the plate interface at large depths cannot be completely excluded and our analysis provides a working model for future field tests

on the nature of buttressing in margin parallel strike slip fault systems margin parallel strike slip faults commonly develop along convergent plate margins where an oceanic plate subducts obliquely beneath a continental plate such faults detach a sliver of continental crust from the leading edge of the overriding plate fault motion then causes the sliver to move parallel to the continental margin in the direction of the transverse component of relative plate motion however few slivers move as rapidly as predicted by simple analyses of the forces acting on them this discrepancy must be due principally to the buttress effect resistance to displacement of the sliver arising from a space problem at its leading edge more simply a sliver can move only if it has somewhere to go buttresses can be geometrical as when the continental margin changes trend abruptly or they can arise from changes in the physical properties of the overriding plate or in other factors such as subduction angle and angle of obliquity that help determine whether sliver motion will occur a strongly buttressed sliver will move only insofar as the buttress can be overcome obvious ways in which a buttress can be overcome are by thickening the crust or widening the sliver examples of both are known crustal thickening entails elevation increase sliver motion is opposed by both gravity and friction widening the sliver is a more complex process that results in areas of extension and compression forming within the sliver as well as a characteristic pattern of overlapping curved fault segments this latter response may be the cause of curvature in many strike slip fault systems

crustal motion in the zone of the 1960 chile earthquake detangling earthquake cycle deformation and forearc sliver translation temporary deformation in great earthquake cycles and permanent shear deformation associated with oblique plate convergence both provide critical clues for understanding geodynamics and earthquake hazard at subduction zones in the region affected by the mw 9 5 great chile earthquake of 1960 we have obtained gps observations that provide information on both types of deformation our velocity solutions for the first time span the entire latitudinal range of the 1960 earthquake the new observations revealed a pattern of opposing roughly arc normal motion of coastal and inland sites consistent with what was reported earlier for the northern part of this region this finding supports the model of prolonged postseismic deformation as a result of viscoelastic stress relaxation in the mantle the new observations also provide the first geodetic evidence for the dextral motion of an intravolcanic arc fault system and the consequent northward translation of a forearc sliver the sliver motion can be modeled using a rate of 6 5 mm a accommodating about 75 of the margin parallel component of nazca south america relative plate motion with the rate diminishing to the north furthermore the new gps observations show a southward decrease in margin normal velocities of the coastal area we prefer explaining the southward decrease in terms of changes in the width or frictional properties of the megathrust seismogenic zone because of the much younger age of the subducting plate and warmer thermal regime in the south the currently locked portion of the plate interface may be narrower using a three dimensional viscoelastic finite element model of postseismic and interseismic deformation following the 1960 earthquake we demonstrate that this explanation although not unique is consistent with the gps observations to the first order

three dimensional density model of the nazca plate and the andean continental margin 1 we forward modeled the bouguer anomaly in a region encompassing the pacific ocean 85 w and the andean margin 60 w between northern peru 5 s and patagonia 45 s the three dimensional density model that reproduces the gravity field is a continental scale representation of density structure to 410 km depth that characterizes the mantle and crust of the oceanic nazca plate subducted slab and continental margin with a minimum number of bodies we predefined the density of each body after studying the dependency of density on composition of crustal and mantle materials and pressure temperature conditions appropriate for the andean setting a database of independent geophysical information constrains the geometry of the top of the subducted slab locally the moho of the oceanic and continental crusts and indirectly the lithosphere asthenosphere boundary underneath the continental plate other boundaries notably the intracrustal density discontinuity separating upper from lower crust below the continent were not constrained and their geometry is the result of fitting the observed and calculated bouguer anomaly during forward modeling this contribution presents the model to the andean geoscientific community and contains some tools like a sensitivity analysis that helps potential users of the model to interpret its results we describe and discuss some of these results in order to illustrate the application of the model to the study of a wide range of phenomena e g modification of oceanic plate structure by hot spots shape of the subducted slab thermal structure of the continental lithosphere compensation mechanism and formation of orogenic relieve causes of andean segmentation

seismicity and geometry of the south chilean subduction zone 41 5 s 43 5 s implications for controlling parameters in 2005 an amphibious seismic network was deployed on the chilean forearc between 41 75 s and 43 25 s 364 local events were observed in a 11 month period a subset of the p and s arrival times were inverted for hypocentral coordinates 1 d velocity structure and station delays main seismic activity occurred predominantly in a belt parallel to the coast of chiloe island in a depth range of 12 30 km presumably related to the plate interface the 30 inclination of the shallow part of the wadati benioff zone is similar to observations further north indicating that oceanic plate age is not controlling the subduction angle of the shallower part for the chilean subduction zone the down dip termination of abundant intermediate depth seismicity at approximately 70 km depth seems to be related to the young age and high temperature of the oceanic plate crustal seismicity is associated with the liquine ofqui fault zone and active volcanoes

segmentation of megathrust rupture zones from fore arc deformation patterns over hundreds to millions of years arauco peninsula chile 1 this work explores the control of fore arc structure on segmentation of megathrust earthquake ruptures using coastal geomorphic markers the arauco nahuelbuta region at the south central chile margin constitutes an anomalous fore arc sector in terms of topography geology and exhumation located within the overlap between the concepcion and valdivia megathrust segments this boundary however is only based on 500 years of historical records we integrate deformed marine terraces dated by cosmogenic nuclides syntectonic sediments published fission track data seismic reflection profiles and microseismicity to analyze this earthquake boundary over 10 2 10 6 years rapid exhumation of nahuelbuta s dome like core started at 4 1 2 ma coeval with inversion of the adjacent arauco basin resulting in emergence of the arauco peninsula here similarities between topography spatiotemporal trends in fission track ages pliocene pleistocene growth strata and folded marine terraces suggest that margin parallel shortening has dominated since pliocene time this shortening likely results from translation of a fore arc sliver or microplate decoupled from south america by an intra arc strike slip fault microplate collision against a buttress leads to localized uplift at arauco accrued by deep seated reverse faults as well as incipient oroclinal bending the extent of the valdivia segment which ruptured last in 1960 with an mw 9 5 event equals the inferred microplate we propose that mechanical homogeneity of the fore arc microplate delimits the valdivia segment and that a marked discontinuity in the continental basement at arauco acts as an inhomogeneous barrier controlling nucleation and propagation of 1960 type ruptures as microplate related deformation occurs since the pliocene we propose that this earthquake boundary and the extent of the valdivia segment are spatially stable seismotectonic features at million year scale

active crustal faults in the forearc region guerrero sector of the mexican subduction zone this work explores the characteristics and the seismogenic potential of crustal faults on the overriding plate in an area of high seismic hazard associated with the occurrence of subduction earthquakes and shallow earthquakes of the overriding plate we present the results of geomorphic structural and fault kinematic analyses conducted on the convergent margin between the cocos plate and the forearc region of the overriding north american plate within the guerrero sector of the mexican subduction zone we aim to determine the active tectonic processes in the forearc region of the subduction zone using the river network pattern topography and structural data we suggest that in the studied forearc region both strike slip and normal crustal faults sub parallel to the subduction zone show evidence of activity the left lateral offsets of the main stream courses of the largest river basins gps measurements and obliquity of plate convergence along the cocos subduction zone in the guerrero sector suggest the activity of sub latitudinal left lateral strike slip faults notably the regional left lateral strike slip fault that offsets the papagayo river near the town of la venta named la venta fault shows evidence of recent activity corroborated also by gps measurements 4 5 mm year of sinistral motion assuming that during a probable earthquake the whole mapped length of this fault would rupture it would produce an event of maximum moment magnitude mw 7 7 even though only a few focal mechanism solutions indicate a stress regime relevant for reactivation of these strike slip structures we hypothesize that these faults are active and suggest two probable explanations 1 these faults are characterized by long recurrence period i e beyond the instrumental record or 2 they experience slow slip events and or associated fault creep the analysis of focal mechanism solutions of small magnitude earthquakes in the upper plate for the period between 1995 and 2008 revealed that frequent normal faults sub parallel to the trench could be reactivated in the current stress field related to the cocos subduction moreover these features could also be reactivated by subduction megathrust earthquakes

earthquake swarms and slow slip on a sliver fault in the mexican subduction zone the mexican subduction zone is an ideal location for studying subduction processes due to the short trench to coast distances that bring broad portions of the seismogenic and transition zones of the plate interface inland using a recently generated seismicity catalog from a local network in oaxaca we identified 20 swarms of earthquakes m

central chile finally breaks chile is the site of some of the largest earthquakes in the world on average a magnitude 8 earthquake occurs there every 10 years or so these earthquakes take place in the subduction zone either as interplate ruptures at the interface between the south american and nazca plates or as intraplate events within the subducted nazca plate a few times in every century massive plate interface earthquakes break several hundred kilometers in a single shock this is what happened on 27 february 2010 when a major earthquake magnitude 8 8 occurred in the maule and biobio regions in central chile see the first figure this region had last experienced a major subduction earthquake in 1835 when darwin 1 visited the area as part of his voyage on the beagle his description of the earthquake inspired many seismologists and historians of chilean earthquakes 2 3

postseismic coastal uplift in southern chile tide gage records at puerto montt referenced to a mareograph in talcahuano indicate a large at least 75 cm postseismic uplift of the region following the 1960 mw 9 5 event field observations carried out in 1989 at the same locations of previous measurements in 1968 are consistent with tide gage records the postseismic elevation changes are modeled as the result of propagating creep on the downdip extension of the coseismic fault for a 30 e fault dip minimum square error indicates a fault creep velocity of 4 6 km yr and slip amplitude of 3 5 m