effects of prestress state and rupture velocity on dynamic fault branching 1 we consider a mode ii rupture which propagates along a planar main fault and encounters an intersection with a branching fault using an elastodynamic boundary integral equation formulation allowing the failure path to be dynamically self chosen we study the following questions does the rupture initiate along the branch does it continue is the extensional or compressional side most favored for branching does rupture continue on the main fault too failure is described by a slip weakening law for which the strength at any amount of slip is proportional to normal stress our results show that dynamic stresses around the rupture tip which increase with rupture velocity at locations off the main fault plane relative to those on it could initiate rupture on a branching fault as suggested by prior work whether branched rupture can be continued to a larger scale depends on principal stress directions in the prestress state and on rupture velocity the most favored side for branching rupture switches from the extensional to the compressional side as we consider progressively shallower angles of the direction of maximum compressive prestress with the main fault simultaneous rupturing on both faults can be activated when the branching angle is wide but is usually difficult for a narrow branching angle due to strong stress interactions between faults however it can be also be activated by enhanced dynamic stressing when the rupture velocity is very near the rayleigh velocity natural examples seem consistent with the simulations that we present

relationship of the kickapoo fault to the johnson valley and homestead valley faults san bernardino county california the 1992 mw 7 3 landers earthquake rupture propagated from the johnson valley fault to the homestead valley fault across homestead valley rupture was concentrated along the kickapoo fault a k a landers fault a previously unrecognized north south striking 5 km long fault in homestead valley and along small secondary fault traces east of the kickapoo fault to better understand the role of the kickapoo fault in accommodating slip between the johnson valley fault and the homestead valley fault we performed detailed aerial photograph interpretation and field mapping of alluvial deposits geomorphology and co seismic surface rupture evaluated existing water well data and conducted a gravity survey of the homestead valley area these data show that the kickapoo fault is a pre 1992 structure best interpreted as the northward continuation of the southern johnson valley fault the kickapoo fault merges northward with the northwest striking homestead valley fault thus we interpret that the johnson valley kickapoo and homestead valley faults form an interlinked system large ruptures similar to the 1992 landers rupture may have repeatedly propagated between the johnson valley and homestead valley faults along the kickapoo fault the kickapoo johnson valley fault intersection defines a 1 km wide left restraining bend uplifted alluvial deposits and pressure ridges are common within the bend indicating the bend is a long lived contractional feature homestead valley itself is underlain by relatively thin alluvial deposits over crystalline bedrock showing that no significant subsidence has occurred during the late quaternary these observations are consistent with the accommodation of north south right shear on the southern johnson valley and kickapoo faults in homestead valley

geologic evaluation of plate kinematic models for the north american caribbean plate boundary zone heubeck ch and mann p 1991 geologic evaluation of plate kinematic models for the north american caribbean plate boundary zone tectonophysics 191 l 26 four published plate kinematic models for the present day north american caribbean plate boundary predict significantly different fault behavior along this dominantly strike slip plate boundary zone pbz using a computer graphics system we compare the deformational pattern predicted by the four kinematic models with geologic and seismic observations along the entire length of the pbz from central america to the northern lesser antilles our results indicate that none of the kinematic models predict all the geologic and seismic observations across the entire pbz however all four models predict mapped fault character and observed earthquake focal mechanisms along certain segments of the pbz we conclude that the present day deformation within the north american caribbean plate boundary zone cannot be described by rotation about a single pole instead the caribbean plate appears to be segmented into at least three major sub plates or blocks each of which requires an individual pole of rotation to describe its motion relative to the north american plate sub plate boundaries correspond to two poorly studied zones of diffuse deformation within the caribbean plate honduras depression of central america and beata ridge of the caribbean sea

dynamic slip transfer from the denali to totschunda faults alaska testing theory for fault branching we analyze the observed dynamic slip transfer from the denali to totschunda faults during the mw 7 9 3 november 2002 denali fault earthquake alaska this study adopts the theory and methodology of poliakov et al 2002 and kame et al 2003 in which it was shown that the propensity of the rupture path to follow a fault branch is determined by the preexisting stress state branch angle and incoming rupture velocity at the branch location here we check that theory on the denalitotschunda rupture process using 2d numerical simulations of processes in the vicinity of the branch junction the maximum compression direction with respect to the strike of the denali fault near the junction has been estimated to range from approximately 73 to 80 we use the values of 70 and 80 in our numerical simulations the rupture velocity at branching is not well constrained but has been estimated to average about 0 8 cs throughout the event we use 0 6 cs 0 8 cs 0 9 cs and even 1 4 cs as parameters in our simulations we simulate slip transfer by a 2d elastodynamic boundary integral equation model of mode ii slip weakening rupture with self chosen path along the branched fault system all our simulations except for 70 and 0 9 cs predict that the rupture path branches off along the totschunda fault without continuation along the denali fault in that exceptional case there is also continuation of rupture along the denali fault at a speed slower than that along the totschunda fault and with smaller slip

characteristic slip for five great earthquakes along the fuyun fault in china the seismic hazard associated with an individual fault can be assessed from the distributions of slip and recurrence times of earthquakes however seismic cycle models 1 that aim to predict rupture lengths and fault displacements of successive earthquakes on one fault remain poorly validated it is therefore unknown whether individual fault segments rupture independently producing earthquakes with a diverse range of magnitudes and recurrence times or slip by characteristic amounts with characteristic magnitudes here we use highresolution satellite data to document the horizontal offsets of stream channels and terraces created by strike slip motion on the fuyun fault xinjiang china during five historical earthquakes we find that the ms 7 9 11 august 1931 earthquake produced a surface rupture with a length of 160 km dispersed over three different fault segments the 290 measured stream channel and terrace offsets record an average slip of 6 3 m we use the degree of preservation of geomorphological markers to assign relative ages to individual fault offsets and identify at least four distinct older earthquakes we find that these older earthquakes also produced fault offsets with a similar distribution to the 1931 earthquake as the slip distributions during five successive earthquakes were so similar we conclude that ruptures on the fuyun fault obey a characteristic slip model very few large earthquakes are known to have ruptured the same fault segment twice in historical or instrumental time 1 the

actively evolving microplate formation by oblique collision and sideways motion along strike slip faults an example from the northeastern caribbean plate margin abstract the pattern of folding faulting and late quaternary coral reef uplift rates in western and central hispaniola haiti and dominican republic suggest that the elongate gonave microplate a 190 000 km2 area of the northeastern caribbean plate is in the process of shearing off the caribbean plate and accreting to the north american plate late cenozoic transpression between the southeastern bahama platform and the caribbean plate in hispaniola has inhibited the eastward motion of the northeastern corner of the plate transpression is manifested in western and central hispaniola by the formation of regional scale folds that correspond to present day anticlinal topographic mountain chains continuous with offshore anticlinal ridges areas of most rapid quaternary uplift determined from onland coral reefs 125 ka and younger coincide with the axial traces of these folds offshore data suggest recent folding and faulting of the seafloor onshore reef data do not conclusively require late quaternary folding but demonstrate that tectonic uplift rates of the axial areas of the anticlines decrease from the northwest peninsula of haiti 0 37 mm yr to to the central part of the coast of western haiti 0 19 mm yr to the south central part of western haiti 0 mm yr formation of the 1200 km long enriquillo plantain garden walton fault zone as a bypass strike slip fault has isolated the southern edge of the gonave microplate and is allowing continued unimpeded eastward motion of a smaller caribbean plate past the zone of late neogene convergence and quaternary uplift of coral reefs in hispaniola offshore seismic reflection data from the jamaica passage the marine strait separating jamaica and haiti show that the enriquillo plantain garden fault zone forms a narrow but deep active fault bounded trough beneath the passage the active fault is continuous with active faults mapped onshore in western haiti and eastern jamaica the bathymetric deep is present because the jamaica passage fault segment represents a 50 km wide transtensional left step of the fault trace between haiti and jamaica onshore satellite imagery and field observations suggest that the enriquillo plantain garden fault forms a continuous trace extending from central hispaniola east of lake enriquillo dominican republic to the westernmost end of the southern peninsula of haiti the regional lineament corresponds to a recent fault scarp in quaternary alluvium of the clonard pull apart basin in the central part of the southern peninsula of haiti and suggests that at least this part of the lineament has undergone recent slip calmus 1983 has suggested a total offset of 30 50 km of the enriquillo plantain garden fault zone in the southern peninsula of haiti using the apparent offset of lithologic units seismic reflection data from lake enriquillo document recent deformation of quaternary lake sediments where the lineament crosses the lake leveling of the crest of a late holocene coral reef and associated algal tufa around lake enriquillo demonstrate late holocene vertical movement and tilting in a 1500 m wide zone parallel to the fault trend lateral offset is difficult to show in the enriquillo valley area because of rapid recent sedimentation into the valley the pattern of inactive strike slip faults and fold belts of cenozoic age in cuba and the yucatan basin suggest that two elongate microplates were sheared off the proto caribbean plate and accreted to the north american plate by a similar process in paleocene and eocene times age of terminal deformation in western central and eastern cuba is consistent with southeastward younging and migration of arc collision the similarity of the size and sequence of events in cuba suggests that the process of oblique collision and sideways motion of the plate along a new strike slip fault towards a free face may be an important process of microplate formation and interplate transfer in other areas

new empirical relationships among magnitude rupture length rupture width rupture area and surface displacement source parameters for historical earthquakes worldwide are compiled to develop a series of empirical relationships among moment magnitude m surface rupture length subsurface rupture length downdip rupture width rupture area and maximum and average displacement per event the resulting data base is a significant update of previous compilations and includes the additional source parameters of seismic moment moment magnitude subsurface rupture length downdip rupture width and average surface displacement each source parameter is classified as reliable or unreliable based on our evaluation of the accuracy of individual values only the reliable source parameters are used in the final analyses in comparing source parameters we note the following trends 1 generally the length of rupture at the surface is equal to 75 of the subsurface rupture length however the ratio of surface rupture length to subsurface rupture length increases with magnitude 2 the average surface displacement per event is about one half the maximum surface displacement per event and 3 the average subsurface displacement on the fault plane is less than the maximum surface displacement but more than the average surface displacement thus for most earthquakes in this data base slip on the fault plane at seismogenic depths is manifested by similar displacements at the surface log linear regressions between earthquake magnitude and surface rupture length subsurface rupture length and rupture area are especially well correlated showing standard deviations of 0 25 to 0 35 magnitude units most relationships are not statistically different at a 95 significance level as a function of the style of faulting thus we consider the regressions for all slip types to be appropriate for most applications regressions between magnitude and displacement magnitude and rupture width and between displacement and rupture length are less well correlated and have larger standard deviation than regressions between magnitude and length or area the large number of data points in most of these regressions and their statistical stability suggest that they are unlikely to change significantly in response to additional data separating the data according to extensional and compressional tectonic environments neither provides statistically different results nor improves the statistical significance of the regressions regressions for cases in which earthquake magnitude is either the independent or the dependent parameter can be used to estimate maximum earthquake magnitudes both for surface faults and for subsurface seismic sources such as blind faults and to estimate the expected surface displacement along a fault for a given size earthquake

molecular fossils in a pleistocene river terrace in southern china related to paleoclimate variation abstract the red paleosols oxisols in southern china provide a record of global climate oscillation during at least the last 0 80 ma here we present a correlation between the marine oxygen isotope record stage 11 21 and the paleosol molecular fossil signature in the fourth xiushui river terrace in southern china temporal variations seen in two molecular ratios c15 21 c22 33n alkanes and pristane to phytane pr ph down the paleosol profile are postulated to have arisen from variations in biological input and subsequent pedogenesis in response to the changing strength of the east asian summer monsoon climate the preliminary findings suggest strong couplings among the soil vegetation and climate and provide a basis for a correlation between the terrestrial and oceanic records

seismic hazard of the enriquillo plantain garden fault in haiti inferred from palaeoseismology the enriquillo plantain garden fault zone is the primary plate bounding fault system in haiti and was initially thought to be responsible for the 2010 earthquake palaeoseismic analyses of the fault system indicate that it ruptured during a large earthquake in either 1750 or 1770 but did not rupture during the 2010 earthquake the enriquillo plantain garden fault zone is recognized as one of the primary plate bounding fault systems in haiti1 2 the strike slip fault runs adjacent to the city of port au prince and was initially thought to be the source of the 12 january 2010 mw 7 0 earthquake haiti experienced significant earthquakes in 1751 and 1770 refs 3 4 5 but the role of the enriquillo plantain garden fault zone in these earthquakes is poorly known we use satellite imagery aerial photography light detection and ranging lidar and field investigations to document quaternary activity on the enriquillo plantain garden fault we report late quaternary left lateral offsets of up to 160 m and a set of small offsets ranging from 1 3 to 3 3 m that we associate with one of the eighteenth century earthquakes the size of the small offsets implies that the historical earthquake was larger than mw 7 0 but probably smaller than mw 7 6 we found no significant surface rupture associated with the 2010 earthquake the lack of surface rupture coupled with other seismologic geologic and geodetic observations6 7 suggests that little if any accumulated strain was released on the enriquillo plantain garden fault in the 2010 earthquake these results confirm that the enriquillo plantain garden fault remains a significant seismic hazard

interseismic plate coupling and strain partitioning in the northeastern caribbean summary the northeastern caribbean provides a natural laboratory to investigate strain partitioning its causes and its consequences on the stress regime and tectonic evolution of a subduction plate boundary here we use gps and earthquake slip vector data to produce a present day kinematic model that accounts for secular block rotation and elastic strain accumulation with variable interplate coupling on active faults we confirm that the oblique convergence between caribbean and north america in hispaniola is partitioned between plate boundary parallel motion on the septentrional and enriquillo faults in the overriding plate and plateboundary normal motion at the plate interface on the northern hispaniola fault to the east the caribbean north america plate motion is accommodated by oblique slip on the faults bounding the puerto rico block to the north puerto rico subduction and to the south muertos thrust with no evidence for partitioning the spatial correlation between interplate coupling strain partitioning and the subduction of buoyant oceanic asperities suggests that the latter enhance the transfer of interplate shear stresses to the overriding plate facilitating strike slip faulting in the overriding plate the model slip rate deficit together with the dates of large historical earthquakes indicates the potential for a large m w7 5 or greater earthquake on the septentrional fault in the dominican republic similarly the enriquillo fault in haiti is currently capable of a m w7 2 earthquake if the entire elastic strain accumulated since the last major earthquake was released in a single event today the model results show that the puerto rico lesser antilles subduction thrust is only partially coupled meaning that the plate interface is accumulating elastic strain at rates slower than the total plate motion this does not preclude the existence of isolated locked patches accumulating elastic strain to be released in future earthquakes but whose location and geometry are not resolvable with the present data distribution slip deficit on faults from this study are used in a companion paper to calculate interseismic stress loading and together with stress changes due to historical earthquakes derive the recent stress evolution in the ne caribbean

detailed map displacement paleoseismology and segmentation of the enriquillo plantain garden fault in haiti abstract the enriquillo plantain garden fault epgf ruptured several times in haiti producing large historical earthquakes e g 18 october 1751 21 november 1751 and 3 june 1770 their location and lateral extents are poorly known the most devastating one the mw7 0 12 january 2010 earthquake should have been the occasion to constrain the fault kinematics and geometry unfortunately no significant surface rupture was observed here combining lidar data high resolution aerial photographs geological map and observations in the field we revisited the fault map at a large variety of scales to improve the assessment of seismic hazard associated with the epgf this detailed mapping allowed us to target several sites for paleoseismic trenches we carried out paleoseismic investigations in the clonard pull apart basin during which one trench was opened perpendicular to the fault that trench showed stratigraphic evidence for one paleoearthquake radiocarbon dating in a dry and buried stream led to the conclusion that the paleoearthquake might be that of 1770 then based on kilometric scale geometric complexities we showed that the epgf was composed of more than four segments each capable to generate mw 7 earthquakes finally we identified several geologic and geomorphic markers of long term deformation along the fault we found offsets of 40 15 and 8 km from west to east corresponding to slip rates of 9 3 4 6 and 3 mm yr over the early middle pliocene plio pleistocene and pleistocene respectively such a pattern supports the idea of an eastward propagation of the epgf

the equivalent strength of geometrical barriers to earthquakes we present a quantitative framework for evaluating the influence of non planar fault geometry on repeated seismic ruptures we model quasistatic ruptures on a non planar fault trace imbedded in a two dimensional elastic medium under in plane strain because of the presence of fault segments that are not parallel to the regional shear stress i e bends the apparent strength at a given point on the fault is not fixed but fluctuates with normal stress compressional features behave as increasingly strong barriers to fracture unless the stored normal stress is released in order to unlock the fault since slip on the fault itself cannot get rid of the normal stress this is achieved through the action of off fault morphological features such as secondary faulting folding and vertical motions that we introduce parametrically in the form of an aseismic relaxation the apparent strength of a fault bend will stabilize in a narrow interval of values after repeated ruptures characterized by a non dimensional hardness parameter whereby the relaxation rate is scaled by the tectonic loading rate on a fault structure having several small widely separated bends three families of events can be identified whose frequency and magnitude depend on the hardness relaxation parameter and the geometry small events that cluster in the tension zones of the bends intermediate size ruptures involving a single interbend segment and large ruptures that break through bends and link on or more interbend segments large multi segment events are most likely to occur for low values of the hardness i e fast relaxation and slow loading rate regions with compressional features act as barriers that stop most ruptures stress is stored at these sites until they themselves break and initiate motion on the smoother long reaches of the fault

neotectonics of hispaniola plate motion sedimentation and seismicity at a restraining bend abstract the pattern of neogene faulting volcanism and sedimentation in hispaniola helps to resolve a problem that arises in attempting to determine the direction of caribbean plate motion from earthquakes alone namely how well do earthquake mechanisms define plate motion hispaniola occupies a compressional north step or restraining bend in the generally east west trending motagua cayman trough puerto rico trench fault system which marks an active plate boundary zone pbz of left lateral strike slip motion between the north america and caribbean plates four areas are distinguishable in hispaniola from field mapping and from the interpretation of satellite imagery and conventional aerial photographs two of these areas consist of active left lateral strike slip fault systems that roughly define the northern and southern coasts of the island the structure of both fault systems suggest a roughly east west trending direction of relative plate motion consistent with previous findings the intervening area consists of en echelon mountain ranges thrust up at the restraining bend from the early miocene a pleistocene volcanic province within this area is interpreted as defining a diffuse extensional fault termination of the southern strike slip fault zone the fourth area in eastern hispaniola is interpreted as being underthrust by discontinuous fragments of lithosphere in response to convergence at the restraining bend it appears possible that thinner young island arc lithosphere may be more prone to subduction than to escape or flaking processes that are more important in older more buoyant lithosphere

high resolution satellite imagery mapping of the surface rupture and slip distribution of the mw 7 8 14 november 2001 kokoxili earthquake kunlun fault northern tibet china the mw 7 8 kokoxili earthquake of 14 november 2001 which ruptured a 450 km long stretch of the sinistral kunlun strike slip fault at the northeastern edge of the tibet plateau china ranks as the largest strike slip event ever recorded instrumentally in asia newly available high resolution satellite hrs images pixel size 1 m acquired in the months following the earthquake proved a powerful tool to complement field investigations and to produce the most accurate map to date of the coseismic displacements along the central kusai hu segment of the rupture the coseismic rupture geometry south and west of buka daban feng near the earthquake epicenter was also investigated in detail along the kusai hu segment slip parti tioning is for the first time observed to occur simultaneously during a single event with two parallel strands 2 km apart localizing almost pure strike slip and normal faulting in all 83 new hrs coseismic offset measurements some of which calibrated by field work show large well constrained variations 100 of the slip function over distances of only25 km tension cracks opening ahead of the shear dislocation and later offset by the upward propagating strike slip rupture were observed dem onstrating that the rupture front propagated faster at depth than near the surface the triple junction between the central kusai hu segment the kunlun pass fault where the rupture ended and the xidatan dongdatan segment which could be the next segment to fail along the main kunlun fault acted as a strong barrier implying that direct triggering of earthquake rupture on the xidatan dongdatan segment by kokoxili type earthquakes may not be the rule

the effect of hydrostatic pressure up to 1 61 gpa on the morin transition of hematite bearing rocks implications for planetary crustal magnetization we present new experimental data on the dependence of the morin transition temperature tm on hydrostatic pressure up to 1 61 gpa obtained on a well characterized multidomain hematite bearing sample from a banded iron formation we used a nonmagnetic high pressure cell for pressure application and a superconducting quantum interference device magnetometer to measure the isothermal remanent magnetization irm under pressure on warming from 243 k to room temperature t0 irm imparted at t0 under pressure in 270 mt magnetic field irm270mt is not recovered after a cooling warming cycle memory effect under pressure was quantified as irm recovery decrease of 10 gpa tm determined on warming reaches t0 under hydrostatic pressure 1 38 1 61 gpa the pressure dependence of tm up to 1 61 gpa is positive and essentially linear with a slope dtm dp 25 2 k gpa this estimate is more precise than previous ones and allows quantifying the effect of a pressure wave on the upper crust magnetization with special emphasis on mars

heterogeneous fault stresses from previous earthquakes and the effect on dynamics of parallel strike slip faults 1 we combine a viscoelastic model for the interseismic process and an elastodynamic model for the coseismic process to explore the dynamics over multiple earthquake cycles of two parallel strike slip faults embedded in a two dimensional full space the step over fault geometry results in a buildup of heterogeneous fault stress near the step over this heterogeneous stress accumulates at the early stage of the evolution of the fault system and finally stabilizes after a number of earthquake cycles the heterogeneity in fault stress varies with the geometrical parameters e g width and along strike overlap gap of the step over as well as the rupture history of the fault system this heterogeneous fault stress from previous earthquakes has significant effects on earthquake rupture initiation propagation and termination the locations with a low normal stress level near a step over are favorable points for earthquake initiation rupture can jump a 4 km wide compressional step over and a 8 km or wider dilational step over if the fault system has historically experienced many earthquakes a young step over with less induced heterogeneity allows rupture to jump only smaller step over widths these results may have important implications for seismic hazard analysis in areas where segmented strikeslip faults predominate particularly for estimating maximum earthquake potential citation duan b and d d oglesby 2006 heterogeneous fault stresses from previous earthquakes and the effect on dynamics of parallel strike slip faults j geophys res 111 b05309 doi 10 1029 2005jb004138

segmentation and kinematics of the north america caribbean plate boundary offshore hispaniola we explored the submarine portions of the enriquillo plantain garden fault zone epgfz and the septentrional oriente fault zone sofz along the northern caribbean plate boundary using high resolution multi beam echo sounding and shallow seismic reflection the bathymetric data shed light on poorly documented or previously unknown submarine fault zones running over 200 km between haiti and jamaica epgfz and 300 km between the dominican republic and cuba sofz the primary plate boundary structures are a series of strike slip fault segments associated with pressure ridges restraining bends step overs and dogleg offsets indicating very active tectonics several distinct segments 50 to 100 km long cut across pre existing structures inherited from former tectonic regimes or bypass recent morphologies formed under the current strike slip regime along the most recent trace of the sofz we measured a strike slip offset of 16 5 km which indicates steady activity for the past 1 8 ma if its current gps derived motion of 9 8 2 mm yr has remained stable during the entire quaternary

rupture termination and jump on parallel offset faults proper evaluation of seismic hazard depends on accurate estimates of potential earthquake size in areas with complex multisegment fault systems such an estimate in turn depends on an ability to predict the circumstances under which rupture may jump between fault segments many observational and numerical studies have analyzed the phenomenon of jumping rupture but none has focused on how the process of rupture termination on the primary nucleating fault segment affects the ability of rupture to jump to a secondary fault segment in the current study i model the dynamics of a simple 2d strike slip fault system with two parallel segments arranged with either a compressional or extensional stepover i vary the suddenness with which the initial shear stress tapers to zero on the primary section if the initial shear stress goes to zero over a very small 100 m distance rupture readily jumps both compressional and extensional stepovers of 1 km if the initial shear stress tapers to zero over 1 km rupture can jump the compressional stepover but not the extensional stepover if the initial shear stress tapers to zero over 2 5 km rupture cannot jump either the compressional or the extensional stepover the results illustrate the importance of the slip gradient and the resultant static stress field and the acceleration of the rupture front and the resultant generation of stopping phases in determining the probability of jumping rupture

significant earthquakes on the enriquillo fault system hispaniola 1500 2010 implications for seismic hazard abstract historical records indicate frequent seismic activity along the north east caribbean plate boundary over the past 500 years particularly on the island of hispaniola we use accounts of historical earthquakes to assign intensities and the intensity assignments for the 2010 haiti earthquakes to derive an intensity attenuation relation for hispaniola the intensity assignments and the attenuation relation are used in a grid search to find source locations and magnitudes that best fit the intensity assignments here we describe a sequence of devastating earthquakes on the enriquillo fault system in the eighteenth century an intensity magnitude m i 6 6 earthquake in 1701 occurred near the location of the 2010 haiti earthquake and the accounts of the shaking in the 1701 earthquake are similar to those of the 2010 earthquake a series of large earthquakes migrating from east to west started with the 18 october 1751 m i 7 4 7 5 earthquake probably located near the eastern end of the fault in the dominican republic followed by the 21 november 1751 m i 6 6 earthquake near port au prince haiti and the 3 june 1770 m i 7 5 earthquake west of the 2010 earthquake rupture the 2010 haiti earthquake may mark the beginning of a new cycle of large earthquakes on the enriquillo fault system after 240 years of seismic quiescence the entire enriquillo fault system appears to be seismically active haiti and the dominican republic should prepare for future devastating earthquakes online material table listing small earthquakes and figures of intensity assignments and intensity magnitude estimates

the 14 november 2001 kokoxili tibet earthquake high frequency seismic radiation originating from the transitions between sub rayleigh and supershear rupture velocity regimes seismic array based analysis of the major kokoxili earthquake tibet 14 november 2001 yields an unambiguous reconstruction of the seismic rupture history and relates it to the generated seismic radiation we demonstrate that after a classical sub rayleigh velocity stage the rupture speed has jumped to supershear values close to compressional wave velocity over a 175 km long fault segment before abruptly slowing down in the late part of the earthquake the transition locations between these three phases are correlated with the fault geometry and are associated with the most energetic radiation this observation proves that the rupture velocity changes as theoretically predicted are a primary source of high frequency seismic radiation this result requires reconsidering the origins of seismic damage generally attributed to slip variations

relation between continental strike slip earthquake segmentation and thickness of the crust 1 high resolution maps of large continental strike slip earthquake surface ruptures show that they are formed of fault segments these segments are bounded by fault bends step overs or combinations of the two the lowest limit in size for such segments may not be relevant in the understanding of earthquake mechanics as it pertains to the granular properties of fault zones the maximum limit in segment length however is important as it is directly relates to the maximum extent of seismic rupture to measure the length of the segments a new quantitative method based on piecewise linear fitting is developed and is used to automatically retrieve segments from earthquake rupture maps next this approach is tested against a set of ten continental strike slip earthquake ruptures derived from similar high quality maps the test suggests that segments have a maximum length of 18 km independent of regional tectonic setting slip inversions for earthquakes based on seismological and or geodetic data most often are not unique and can show some variability even for one particular event some basic characteristics however such as total moment release or general source geometry seem to persist that are relevant to earthquake mechanics measurements of the maximum horizontal extent of individual slip patches derived from seismic source inversion for strike slip ruptures show that their strike dimension does not increase infinitely with magnitude but instead reaches a maximum value of 25 km these two independent lines of observations complemented by earlier data and analog experiments suggest that it is the thickness of the seismogenic crust that controls the structural scaling of the length of seismic segments and that it is independent of the ultimate size of individual earthquakes

dynamic 3d simulations of earthquakes on en echelon faults one of the mysteries of earthquake mechanics is why earthquakes stop this process determines the difference between small and devastating ruptures one possibility is that fault geometry controls earthquake size we test this hypothesis using a numerical algorithm that simulates spontaneous rupture propagation in a three dimensional medium and apply our knowledge to two california fault zones we find that the size difference between the 1934 and 1966 parkfield california earthquakes may be the product of a stepover at the southern end of the 1934 earthquake and show how the 1992 landers california earthquake followed physically reasonable expectations when it jumped across en echelon faults to become a large event if there are no linking structures such as transfer faults then strike slip earthquakes are unlikely to propagate through stepover s 5 km wide

seismotectonics of southern haiti a new faulting model for the 12 january 2010 m7 0 earthquake the prevailing consensus is that the 2010 mw7 0 haiti earthquake left the enriquillo plantain garden strike slip fault epgf unruptured but broke unmapped blind north dipping thrusts using high resolution topography aerial images bathymetry and geology we identified previously unrecognized south dipping nw se striking active thrusts in southern haiti one of them lamentin thrust lt cuts across the crowded city of carrefour extends offshore into port au prince bay and connects at depth with the epgf we propose that both faults broke in 2010 the rupture likely initiated on the thrust and propagated further along the epgf due to unclamping this scenario is consistent with geodetic seismological and field data the 2010 earthquake increased the stress toward failure on the unruptured segments of the epgf and on neighboring thrusts significantly increasing the seismic hazard in the port au prince urban area the numerous active thrusts recognized in that area must be considered for future evaluation of the seismic hazard

dynamics of fault interaction parallel strike slip faults we use a two dimensional finite difference computer program to study the effect of fault steps on dynamic ruptures our results indicate that a strike slip earthquake is unlikely to jump a fault step wider than 5 km in correlation with field observations of moderate to great sized earthquakes we also find that dynamically propagating ruptures can jump both compressional and dilational fault steps although wider dilational fault steps can be jumped dilational steps tend to delay the rupture for a longer time than compressional steps do this delay leads to a slower apparent rupture velocity in the vicinity of dilational steps these dry cases assumed hydrostatic or greater pore pressures but did not include the effects of changing pore pressures in an additional study we simulated the dynamic effects of a fault rupture on undrained pore fluids to test sibson s 1985 1986 suggestion that wet dilational steps are a barrier to rupture propagation our numerical results validate sibson s hypothesis by demonstrating that the effect of the rupture on the undrained pore fluids is to inhibit the rupture from jumping dilational stepovers the basis of our result differs from sibson s hypothesis in that our model is purely elastic and does not necessitate the opening of extension fractures between the fault segments

a 10 300 14c yr record of climate and vegetation change from haiti abstract pleistocene and holocene vegetation dynamics in the american tropics are inferred largely from pollen in continental lake sediments maritime influences may have moderated climate and vegetation changes on caribbean islands stable isotope 18 o study of a 7 6 m core from lake miragoane haiti provided a high resolution record of changing evaporation precipitation e p since 10 300 14 c yr b p the miragoane pollen record documents climate influences and human impacts on vegetation in hispaniola the 18 o and pollen data near the base of the core indicate cool dry conditions before 10 000 14 c yr b p lake miragoane filled with water in the early holocene as e p declined and the freshwater aquifer rose despite increasing early holocene moisture shrubby xeric vegetation persisted forest expanded 7000 14 c yr b p in response to greater effective moisture and warming the middle holocene 7000 3200 14 c yr b p was characterized by high lake levels and greatest relative abundance of pollen from moist forest taxa climatic drying that began 3200 14 c yr b p may have driven some mesophilic animal species to extinction the pollen record of the last millennium reflects pre columbian taino and european deforestation long term holocene vegetation trends in southern haiti are comparable to trends from continental lowland circum caribbean sites suggesting a common response to regional climate change

evidence for an earthquake barrier model from mw 7 8 kokoxili tibet earthquake slip distribution abstract the slip distribution of the mw 7 8 kokoxili tibet 2001 earthquake has been measured at high resolution using optical correlation of satellite images and provides both the parallel and perpendicular components of the horizontal co seismic slip this reveals a variation of the horizontal slip at a scale of 20 km along strike anti correlation of slip parallel and perpendicular to the fault indicates transfer of slip from the horizontal to the vertical component at the ends of segments these features suggest a rupture model with segments separated by strong persistent geometric barriers the unexpected ending of the rupture south of the main fault can be explain by such a structure but bears important implications for the initiation and rupture directivity of the next earthquake

crustal structure and fault geometry of the 2010 haiti earthquake from temporary seismometer deployments haiti has been the locus of a number of large and damaging historical earthquakes the recent 12 january 2010 mw 7 0 earthquake affected cities that were largely unprepared which resulted in tremendous losses it was initially assumed that the earthquake ruptured the enriquillo plantain garden fault epgf a major active structure in southern haiti known from geodetic measurements and its geomorphic expression to be capable of producing m 7 or larger earthquakes global positioning systems gps and interferometric synthetic aperture radar insar data however showed that the event ruptured a previously unmapped fault the leog ne fault a north dipping oblique transpressional fault located immediately north of the epgf following the earthquake several groups installed temporary seismic stations to record aftershocks including ocean bottom seismometers on either side of the epgf we use data from the complete set of stations deployed after the event on land and offshore to relocate all aftershocks from 10 february to 24 june 2010 determine a 1d regional crustal velocity model and calculate focal mechanisms the aftershock locations from the combined dataset clearly delineate the leog ne fault with a geometry close to that inferred from geodetic data its strike and dip closely agree with the global centroid moment tensor solution of the mainshock but with a steeper dip than inferred from previous finite fault inversions the aftershocks also delineate a structure with shallower southward dip offshore and to the west of the rupture zone which could indicate triggered seismicity on the offshore trois baies reverse fault we use first motion focal mechanisms to clarify the relationship of the fault geometry to the triggered aftershocks

statistical relations among earthquake magnitude surface rupture length and surface fault displacement abstract in order to refine correlations of surface wave magnitude fault rupture length at the ground surface and fault displacement at the surface by including the uncertainties in these variables the existing data were critically reviewed and a new data base was compiled earthquake magnitudes were redetermined as necessary to make them as consistent as possible with the gutenberg methods and results which make up much of the data base measurement errors were estimated for the three variables for 58 moderate to large shallow focus earthquakes regression analyses were then made utilizing the estimated measurement errors the regression analysis demonstrates that the relations among the variables magnitude length and displacement are stochastic in nature the stochastic variance introduced in part by incomplete surface expression of seismogenic faulting variation in shear modulus and regional factors dominates the estimated measurement errors thus it is appropriate to use ordinary least squares for the regression models rather than regression models based upon an underlying deterministic relation in which the variance results primarily from measurement errors significant differences exist in correlations of certain combinations of length displacement and magnitude when events are grouped by fault type or by region including attenuation regions delineated by evernden and others estimates of the magnitude and the standard deviation of the magnitude of a prehistoric or future earthquake associated with a fault can be made by correlating m s with the logarithms of rupture length fault displacement or the product of length and displacement fault rupture area could be reliably estimated for about 20 of the events in the data set regression of m s on rupture area did not result in a marked improvement over regressions that did not involve rupture area because no subduction zone earthquakes are included in this study the reported results do not apply to such zones

sawtooth segmentation and deformation processes on the southern san andreas fault california five contiguous 12 13 km fault segments form a sawtooth geometry on the south ernmost san andreas fault the kinematic and morphologic properties of each segment depend on fault strike despite differences of strike between segments of as little as 3 degrees oblique slip transpression of fault segments within the indio hills mecca hills and durmid hill results from an inferred 8 1 ratio of dex tral slip to convergence across the fault zone triggered slip and creep are confined almost en tirely to transpressive segments of the fault durmid hill has been formed in the last 28 n 6 ka by uplift at an average rate of 3 1 mm a

empirical dependence of seismic ground velocity on the weight of explosives shotpoint site condition and recording distance for seismic refraction data in this study we have constructed an empirical least squares model for maximum seismic ground velocity vertical component as a function of source size and distance from explosions in drillholes and bodies of water this model is intended in part for use in designing explosion seismic experiments in order to produce acceptable signal to noise ratios at larger distances 10 km and to avoid damaging human structures at smaller distances 1 km data consist of velocities recorded by 120 portable seismographs from 159 shots fired by the u s geological survey in alaska and arizona results show that maximum ground velocity amplitude not necessarily first arrival amplitude decreases with distance and the functional dependence changes with distance for example at 3 km amplitudes decrease as r 2 but at 73 km they decrease as r 1 results also show a strong dependence on site conditions at the shotpoint for example a drillhole shot in wet alluvium produces amplitudes that are four times larger than a drillhole shot in dry alluvium ground velocities are proportional to the square root of the weight of explosives

earthquakes and rock deformation in crustal fault zones the physical origin of earthquakes lies ultimately in the geological structure of fault zones and the deformation processes that occur therein in response to tectonic stress although the possibility now exists that the nucleation regions for large earthquakes at depths of 10 km may shortly become directly accessible by deep drilling our present knowledge of fault structure and the shallow earthquake source is derived largely from a variety of indirect sources these include seismological studies surface studies of fault zones and earthquake ruptures geodetic information on modes of fault slip geophysical constraints on fault zone structure and rheology and information garnered from materials science and experi mental rock deformation studies of fault zone structure and the rock products of faulting provide complementary information on deformation processes at depth in fault zones although descriptions of fault rocks are widespread in the geological literature e g spry 1969 higgins 1971 it is only in the past decade that they have begun to be interpreted in the context of the physical conditions and processes prevalent in seismically active fault zones at different crustal depths sibs on 1977 watts williams 1979 anderson et a11983 wise et ai 1984 such interpretations are still at an early stage but the deformation textures and structural associations of fault rocks have already been shown to have the potential to yield information on such diverse topics as shear stress levels power dissipation and seismic efficiency during earthquake faulting on fluid pressure levels and episodic fluid flow accompanying

fault steps and the dynamic rupture process 2 d numerical simulations of a spontaneously propagating shear fracture fault steps may have controlled the sizes of the 1966 parkfield 1968 borrego mountain 1979 imperial valley 1979 coyote lake and the 1987 superstition hills earthquakes this project investigates the effect of fault steps of various geometries on the dynamic rupture process we have used a finite difference code to simulate spontaneous rupture propagation in two dimensions we employ a slip weakening fracture criterion as the condition for rupture propagation and examine how rupture on one plane initiates rupture on parallel fault planes the geometry of the two parallel fault planes allows for stepover widths of 0 5 to 10 0 km and overlaps of 5 to 5 km our results demonstrate that the spontaneous rupture on the first fault segment continues to propagate onto the second fault segment for a range of geometries for both compressional and dilational fault steps a major difference between the compressional and dilational cases is that a dilational step requires a longer time delay between the rupture front reaching the end of the first fault segment and initiating rupture on the second segment therefore our dynamic study implies that a compressional step will be jumped quickly whereas a dilational step will cause a time delay leading to a lower apparent rupture velocity we also find that the rupture is capable of jumping a wider dilational step than compressional step

fault behavior and characteristic earthquakes examples from the wasatch and san andreas fault zones paleoseismological data for the wasatch and san andreas fault zones have led to the formulation of the characteristic earthquake model which postulates that individual faults and fault segments tend to generate essentially same size or characteristic earthquakes having a relatively narrow range of magnitudes near the maximum analysis of scarp derived colluvium in trench exposures across the wasatch fault provides estimates of the timing and displacement associated with individual surface faulting earthquakes at all of the sites studied the displacement per event has been consistently large measured values range from 1 6 to 2 6 m and the average is about 2 m on the basis of variability in the timing of individual events as well as changes in scarp morphology and fault geometry six major segments are recognized along the wasatch fault on the basis of the most likely number of surface faulting events 18 that have occurred on segments of the wasatch fault zone during the past 8000 years an average recurrence interval of 400 666 years with a preferred average of 444 years is calculated for the entire zone geologic data on the distribution of slip associated with prehistoric earthquakes and slip rates along the south central segment of the san andreas fault suggest that the m 8 1857 earthquake is a characteristic earthquake for this segment comparisons of earthquake recurrence relationships on both the wasatch and san andreas faults based on historical seismicity data and geologic data show that a linear constant b value extrapolation of the cumulative recurrence curve from the smaller magnitudes leads to gross underestimates of the frequency of occurrence of the large or characteristic earthquakes only by assuming a low b value in the moderate magnitude range can the seismicity data on small earthquakes be reconciled with geologic data on large earthquakes the characteristic earthquake appears to be a fundamental aspect of the behavior of the wasatch and san andreas faults and may apply to many other faults as well

complex rupture mechanism and topography control symmetry of mass wasting pattern 2010 haiti earthquake the 12 january 2010 mw 7 0 haiti earthquake occurred in a complex deformation zone at the boundary between the north american and caribbean plates combined geodetic geological and seismological data posited that surface deformation was driven by rupture on the leog ne blind thrust fault while part of the rupture occurred as deep lateral slip on the enriquillo plantain garden fault epgf the earthquake triggered 4490 landslides mainly shallow disrupted rock falls debris soil falls and slides and a few lateral spreads over an area of 2150 km2 the regional distribution of these slope failures defies those of most similar earthquake triggered landslide episodes reported previously most of the coseismic landslides did not proliferate in the hanging wall of the main rupture but clustered instead at the junction of the blind leog ne and epgf ruptures where topographic relief and hillslope steepness are above average also low relief areas subjected to high coseismic uplift were prone to lesser hanging wall slope instability than previous studies would suggest we argue that a combined effect of complex rupture dynamics and topography primarily control this previously rarely documented landslide pattern compared to recent thrust fault earthquakes of similar magnitudes elsewhere we conclude that lower static stress drop mean fault displacement and blind ruptures of the 2010 haiti earthquake resulted in fewer smaller and more symmetrically distributed landslides than previous studies would suggest our findings caution against overly relying on across the board models of slope stability response to seismic ground shaking

coulomb stress evolution in northeastern caribbean over the past 250 years due to coseismic postseismic and interseismic deformation summary the northeastern caribbean region accommodates 20 mm yr 1 of oblique convergence between the north american and caribbean plates which is distributed between the subduction interface and major strike slip faults within the overriding plate as a result this heavily populated region has experienced eleven large m 7 0 earthquakes over the past 250 yr in an effort to improve our understanding of the location and timing of these earthquakes with an eye to understand where current seismic hazards may be greatest we calculate the evolution of coulomb stress on the major faults since 1751 due to coseismic postseismic and interseismic deformation our results quantify how earthquakes serve to relieve stress accumulated due to interseismic loading and how fault systems communicate with each other serving both to advance or retard subsequent events we find that the observed progressive westwards propagation of earthquakes on the septentrional and enriquillo strike slip faults and along the megathrust was encouraged by coseismic stress changes associated with prior earthquakes for the strike slip faults the loading of adjacent segments was further amplified by postseismic relaxation of a viscoelastic mantle in the decades following each event furthermore earthquakes on the septentrional fault relieve a small level of coulomb stress on the parallel enriquillo fault to the south and vice versa perhaps explaining anticorrelated timing of events on these respective fault systems the greatest net build up of coulomb stress changes over the past 250 yr occurs along the central and eastern segment of the septentrional and the bowin strike slip faults 65 71 w as no recent earthquake has relieved stress in these regions for oblique thrust faults net stress build up over the past 250 yr is the largest on the north american caribbean megathrust west of 70 5 w high coulomb stress has also developed east of 65 5 w where no historic events have been inferred to have relieved stress though uncertainties in fault slip rates from our block model associated with a lack of gps observations in this region may have led to an over estimation of stress changes

slip partitioned surface breaks for the mw 7 8 2001 kokoxili earthquake china slip partitioned fault breaks have been mapped for a 70 km stretch of the 450 km surface rupture of the 14 november 2001 kokoxili earthquake simultaneous dip slip and strike slip motion on parallel faults has been proposed before but the new observations demonstrate unequivocally that it can occur in a single earthquake and allows the mechanical processes to be scrutinized observed normal fault offsets were between 0 5 and 1 m and strike slip offsets were 3 5 m the partitioned stretch of faulting has a strike that differs by 2 3 from the pure strike slip faulting to the east and west this allows a horizontal opening vector of 0 25 m to be determined for the partitioned region the distance between the two faults is greatest 2 km at the center of the partitioned portion and diminishes toward the ends the faulting is modeled to result from strains due to a buried oblique slip fault dipping at 80 to the south the depth to the top of the buried fault is shown to vary commensurately with the separation of the surface faults clear surface rupture is observed where the predicted model mechanisms are colinear and where substantial faults can develop into a kinematically stable partitioned system in a few interesting examples fragmentary oblique surface ruptures occur where the predicted mechanisms are not colinear but they are not associated with long term surface faulting the proposed mechanism for slip partitioning requires that rupture propagates upward from depth for the kokoxili surface breaks this is a consequence of coseismic dynamic rupture traveling faster at depth than near the surface leaving the surface deformation to catch up while the mechanism we propose requires slip weakening and localization to create faults or shear zones it does not require that faults with different mechanisms have different frictional behavior

strike slip fault geometry in turkey and its influence on earthquake activity the geometry of turkish strike slip faults has been reviewed and described from this data set it appears that fault geometry the distribution of discontinuities such as bends and stepovers along the main fault trace plays an important role in controlling the location of large earthquake rupture segments along the fault zones large earthquake ruptures generally do not propagate past individual stepovers that are wider than 5 km or bends that have angles greater than about 30 more important than the size of each discontinuity however is the total geometric pattern i e the distribution of adjacent bends and stepovers based not only on distance from one another but also on relative discontinuity size certain geometric patterns restraining single or double bends are particularly common and can be viewed as responsible for strain accumulation along portions of the fault zone fault geometry not only plays a role in the extent of earthquake rupture but also in characteristics of earthquake behavior for example large earthquake epicenters often occur near restraining bends or double bends furthermore aftershocks and swarm activity can often be associated with releasing areas areas along the strike slip fault that are undergoing a relatively large amount of extension

the repetition of large earthquake ruptures abstract this survey of well documented repeated fault rupture confirms that some faults have exhibited a characteristic behavior during repeated large earthquakes that is the magnitude distribution and style of slip on the fault has repeated during two or more consecutive events in two cases faults exhibit slip functions that vary little from earthquake to earthquake in one other well documented case however fault lengths contrast markedly for two consecutive ruptures but the amount of offset at individual sites was similar adjacent individual patches 10 km or more in length failed singly during one event and in tandem during the other more complex cases of repetition may also represent the failure of several distinct patches the faults of the 1992 landers earthquake provide an instructive example of such complexity together these examples suggest that large earthquakes commonly result from the failure of one or more patches each characterized by a slip function that is roughly invariant through consecutive earthquake cycles the persistence of these slip patches through two or more large earthquakes indicates that some quasi invariant physical property controls the pattern and magnitude of slip these data seem incompatible with theoretical models that produce slip distributions that are highly variable in consecutive large events

displacement and geometrical characteristics of earthquake surface ruptures issues and implications for seismic hazard analysis and the process of earthquake rupture there now exist about three dozen historical earthquakes for which in vestigators have constructed maps of earthquake rupture traces accompanied by de scriptions of the coseismic slip observed along the fault strike the maps and slip distributions are compiled here to place observational bounds on aspects of seismic hazard analysis and fault mechanics analysis leads to an initial statistical basis to predict the end points of rupture and the amount of surface slip expected at sites along the strike during earthquakes on mapped faults the observations also give support to the ideas that there exists a process zone or volume of about 3 4 km in dimension at the fronts of large laterally propagating earthquake ruptures within which stress changes may be sufficient to trigger slip on adjacent faults and that the ultimate length of earthquake ruptures is controlled primarily by the geometrical complexity of fault traces and variations in accumulated stress levels along faults that arise due to the location of past earthquakes to this may be added the observation that the form of earthquake surface slip distributions is better described by asymmetric rather than symmetric curve forms and that earthquake epicenters do not appear to correlate in any systematic manner to regions of maximum surface slip observed along strike online material maps of surface ruptures digitized values and curve fits to surface slip distributions and notes and references for tables 1 and 2

a plate kinematic framework for models of caribbean evolution abstract we define the former relative positions and motions of the plates whose motions have controlled the geological evolution of the caribbean region newly determined poles of rotation defining the approximate spreading histories of the central north and the south atlantic oceans are given for the late jurassic early cretaceous anomaly sequence of the central north atlantic we have used previously published definitions of fracture zone traces and magnetic anomaly picks redetermining the pole positions and angular rotations for various isochrons on an evans and sutherland interactive graphics system for magnetic anomalies younger than the cretaceous quiet period in both oceans we 1 used seasat altimeter data to help define fracture zone traces and 2 identified and used marine magnetic anomalies to determine the positions of spreading isochrons along the flowlines indicated by the fracture zones by the finite difference method the relative paleopositions and the relative motion history between north and south america were computed this analysis defines the size and shape and the rate at which the size and shape changed of the interplate region between north and south america since the middle jurassic thus a plate kinematic framework is provided for the larger plates pertaining to the caribbean region in which can be derived more detailed scenarios for gulf of mexico and caribbean evolution north and south america diverged to approximately their present relative positions from late triassic to early campanian about 84 m y ago time this is the period during which the gulf of mexico and a proto caribbean seaway were formed since the campanian only minor relative motion has occurred from early campanian through to middle eocene times south america diverged only another 200 km and since the middle eocene minor n s convergence has occurred these very minor post early campanian motions have probably been accommodated by imperfect shear and compression along the atlantic fracture zones to the east of the lesser antilles and along the northern and southern borders of the caribbean plate accordingly it is suggested that from campanian time to the present the relative motions between the north and south american plates have had only minor effects on the structural development of the caribbean region primarily using the data of engebretson et al the convergence history of pacific plates with north america was calculated for two points near the western caribbean by completing finite difference solutions the convergence history of the pacific plates with the caribbean and south american plates can be approximated the direction and rate of convergence of the pacific plates with the americas may have controlled the style of subduction and possible microplate migration along the north american south american and western caribbean boundaries that define the eastern pacific plate margin