the lost inca plateau cause of flat subduction beneath peru abstract since flat subduction of the nazca plate beneath peru was first recognized in the 1970s and 1980s a satisfactory explanation has eluded researchers we present evidence that a lost oceanic plateau inca plateau has subducted beneath northern peru and propose that the combined buoyancy of inca plateau and nazca ridge in southern peru supports a 1500 km long segment of the downgoing slab and shuts off arc volcanism this conclusion is based on an analysis of the seismicity of the subducting nazca plate the structure and geochemistry of the marquesas plateau as well as tectonic reconstructions of the pacific farallon spreading center 34 to 43 ma these restore three sub parallel pacific oceanic plateaus the austral tuamotu and marquesas to two farallon plate counterparts the iquique and nazca ridges inca plateau is apparently the sixth and missing piece in an ensemble of v shaped hotspot tracks formed at on axis positions we argue the mirror image of the inca plateau the marquesas plateau is an ancient edifice overprinted by recent volcanism in disagreement with the widely accepted young

inversion of complex body waves we have developed a method that inverts seismic body waves to determine the mechanism and rupture pattern of earthquakes the rupture pattern is represented as a sequence of subevents distributed on the fault plane this method is an extension of our earlier method in which the subevent mechanisms were fixed in the new method the subevent mechanisms are determined from the data and are allowed to vary during the sequence when subevent mechanisms are allowed to vary however the inversion often becomes unstable because of the complex trade offs between the mechanism the timing and the location of the subevents many different subevent sequences can explain the same data equally well and it is important to determine the range of allowable solutions some constraints must be imposed on the solution to stabilize the inversion we have developed a procedure to explore the range of allowable solutions and appropriate constraints in this procedure a network of grid points is constructed on the i plane where and i are respectively the onset time and the distance from the epicenter of a subevent the best fit subevent is determined at all grid points then the correlation is computed between the synthetic waveform for each subevent and the observed waveform the correlation as a function of and i and the best fit mechanisms computed at each i grid point depict the character of allowable solutions and facilitate a decision on the appropriate constraints to be imposed on the solution the method is illustrated using the data for the 1976 guatemala earthquake

low electrical resistivity associated with plunging of the nazca flat slab beneath argentina beneath much of the andes oceanic lithosphere descends eastward into the mantle at an angle of about 30 ref 1 a partially molten region is thought to form in a wedge between this descending slab and the overlying continental lithosphere as volatiles given off by the slab lower the melting temperature of mantle material2 this wedge is the ultimate source for magma erupted at the active volcanoes that characterize the andean margin but between 28 and 33 s the subducted nazca plate appears to be anomalously buoyant3 4 as it levels out at about 100 km depth and extends nearly horizontally under the continent1 5 6 above this flat slab volcanic activity in the main andean cordillera terminated about 9 million years ago as the flattening slab presumably squeezed out the mantle wedge5 6 but it is unknown where slab volatiles go once this happens and why the flat slab finally rolls over to descend steeply into the mantle 600 km further eastward here we present results from a magnetotelluric profile in central argentina from which we infer enhanced electrical conductivity along the eastern side of the plunging slab indicative of the presence of partial melt this conductivity structure may imply that partial melting occurs to at least 250 km and perhaps to more than 400 km depth or that melt is supplied from the 410 km discontinuity consistent with the transition zone water filter model of bercovici and karato7

slip history and dynamic implications of the 1999 chi chi taiwan earthquake we investigate the rupture process of the 1999 chi chi taiwan earthquake using extensive near source observations including three component velocity waveforms at 36 strong motion stations and 119 gps measurements a three plane fault geometry derived from our previous inversion using only static data ji et al 2001 is applied the slip amplitude rake angle rupture initiation time and risetime function are inverted simultaneously with a recently developed finite fault inverse method that combines a wavelet transform approach with a simulated annealing algorithm ji et al 2002b the inversion results are validated by the forward prediction of an independent data set the teleseismic p and sh ground velocities with notable agreement the results show that the total seismic moment release of this earthquake is 2 7 10 20 n m and that most of the slip occurred in a triangular shaped asperity involving two fault segments which is consistent with our previous static inversion the rupture front propagates with an average rupture velocity of 2 0 km s 1 and the average slip duration risetime is 7 2 s several interesting observations related to the temporal evolution of the chi chi earthquake are also investigated including 1 the strong effect of the sinuous fault plane of the chelungpu fault on spatial and temporal variations in slip history 2 the intersection of fault 1 and fault 2 not being a strong impediment to the rupture propagation and 3 the observation that the peak slip velocity near the surface is in general higher than on the deeper portion of the fault plane as predicted by dynamic modeling

dominant fault plane orientations of intermediate depth earthquakes beneath south america the south american subduction zone exhibits considerable variation the subduction angle alternates between flat and steep the subducting plate has complex structures and arc volcanism in the overlying plate has gaps i investigate the effect of these differences in incoming plate structure and slab geometry on intermediate depth earthquakes specifically their fault orientations and rupture characteristics and find that slab geometry has the largest impact on fault orientation i use rupture directivity to estimate rupture direction and rupture velocity and to distinguish the fault plane from the auxiliary plane of the focal mechanism from analysis of 163 large mw 5 7 intermediate depth 60 360 km depth earthquakes from along the length of south america estimated rupture azimuths and plunges show no trends appearing to be randomly distributed on the determined population of fault plane orientations and a majority of earthquakes are made up of multiple subevents as seen in other subduction zones subduction segments descending at normal angles have predominantly subhorizontal faults flat slab segments also have a dominant fault orientation but those earthquakes slip along the conjugate nodal plane of the focal mechanism in strongly curved slab segments such as at the downdip edge of flat segments where the slab resubducts earthquakes may slip along either nodal plane orientation while both fault orientations could be consistent with the reactivation of fossil outer rise faults the fault orientations are also consistent with expectations for newly created faults in agreement with the ambient stress field fault reactivation alone does not explain why different fault orientations are active in segments with different geometries so the preferred explanation for having regionally consistent fault orientations is that they minimize the total work of the system the previously observed predominance of subhorizontal faults appears to be a consequence of slab geometry

a new strategy of finite fault inversion using multiscale waveforms and its application to the 2015 gorkha nepal earthquakefinite fault inversion using multiscale waveforms and its application to the 2015 gorkha earthquake

trench migration and subduction zone geometry seismic tomography results show a large variety in upper mantle structure along convergent plate boundaries we numerically investigate the effect of trench migration on the evolution of a slab with temperature dependent viscosity encountering a viscosity interface we find that subduction zone geometry is sensitive to even small rates 1 cm yr of retrograde motion increase in trench migration rate decreases the dip angle of the slab and its ability to penetrate the lower mantle upon including a background mantle flow it turns out that trench migration relative to the upper mantle flow is more decisive than the absolute plate velocities subduction zone geometry appears to be strongly time dependent we conclude that individual tectonic setting and time dependent slab behaviour can account for many different types of observable subduction zone anomalies our model temperature can adequately account for magnitudes and patterns of seismic anomalies as obtained from seismic tomography

effect of aseismic ridge subduction on slab geometry and overriding plate deformation insights from analogue modeling abstract we present analogue models simulating the subduction of a buoyant ridge oriented perpendicularly or obliquely with respect to the trench beneath an advancing overriding plate the convergence velocity is imposed by lateral boundary conditions in this experimental set we analyze the three dimensional geometry of the slab the deformation and topography of the overriding plate experiments suggest that ridge subduction diminishes the dip of the slab eventually leading to the appearance of a horizontal slab segment in case boundary conditions impose a rapid convergence this result contrasts with that obtained in free subduction experiments in which ridge subduction diminishes the convergence velocity which in turn increases the dip of the slab beneath the ridge the slab dip decrease is accompanied by the indentation of the overriding plate by the ridge resulting in arc curvature experiments suggest that indentation is larger for small convergence velocity and large slab dip ridge subduction also uplifts the overriding plate uplift first occurs close to the trench fore arc area and is accompanied by the flexural subsidence of the overriding plate behind the uplifted area back arc subsidence the uplifted area migrates within the overriding plate interiors following the appearance of a horizontal slab segment these results are compared with natural examples of ridge subduction in the circum pacific area they explain why ridge subduction may have contrasted effects on the overriding plate dynamics depending on the global conditions that constrain the converging system

subduction adjacent to deep continental roots enhanced negative pressure in the mantle wedge mountain building and continental motion abstract subduction near to a deep continental root is modeled with finite elements the root restricts asthenospheric corner flow which increases mantle wedge suction the suction pulls the continental root toward the subduction zone simultaneously promoting trenchward continental motion and compressive tectonics in the lithosphere between the root and the subduction zone in a 2 d model with a root that extends to 250 km depth and lies 300 km from the mantle wedge corner we find two fold increase in mantle wedge suction and nearly a four fold increase in continental compression to 5 10 12 n m compared to a rootless reference model in 3 d modeling we find that distance to the subduction zone is more important than root width in subduction strike direction or reasonable variations in sub lithospheric viscosity structure with the root enhanced suction effects diminishing rapidly as the wedge corner root distance increases beyond 400 km when finite width roots are wider than the distance to the mantle wedge corner and closer than 400 km compression of the continent between the root and the subduction zone is 50 that found in the infinite width root

subduction of the nazca ridge and the inca plateau insights into the formation of ore deposits in peru a large number of ore deposits that formed in the peruvian andes during the miocene 15 5 ma are related to the subduction of the nazea plate beneath the south american plate here we show that the spatial and temporal distribution of these deposits correspond with the arrival of relatively buoyant topographic anomalies namely the nazca ridge in central peru and the now consumed inca plateau in northern peru at the subduction zone plate reconstruction shows a rapid metallogenic response to the arrival of the topographic anomalies at the subduction trench this is indicated by clusters of ore deposits situated within the proximity of the laterally migrating zones of ridge subduction it is accordingly suggested that tectonic changes associated with impingement of the aseismic ridge into the subduction zone may trigger the formation of ore deposits in metallogenically fertile suprasubduction environments c 2005 elsevier b v all rights reserved

late cretaceous to recent plate motions in western south america revisited abstract the andean cordillera has evolved since the late cretaceous in the context of subduction of oceanic lithosphere beneath continental lithosphere making the kinematics between south america and its adjacent oceanic plates in the pacific basin valuable to analyze the development of the andean orogen the latest cretaceous cenozoic convergence history in western south america may be divided into three stages the youngest stage 1 25 0 ma is characterized by ene directed convergence of the nazca plate toward most of south america and by e w subduction of the antarctic plate beneath southern patagonia the nazca south america convergence rate in stage 1 shows a continuous decrease from the highest values in the cenozoic 15 cm yr to the present day values from gps measurements 7 cm yr stage 2 47 28 ma is characterized by ne directed subduction of farallon with the convergence rate remaining almost constant during the entire interval in those times obliquity was dextral in chile sinistral in southern peru while almost head on convergence occurred in central and northern peru during latest cretaceous to early eocene times stage 3 the farallon plate was subducted beneath peru and the phoenix plate was subducted farther south where a triple junction migrated southward along the chilean margin the subduction of the farallon plate was rather slow with variable direction imposed by the position of the triple junction whereas subduction of the phoenix plate was rapid 10 cm yr and ese directed we present a working hypothesis suggesting no major changes in the age of subducted lithosphere in the chile trench from middle eocene to late oligocene followed by subduction of progressively older oceanic lithosphere in the early neogene and progressively younger lithosphere during the late neogene and the quaternary in addition it is shown that south american motion as predicted by available hotspot models has insufficient resolution to be applied to the analysis of cenozoic andean deformation

seismicity and state of stress in the central and southern peruvian flat slab abstract we have determined the wadati benioff zone seismicity and state of stress of the subducting nazca slab beneath central and southern peru using data from three recently deployed local seismic networks our relocated hypocenters are consistent with a flat slab geometry that is shallowest near the nazca ridge and changes from steep to normal without tearing to the south these locations also indicate numerous abrupt along strike changes in seismicity most notably an absence of seismicity along the projected location of subducting nazca ridge this stands in stark contrast to the very high seismicity observed along the juan fernandez ridge beneath central chile where a similar flat slab geometry is observed we interpret this as indicative of an absence of water in the mantle beneath the overthickened crust of the nazca ridge this may provide important new constraints on the conditions required to produce intermediate depth seismicity our focal mechanisms and stress tensor inversions indicate dominantly down dip extension consistent with slab pull with minor variations that are likely due to the variable slab geometry and stress from adjacent regions we observe significantly greater variability in the p axis orientations and maximum compressive stress directions the along strike change in the orientation of maximum compressive stress is likely related to slab bending and unbending south of the nazca ridge

localized fault slip to the trench in the 2010 maule chile mw 8 8 earthquake from joint inversion of high rate gps teleseismic body waves insar campaign gps and tsunami observations the 27 february 2010 mw 8 8 maule earthquake ruptured 500 km along the plate boundary offshore central chile between 34 s and 38 5 s establishing whether coseismic fault offset extended to the trench is important for interpreting both shallow frictional behavior and potential for tsunami earthquakes in the region joint inversion of high rate gps teleseismic body waves interferometric synthetic aperture radar insar campaign gps and tsunami observations yields a kinematic rupture model with improved resolution of slip near the trench bilateral rupture expansion is resolved in our model with relatively uniform slip of 5 10 m downdip beneath the coast and two near trench high slip patches with 12 m displacements the peak slip is 17 m at a depth of 15 km on the central megathrust located 200 km north from the hypocenter and overlapping the rupture zone of the 1928 m 8 event the updip slip is 16 m near the trench another shallow near trench patch is located 150 km southwest of the hypocenter with a peak slip of 12 m checkerboard resolution tests demonstrate that correctly modeled tsunami data are critical to resolution of slip near the trench with other data sets allowing but not requiring slip far offshore large interplate aftershocks have a complementary distribution to the coseismic slip pattern filling in gaps or outlining edges of large slip zones two clusters of normal faulting events locate seaward along the plate motion direction from the localized regions of large near trench slip suggesting that proximity of slip to the trench enhanced extensional faulting in the underthrusting plate

mw 7 8 tarapaca intermediate depth earthquake of 13 june 2005 northern chile fault plane identification and slip distribution by waveform inversion 1 the mw 7 8 tarapaca earthquake of 13 june 2005 occurred between 90 and 115 km depth within the subducting slab of northern chile the fault plane could be identified using two independent approaches by locating accurately one week of aftershocks and by modeling the strong motion waveforms the rupture occurred on a low angle 15 west dipping plane in pure normal faulting the slip distribution obtained by the joint inversion of strong motion and teleseismic data indicates a compact slip zone of dimension 50 40 km2 with a maximum slip of 13 m the aftershock distribution slightly extends beyond the slip zone dimension in the ns direction but slip extends slightly more towards the west than do the aftershocks the tarapaca earthquake can be classified as an intraslab down dip tensional event in the context of a mature seismic gap

controls of subduction geometry location of magmatic arcs and tectonics of arc and back arc regions most variation in geometry and angle of inclination of subducted oceanic lithosphere is caused by four interdependent factors combinations of 1 rapid absolute upper plate motion toward the trench and active overriding of the subducted plate 2 rapid relative plate convergence and 3 subduction of intraplate island seamount chains aseismic ridges and oceanic plateaus anomalously low density oceanic lithosphere cause low angle subduction under conditions of low angle subduction the upper surface of the subducted plate is in contact with the base of the overlying plate the wedge of low density asthenosphere is replaced by subducted lithosphere and the width of the arc trench gap either is significantly increased or a magmatic arc is not developed within the overlying plate the fourth factor is age of the subducting lithosphere subduction of young lithosphere produces two opposing tendencies 1 low angle subduction and increased arc trench distance owing to its low density and 2 decreased arc trench distance owing to its higher temperature two factors of secondary importance contribute to variation in subduction zone geometry and arc trench distance accretion of sediment in trenches depresses the upper portion of the subducting oceanic plate and causes the trench axis to migrate seaward prolonged subduction thickens the upper plate depresses the isotherms in the subducted plate and may create a broader arc both factors increase the arc trench gap the four primary factors also control development of other tectonic elements such as regional subsidence for example the amazon basin and a portion of the cretaceous interior seaway of western united states intra arc extension for example the basin and range province foreland fold and thrust belts and laramide style tectonics

the 1994 northridge california earthquake investigation of rupture velocity risetime and high frequency radiation a hybrid global search algorithm is used to solve the nonlinear problem of calculating slip amplitude rake risetime and rupture time on a finite fault thirty five strong motion velocity records are inverted by this method over the frequency band from 0 1 to 1 0 hz for the northridge earthquake four regions of larger amplitude slip are identified one near the hypocenter at a depth of 17 km a second west of the hypocenter at about the same depth a third updip from the hypocenter at a depth of 10 km and a fourth updip from the hypocenter and to the northwest the results further show an initial fast rupture with a velocity of 2 8 to 3 0 km s followed by a slow termination of the rupture with velocities of 2 0 to 2 5 km s the initial energetic rupture phase lasts for 3 s extending out 10 km from the hypocenter slip near the hypocenter has a short risetime of 0 5 s which increases to 1 5 s for the major slip areas removed from the hypocentral region the energetic rupture phase is also shown to be the primary source of high frequency radiation 1 15 hz by an inversion of acceleration envelopes the same global search algorithm is used in the envelope inversion to calculate high frequency radiation intensity on the fault and rupture time the rupture timing from the low and high frequency inversions is similar indicating that the high frequencies are produced primarily at the mainshock rupture front two major sources of high frequency radiation are identified within the energetic rupture phase one at the hypocenter and another deep source to the west of the hypocenter the source at the hypocenter is associated with the initiation of rupture and the breaking of a high stress drop asperity and the second is associated with stopping of the rupture in a westerly direction

double seismic zone and dehydration embrittlement of the subducting slab 1 dehydration embrittlement of metamorphosed oceanic crust and mantle in the subducting slab may be responsible for the occurrence of intermediate depth earthquakes we explore the possibility that this hypothesis can explain the morphology of the double seismic zones observed in northeast japan southwest japan northeast taiwan northern chile cape mendocino and eastern aleutians we calculate transient temperature structures of slabs based on geologically estimated subduction histories of these regions we then determine dehydration loci of metamorphosed oceanic crust and serpentinized mantle using experimentally derived phase diagrams the depth range of the dehydration loci of metamorphosed oceanic crust and serpentine is dependent on slab age the dehydration loci of serpentine produce a double layered structure because the upper dehydration loci of serpentine are mostly located in the wedge mantle above the slab we regard the upper plane seismicity representing dehydration embrittlement in the oceanic crust and we fix the slab geometry so that the upper plane seismicity is just below the upper surface of the slab we find that the lower plane seismicity is located at the lower dehydration loci of serpentine which indicates that the morphology of the double seismic zones is consistent with the dehydration embrittlement

slab pull and slab push earthquakes in the mexican chilean and peruvian subduction zones we studied intermediate depth earthquakes in the chile peru and mexican subduction zones paying special attention to slab push down dip compression and slab pull down dip extension mechanisms although slab push events are relatively rare in comparison with slab pull earthquakes quite a few have occurred recently in peru a couple slab push events occurred in 1991 and one slab pull together with several slab push events occurred in 1970 near chimbote in mexico several slab push and slab pull events occurred near zihuatanejo below the fault zone of the 1985 michoacan event in central chile a large m 7 1 slab push event occurred in october 1997 that followed a series of four shallow mw 6 thrust earthquakes on the plate interface we used teleseismic body waveform inversion of a number of mw 5 9 slab push and slab pull earthquakes in order to obtain accurate mechanisms depths and source time functions we used a master event method in order to get relative locations we discussed the occurrence of the relatively rare slab push events in the three subduction zones were they due to the geometry of the subduction that produces flexure inside the downgoing slab or were they produced by stress transfer during the earthquake cycle stress transfer can not explain the occurence of several compressional and extensional intraplate intermediate depth earthquakes in central chile central mexico and central peru it seemed that the heterogeneity of the stress field produced by complex slab geometry has an important influence on intraplate intermediate depth earthquakes 2002 elsevier science b v all rights reserved

rheological structure and deformation of subducted slabs in the mantle transition zone implications for mantle circulation and deep earthquakes abstract rheological structure of subducted slabs of oceanic lithosphere in the mantle transition zone is investigated based on mineral physics observations incorporating grain size stress temperature and pressure dependence of rheology it is shown that the rheological structure of slabs depends strongly on subduction parameters through temperature that controls the grain size of spinel ringwoodite and the magnitude of forces acting on a slab we use a theoretical model of grain size evolution associated with the olivine spinel transformation plastic flow laws of olivine and spinel combined with a thermal model of subducting slab in which the effect of latent heat release is incorporated three deformation mechanisms for olivine and spinel diffusional creep power law dislocation creep and the peierls mechanism are considered due to the large variation in temperature stress and grain size a subducting slab is shown to have a complicated rheological structure which varies both laterally and with depth a cold slab in the deep transition zone is characterized by a weak fine grained spinel region surrounded by narrow but strong regions the flexural rigidity and the curvature of a slab are calculated using a new formulation in which the effects of stress dependent rheology is incorporated in a self consistent fashion although uncertainties in both the transformation kinetics and the rheology of high pressure phases are still large the general trend of dependence of slab flexural rigidity and the curvature on the subduction parameters is well constrained slabs with very low thermal parameters warm slabs are weak but slabs with large thermal parameters cold slabs are also weak due to small spinel grain size and large external force bending moment slabs with intermediate thermal parameters will have a relatively large flexural rigidity and could penetrate into the lower mantle without much deformation thus the 660 km discontinuity may work as a rheological filter for mantle convection this prediction provides a natural explanation for a paradoxical observation that significant deformation of slabs is observed exclusively in the western pacific where temperatures of the slabs are considered to be low our slab rheology models also have important implications for deep earthquakes overall rheological weakening of slabs in the deep transition zone results in high rates of deformation under relatively low temperatures providing a favorable environment for thermal runaway instability adiabatic shear instability our model predicts heterogeneous energy dissipation as a result of heterogeneous rheology energy dissipation in deep cold slabs is concentrated in high strength regions surrounding a weak fine grained spinel core the regions of high energy dissipation are prone to thermal runaway instability and are likely to be seismogenic the width of this seismogenic region is well constrained by our model and is predicted to be 40 60 km which is in excellent agreement with seismological observations other features of deep earthquakes including low seismic efficiency and low aftershock activities can also be explained by the thermal instability model

substructure of a map streamer a study is undertaken of the substructure of an upper level potential vorticity streamer that approached the european alps during the field phase of the mesoscale alpine programme map the diagnosis is based upon a lagrangian forward projection lfp technique which can provide a spatial refinement of the operational european centre for medium range weather forecasts analysis fields the reconstructed fields capture several notable fine scale features of the streamer s structure that include spiral arms of a vortex like feature and a richly structured western flank to the streamer comprising a deep primary fold surmounted by a significant secondary fold with an intermediate distinctive striation that extends back into the stratosphere these features are not at variance with independent high resolution satellite water vapour images and measurements gathered during a flight mission using an airborne water vapour differential absorption lidar dial instrument and hence lend a measure of credence to both the lfp approach and the dial measurements moreover the analysis sheds light on the evolution and dynamics of the streamer s vortices the origin of the folds the mismatch between the satellite observations and fields from other sources and also has implications for stratosphere troposphere exchange and the accompanying chemical mixing copyright 2003 royal meteorological society

are the lower planes of double seismic zones caused by serpentine dehydration in subducting oceanic mantle in a number of subduction zones earthquakes at 50 200 km depth define two dipping planes separated by 20 40 km that appear to merge downdip upper plane earthquakes are inferred to occur within the subducting oceanic crust whereas lower plane earthquakes occur in the subducting oceanic mantle beneath northeast japan the results of a new finite element heat transfer model suggest that the lower seismic plane cuts across isotherms at a shallow angle lower plane earthquakes occur at 550 800 c at 100 km depth and at 350 600 c at 160 km depth these conditions coincide with the dehydration reaction antigorite serpentine forsterite enstatite h 2 o which suggests that lower plane earthquakes may be triggered by dehydration embrittlement which in turn suggests that the subducting oceanic mantle is partially hydrated serpentinization may occur in the trench outer rise region where faulting may promote infiltration of seawater several tens of kilometers into the oceanic lithosphere if this hypothesis is correct current subduction zone h 2 o budgets may significantly underestimate the amount of bound h 2 o entering the subduction factory

insights into the mechanism of intermediate depth earthquakes from source properties as imaged by back projection of multiple seismic phases 1 this study investigates the spatial and temporal distribution of energy release of large intermediate depth earthquakes using a modified back projection technique first used to study the 2004 sumatra andaman megathrust event multiple seismic phases are included in the back projection analysis which provides the capability to determine the energy distribution with respect to depth and time a total of 22 intermediate depth earthquakes with moment magnitudes greater than or equal to 6 5 are investigated with hypocentral depths between 100 and 300 km for most of these events the vertical extent of energy release is either below the resolution of this study 5 km or slightly above 15 km this observation agrees with previous studies that find large intermediate depth earthquakes have subhorizontal rupture planes the results also show a significant portion of the events have multiple rupture planes that are well separated in depth the closeness in time of the ruptures on separate planes and the distance between the planes suggest dynamic triggering where the p waves from the first rupture initiate rupture on the second plane we propose that a dehydration embrittlement mechanism combined with preferentially hydrated subhorizontal faults can explain the observations of dominant subhorizontal rupture planes and the frequent occurrence of rupture complexity involving multiple subevents

estimating high frequency energy radiation of large earthquakes by image deconvolution back projection abstract high frequency energy radiation of large earthquakes is a key to evaluating shaking damage and is an important source characteristic for understanding rupture dynamics we developed a new inversion method image deconvolution back projection idbp to retrieve high frequency energy radiation of seismic sources by linear inversion of observed images from a back projection approach the observed back projection image for multiple sources is considered as a convolution of the image of the true radiated energy and the array response for a point source the array response that spreads energy both in space and time is evaluated by using data of a smaller reference earthquake that can be assumed to be a point source the synthetic test of the method shows that the spatial and temporal resolution of the source is much better than that for the conventional back projection method we applied this new method to the 2001 m w 7 8 kunlun earthquake using data recorded by hi net in japan the new method resolves a sharp image of the high frequency energy radiation with a significant portion of supershear rupture

characteristics of subevents and three stage rupture processes of the 2015 mw 7 8 gorkha nepal earthquake from multiple array back projection abstract on 25 april 2015 an mw 7 8 earthquake occurred in nepal and caused about 9000 casualties this earthquake ruptured part of the main himalaya thrust fault which is due to the convergence of the subducting indian plate to the overriding eurasian plate and showed thrust mechanism with a very small fault dip angle about 7 10 we apply teleseismic multiple array back projection analysis to study the rupture process of this earthquake and find 6 clear high frequency radiation sources subevents our results illustrate a simple unilateral eastward rupture of 160 km with relative stable rupture speed of 2 8 km s and a duration of 56 s the entire rupture processes can be divided into 3 stages the high frequency radiation appears to be mainly located at the edge of the large slip area but the subevents have different characteristics in the western and eastern rupture areas for this 2015 nepal earthquake the scales of asperities appear to be mainly controlled by depth which dominates the overall patterns of slip and high frequency radiation we finally propose a multiple scale asperity model with stress and structural heterogeneities along the rupture direction to explain the distribution of high frequency subevents co seismic slip and aftershocks

a review of the geodynamic evolution of flat slab subduction in mexico peru and chile abstract subducting plates around the globe display a large variability in terms of slab geometry including regions where smooth and little variation in subduction parameters is observed while the vast majority of subduction slabs plunge into the mantle at different but positive dip angles the end member case of flat slab subduction seems to strongly defy this rule and move horizontally several hundreds of kilometers before diving into the surrounding hotter mantle by employing a comparative assessment for the mexican peruvian and chilean flat slab subduction zones we find a series of parameters that apparently facilitate slab flattening among them trench roll back as well as strong variations and discontinuities in the structure of oceanic and overriding plates seem to be the most important however we were not able to find the necessary and sufficient conditions that provide an explanation for the formation of flat slabs in all three subduction zones in order to unravel the origin of flat slab subduction it is probably necessary a numerical approach that considers also the influence of surrounding plates and their corresponding geometries on 3d subduction dynamics

seismic evidence for thermal runaway during intermediate depth earthquake rupture 1 intermediate depth earthquakes occur at depths where temperatures and pressures exceed those at which brittle failure is expected there are two leading candidates for the physical mechanism behind these earthquakes dehydration embrittlement and self localizing thermal shear runaway a complete energy budget for a range of earthquake sizes can help constrain whether either of these mechanisms might play a role in intermediate depth earthquake rupture the combination of high stress drop and low radiation efficiency that we observe for mw 4 5 earthquakes in the bucaramanga nest implies a temperature increase of 600 1000 c for a centimeter scale layer during earthquake failure this suggests that substantial shear heating and possibly partial melting occurs during intermediate depth earthquake failure our observations support thermal shear runaway as the mechanism for intermediate depth earthquakes which would help explain differences in their behavior compared to shallow earthquakes

compressive sensing of frequency dependent seismic radiation from subduction zone megathrust ruptures megathrust earthquakes rupture a broad zone of the subducting plate interface in both along strike and along dip directions the along dip rupture characteristics of megathrust events e g their slip and energy radiation distribution reflect depth varying frictional properties of the slab interface here we report high resolution frequency dependent seismic radiation of the four largest megathrust earthquakes in the past 10 y using a compressive sensing sparse source recovery technique resolving generally low frequency radiation closer to the trench at shallower depths and high frequency radiation farther from the trench at greater depths together with coseismic slip models and early aftershock locations our results suggest depth varying frictional properties at the subducting plate interfaces the shallower portion of the slab interface above 15 km is frictionally stable or conditionally stable and is the source region for tsunami earthquakes with large coseismic slip deficient high frequency radiation and few early aftershocks the slab interface at intermediate depths 15 35 km is the main unstable seismogenic zone for the nucleation of megathrust quakes typically with large coseismic slip abundant early aftershocks and intermediate to high frequency radiation the deeper portion of the slab interface 35 45 km is seismically unstable however with small coseismic slip dominant high frequency radiation and relatively fewer aftershocks

the crust and uppermost mantle structure of southern peru from ambient noise and earthquake surface wave analysis abstract southern peru is located in the northern central andes which is the highest plateau along an active subduction zone in this region the nazca slab changes from normal to flat subduction with the associated holocene volcanism ceasing above the flat subduction regime we use 6 s to 67 s period surface wave signals from ambient noise cross correlations and earthquake data to image the shear wave velocity v s v structure to a depth of 140 km a mid crust low velocity zone is revealed and is interpreted as partially molten rocks that are part of the andean low velocity zone it is oblique to the present trench and possibly indicates the location of the volcanic arcs formed during the steepening of the oligocene flat slab beneath the altiplano plateau the recently subducted slab beneath the forearc shows a decrease in velocity from the normal to flat subduction regime that might be related to hydration during the formation of the nazca ridge which in turn may contribute to the buoyancy of the flat slab the mantle above the flat slab has a comparatively high velocity which indicates the lack of melting and thus explains the cessation of the volcanism above a velocity contrast from crust to uppermost mantle is imaged across the cusco vilcanota fault system and is interpreted as the boundary between two lithospheric blocks

a window into the complexity of the dynamic rupture of the 2011 mw 9 tohoku oki earthquake the 2011 mw 9 tohoku oki earthquake recorded by over 1000 near field stations and multiple large aperture arrays is by far the best recorded earthquake in the history of seismology and provides unique opportunities to address fundamental issues in earthquake source dynamics here we conduct a high resolution array analysis based on recordings from the usarray and the european network the mutually consistent results from both arrays reveal rupture complexity with unprecedented resolution involving phases of diverse rupture speed and intermittent high frequency bursts within slow speed phases which suggests spatially heterogeneous material properties the earthquake initially propagates down dip with a slow initiation phase followed by sustained propagation at speeds of 3 km s the rupture then slows down to 1 5 km s for 60 seconds a rich sequence of bursts is generated along the down dip rim of this slow and roughly circular rupture front before the end of the slow phase an extremely fast rupture front detaches at about 5 km s towards the north finally a rupture front propagates towards the south running at about 2 5 km s for over 100 km key features of the rupture process are confirmed by the strong motion data recorded by k net and kik net the energetic high frequency radiation episodes within a slow rupture phase suggests a patchy image of the brittle ductile transition zone composed of discrete brittle asperities within a ductile matrix the high frequency is generated mainly at the down dip edge of the principal slip regions constrained by geodesy suggesting a variation along dip of the mechanical properties of the mega thrust fault or their spatial heterogeneity that affects rise time

can slab melting be caused by flat subduction slab melting has been suggested as a likely source of adakitic arc magmas i e andesitic and dacitic magmas strongly depleted in y and heavy rare earth elements existing numerical and petrologic models however restrict partial melting to very young 5 ma oceanic crust typically at 60 80 km depth paradoxically most of the known pliocene quaternary adakite occurrences are related to subduction of 10 45 ma lithosphere which should not be able to melt under normal subduction zone thermal gradients we propose an unusual mode of subduction known as flat subduction occurring in 10 of the world s convergent margins that can produce the temperature and pressure conditions necessary for fusion of moderately old oceanic crust of the 10 known flat subduction regions worldwide eight are linked to present or recent 6 ma occurrences of adakitic magmas observations from chile ecuador and costa rica suggest a three stage evolution 1 steep subduction produces a narrow calc alkaline arc typically 300 km from the trench above the asthenospheric wedge 2 once flat subduction begins the lower plate travels several hundred kilometers at nearly the same depth thus remaining in a pressure temperature window allowing slab melting over this broad distance and 3 once flat subduction continues for several million years the asthenospheric wedge disappears and a volcanic gap results as in modern day central chile or peru the proposed hypothesis which reconciles thermal models with geochemical observations has broad implications for the study of arc magmatism and for the thermal evolution of convergent margins

inversion of strong ground motion and teleseismic waveform data for the fault rupture history of the 1979 imperial valley california earthquake a least squares point by point inversion of strong ground motion and teleseismic body waves is used to infer the fault rupture history of the 1979 imperial valley california earthquake the imperial fault is represented by a plane embedded in a half space where the elastic properties vary with depth the inversion yields both the spatial and temporal variations in dislocation on the fault plane for both right lateral strike slip and normal dip slip components of motion inversions are run for different fault dips and for both constant and variable rupture velocity models effects of different data sets are also investigated inversions are compared which use the strong ground motions alone the teleseismic body waves alone and simultaneously the strong ground motion and teleseismic records the inversions are stabilized by adding both smoothing and positivity constraints the moment is estimated to be 5 0 10 25 dyne cm and the fault dip 90 5 dislocation in the hypocentral region south of the united states mexican border is relatively small and almost dies out near the border dislocation then increases sharply north of the border to a maximum of about 2 m under interstate 8 dipslip motion is minor compared to strike slip motion and is concentrated in the sediments the best fitting constant rupture velocity is 80 per cent of the local shear wave velocity however there is a suggestion that the rupture front accelerated from the hypocenter northward the 1979 imperial valley earthquake can be characterized as a magnitude 5 earthquake at the hypocenter which then grew into or triggered a magnitude 6 earthquake north of the border

nazca south america interactions and the late eocene late oligocene flat slab episode in the central andes 1 the most prominent features of the andean range are the altiplano and puna plateaus which were constructed by crustal shortening and uplift over the past 45 myr the early construction of these plateaus may have controlled subsequent growth of the orogen proposed models have suggested that an abrupt acceleration in relative motion between the nazca plate and the south american plate at 30 ma may have led to compression of the continent however the major plate motion change occurred at 25 23 ma and paleomagnetic rotations and crustal shortening of the andean forearc require that the arica bend formed prior to about 25 ma inferred history of flat slab subduction along the altiplano section of the andean margin and the structure of the adjacent south american cratonic shield combine to suggest an alternate scenario based partly upon geodynamic models of oceanic continental plate interactions in subduction zones we propose that central andean tectonism may have been controlled by two distinct regimes of subduction 1 oblique subduction along the central andean margin during the late eocene and oligocene accompanied by downdip alignment with the center of the amazonian shield flat slab activity in this phase of orogenesis may have been caused by a combination of cratonic root enhanced tectonics and oceanic plateau subduction and 2 an abrupt transition to trench normal subduction after 25 ma toward the more distal sao francisco craton was accompanied by a return to normal angle subduction similar interactions are hypothesized to have occurred during the laramide orogeny in western north america

shear instability in a viscoelastic material as the cause of deep focus earthquakes the mechanism of deep focus earthquakes has been examined by numerical and linear analysis of shear instability in subducting slabs we assume subducting slabs deform such that the spatially averaged strain rate becomes time independent furthermore we assume that rheology depends on temperature in the manner of an activation process using this model we investigate quantitatively the conditions under which shear instability takes place i e the deformation in the material concentrates in a thin layer whose temperature increases explosively until melting occurs first we study instability in a material whose rheological properties are spatially homogeneous shear instability takes place in a homogeneous material when exceeds a certain critical level e c which depends strongly on the stress in the slabs but does not depend on the detail of the creep law the value of the activation energy next we study instability in a material that contains shear zones similar to those often observed by field geologists i e a thin layer made of material with lower vicosity than the surrounding region we find that shear zones trigger shear instability even for the case of provided that g the ratio of characteristic time of thermal diffusion to that of shear heating in shear zones exceeds 1 and that f the ratio of stiffness of elastic deformation in the surrounding region to that of ductile deformation in shear zones becomes lower than 1 applying this condition to subducting slabs with shear zones we find that shear zones trigger shear instability even when the average strain rate is lower than by an order of magnitude from these results and from an estimate of in subducting slabs we conclude that shear instability is a mechanism likely to induce deep focus earthquakes

subevent location and rupture imaging using iterative backprojection for the 2011 tohoku mw 9 0 earthquake summary knowledge of the rupture speed and spatial temporal distribution of energy radiation of earthquakes is important for earthquake physics backprojection of teleseismic waves is commonly used to image the rupture process of large events the conventional backprojection method typically performs temporal and spatial averaging to obtain reliable rupture features we present an iterative backprojection method with subevent signal stripping to determine the distribution of subevents large energy bursts during the earthquake rupture we also relocate the subevents initially determined by iterative backprojection using the traveltime shifts from subevent waveform cross correlation which provides more accurate subevent locations and source times a bootstrap approach is used to assess the reliability of the identified subevents we apply this method to the mw 9 0 tohoku earthquake in japan using array data in the united states we identify 16 reliable subevents in the frequency band 0 2 1 hz which mostly occurred around or west of the hypocentre in the downdip region analysis of tohoku aftershocks shows that depth phases can often produce artefacts in the backprojection image but the position and timing of our main shock subevents are inconsistent with depth phase artefacts our results suggest a complicated rupture with a component of bilateral rupture along strike the dominant energy radiation between 0 2 and 1 hz is confined to a region close to the hypocentre during the first 90 s a number of subevents occurred around the hypocentre in the first 90 s suggesting a low initial rupture speed and repeated rupture or slip near thehypocentre therupturereachedthecoastalregionabout106kmnorthwestofthehypocentreat43sandtheregionabout110kmnorthofthehypocentreat105swithanorthwardrupture speed 2 0 kms 1 at 60 110 s after 110 s a series of subevents occurred about 120 220 km southwest of the hypocentre consistent wit ha3k ms 1 along strike rupture speed the abundant high frequency radiation in the downdip region close to the coast suggests intermittent rupture probably in the brittle ductile transition zone the lack of high frequency radiation in the updip region suggests the rupture near the trench was more continuous probably due to more homogeneous frictional properties of the shallow slab interface the lack of early aftershocks in the updip region indicates that most of the accumulated slip in the updip region during the interseismic period was probably released during the main shock