Crustal Characteristics in the Subduction Zone of Mexico: Implication of the Tectonostratigraphic Terranes on Slab Tearing

2020 ◽  
Vol 91 (3) ◽  
pp. 1781-1793
Author(s):  
Dana Carciumaru ◽  
Roberto Ortega ◽  
Jorge Castillo Castellanos ◽  
Eduardo Huesca-Pérez
Keyword(s):  
Subduction Zone ◽  
Moment Tensor ◽  
Azimuthal Anisotropy ◽  
Slab Geometry ◽  
Multiple Alignments ◽  
Shallow Earthquakes ◽  
Wave Splitting ◽  
Slab Tearing ◽  
New Evidence ◽  
Mexican Subduction Zone

Abstract During the past years, significant work has been done for studying the crustal anisotropy and state of stress of the Mexican subduction zone. At the same time, there is new evidence of the geometry of the subducted slab proposing subduction tearing. Here, we present a study of the Earth crust using three different methods: azimuthal anisotropy based on ambient noise, shear-wave splitting of tectonic tremors, and moment tensor inversions of the earthquakes of 7 September 2017 Mw 8.2 Tehuantepec, Mexico. This earthquake initiated a seismic sequence that triggered shallow seismicity and aftershocks. The shallow earthquakes fall into a region where there were few published focal mechanism higher than Mw 4.5. Two slab tearings: in the Michoacán–Guerrero border and in central Oaxaca, best represent the slab geometry of the Mexican subduction zone. At the Michoacán–Guerrero, the subducted slab is subhorizontal, whereas in central Oaxaca the plate is characterized by northeast vergence. We interpret that the mantle’s flow in this part of the subducted slab produces multiple alignments in the crust and differentiates the tectonostratigraphic terranes of the southern region of Mexico.

scholarly journals Tectonic tremors in the Northern Mexican subduction zone remotely triggered by the 2017 Mw8.2 Tehuantepec earthquake

2021 ◽  
Vol 73 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Masatoshi Miyazawa ◽  
Miguel Ángel Santoyo
Keyword(s):  
Subduction Zone ◽  
Dynamic Strain ◽  
Plate Boundaries ◽  
Maximum Magnitude ◽  
Slab Geometry ◽  
Plate Interface ◽  
Wavefield Simulation ◽  
Stress Changes ◽  
Triggered Tremor ◽  
Mexican Subduction Zone

AbstractSurface waves from the 2017 Mw8.2 Tehuantepec earthquake remotely triggered tectonic tremors in the Jalisco region, approximately 1000 km WNW in the northern Mexican subduction zone. This is the first observation of tremor triggering in this region and one of the largest known examples of a triggered tremor in the world. Although prior studies have found tectonic tremors triggered by teleseismic waves in subduction zones and plate boundaries, further investigation of tremor triggering is crucially important for understanding the causative mechanism. We calculate the stress and strain changes across the three-dimensional plate interface attributable to seismic waves from the earthquake by full wavefield simulation. The maximum magnitude of the dynamic strain tensor eigenvalues on the plate interface, where tremors likely occur, is approximately 10–6. The subducting slab geometry effectively amplifies triggering waves. The triggering Coulomb failure stress changes resolved for a thrust fault plane consistent with the geometry are estimated to be approximately 10–40 kPa. The relationship between the triggering stress and triggered tremor amplitude may indicate that the aσ of the rate–state-dependent friction law is 10–100 kPa.

scholarly journals Tectonic Tremors in the Northern Mexican Subduction Zone Remotely Triggered by the 2017 Mw8.2 Tehuantepec Earthquake

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masatoshi Miyazawa ◽  
Miguel Ángel Santoyo
Keyword(s):  
Subduction Zone ◽  
Dynamic Strain ◽  
Plate Boundaries ◽  
Maximum Magnitude ◽  
Slab Geometry ◽  
Plate Interface ◽  
Wavefield Simulation ◽  
Stress Changes ◽  
Triggered Tremor ◽  
Mexican Subduction Zone

Abstract Surface waves from the 2017 Mw8.2 Tehuantepec earthquake remotely triggered tectonic tremors in the Jalisco region, approximately 1000 km WNW in the northern Mexican subduction zone. This is the first observation of tremor triggering in this region and one of the largest known examples of a triggered tremor in the world. Although prior studies have found tectonic tremors triggered by teleseismic waves in subduction zones and plate boundaries, further investigation of tremor triggering is crucially important for understanding the causative mechanism. We calculate the stress and strain changes across the three-dimensional plate interface attributable to seismic waves from the earthquake by full wavefield simulation. The maximum magnitude of the dynamic strain tensor eigenvalues on the plate interface, where tremors likely occur, is approximately 10 -6 . The subducting slab geometry effectively amplifies triggering waves. The triggering Coulomb failure stress changes resolved for a thrust fault plane consistent with the geometry are estimated to be approximately 10-40 kPa. The relationship between the triggering stress and triggered tremor amplitude may indicate that the [[EQUATION]] of the rate-state-dependent friction law is 10 to 100 kPa.

scholarly journals Tectonic Tremors in the Northern Mexican Subduction Zone Remotely Triggered by the 2017 Mw8.2 Tehuantepec Earthquake

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masatoshi Miyazawa ◽  
Miguel Ángel Santoyo
Keyword(s):  
Subduction Zone ◽  
Dynamic Strain ◽  
Plate Boundaries ◽  
Maximum Magnitude ◽  
Slab Geometry ◽  
Plate Interface ◽  
Wavefield Simulation ◽  
Stress Changes ◽  
Triggered Tremor ◽  
Mexican Subduction Zone

Abstract Surface waves from the 2017 Mw8.2 Tehuantepec earthquake remotely triggered tectonic tremors in the Jalisco region, approximately 1000 km WNW in the northern Mexican subduction zone. This is the first observation of tremor triggering in this region and one of the largest known examples of triggered tremor in the world. While prior studies found tectonic tremors triggered by teleseismic waves in subduction zones and plate boundaries, further investigation of tremor triggering is crucially important for understanding the causative mechanism. We calculate the stress and strain changes across the three-dimensional plate interface attributable to seismic waves from the earthquake by full wavefield simulation. The maximum magnitude of the dynamic strain tensor eigenvalues on the plate interface, where tremors likely occur, is approximately 10-6. The subducting slab geometry effectively amplifies triggering waves. The triggering Coulomb failure stress changes resolved for a thrust fault plane consistent with the geometry are estimated at approximately 10-40 kPa. The relationship between the triggering stress and triggered tremor amplitude may indicate that the aσ of the rate-state-dependent friction law is 10 to 100 kPa.

scholarly journals Seismicity and shallow slab geometry in the central Vanuatu subduction zone

2015 ◽  
Vol 120 (8) ◽  
pp. 5606-5623 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Baillard ◽  
Wayne C. Crawford ◽  
Valérie Ballu ◽  
Marc Régnier ◽  
Bernard Pelletier ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Subduction Zone ◽  
Slab Geometry

Spatiotemporal Variations in Slow Earthquakes Along the Mexican Subduction Zone

2018 ◽  
Vol 123 (2) ◽  
pp. 1559-1575 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Maury ◽  
S. Ide ◽  
V. M. Cruz-Atienza ◽  
V. Kostoglodov
Keyword(s):  
Subduction Zone ◽  
Spatiotemporal Variations ◽  
Slow Earthquakes ◽  
Mexican Subduction Zone

The influence of fluids in the unusually high-rate seismicity in the Ometepec segment of the Mexican subduction zone

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
D Legrand ◽  
A Iglesias ◽  
S K Singh ◽  
V Cruz-Atienza ◽  
C Yoon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Subduction Zone ◽  
Temporal Distribution ◽  
Aftershock Sequence ◽  
High Rate ◽  
Earth Tides ◽  
P Value ◽  
Plate Interface ◽  
Flow Measurements ◽  
Slow Slip Events ◽  
Mexican Subduction Zone

Summary The rate of earthquakes with magnitudes Mw ≤ 7.5 in the Ometepec segment of the Mexican subduction zone is relatively high as compared to the neighboring regions of Oaxaca and Guerrero. Although the reason is not well understood, it has been reported that these earthquakes give rise to a large number of aftershocks. Our study of the aftershock sequence of the 2012 Mw7.4 Ometepec thrust earthquake suggests that it is most likely due to two dominant factors: (1) The presence of an anomalously high quantity of over-pressured fluids near the plate interface, and (2) the roughness of the plate interface. More than 5,400 aftershocks were manually detected during the first ten days following the 2012 earthquake. Locations were obtained for 2,419 events (with duration magnitudes Md ≥ 1.5). This is clearly an unusually high number of aftershocks for an earthquake of this magnitude. Furthermore, we generated a more complete catalog, using an unsupervised fingerprint technique, to detect more smaller events (15,593 within one month following the mainshock). For this catalog, a high b-value of 1.50 ± 0.10 suggests the presence of fluid release during the aftershock sequence. A low p-value (0.37 ± 0.12) of the Omori law reveals a slow decaying aftershock sequence. The temporal-distribution of aftershocks shows peaks of activity with two dominant periods of 12h and 24h that correlate with the Earth tides. To explain these observations, we suggest that the 2012 aftershock sequence is associated with the presence of over-pressured fluids and/or a heterogeneous and irregular plate interface related to the subduction of the neighboring seamounts. High fluid content has independently been inferred by magneto-telluric surveys and deduced from heat flow measurements in the region. The presence of fluids in the region has also been proposed to explain the occurrence of slow slip events, low frequency earthquakes, and tectonic tremors.

Analysis of the 15 December 2017 Mw 6.5 and the 23 January 2018 Mw 5.9 Java Earthquakes

2020 ◽  
Vol 110 (6) ◽  
pp. 3050-3063
Author(s):  
Anne Meylani Magdalena Sirait ◽  
Anne S. Meltzer ◽  
Felix Waldhauser ◽  
Joshua C. Stachnik ◽  
Daryono Daryono ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Moment Tensor ◽  
Fluid Pressure ◽  
Fault System ◽  
Double Difference ◽  
Northern Coast ◽  
Eurasian Plate ◽  
Slab Geometry ◽  
Plate Interface ◽  
Upward Migration ◽  
Ground Shaking

ABSTRACT The west part of Java sits at the transition from oblique subduction of the Australian plate under the Sunda block of the Eurasian plate along Sumatra to orthogonal convergence along central and eastern Java. This region has experienced several destructive earthquakes, the 17 July 2006 Mw 7.7 earthquake and tsunami off the coast of Pangandaran and the 2 September 2009 Mw 7 earthquake, located off the coast of Tasikmalaya. More recently, on 15 December 2017, an Mw 6.5 earthquake occurred off the coast near Pangandaran, and, on 23 January 2018, an Mw 5.9 earthquake occurred offshore Lebak, between Pelabuhan Ratu and Ujung Kulon. Ground shaking and damage occurred locally and in Jakarta on the northern coast of Java. In this study, we use the double-difference technique to relocate both mainshocks and 10 months of seismicity (228 events) following the earthquakes. The relocation result improved the mainshock locations and depth distribution of earthquakes. Moment tensor of the December 2017 event located the hypocenter at ∼108  km depth within the subducting slab. The best-fit relocation places the depth at 61 km, close to the slab interface. Aftershocks occur between 68 and 86 km depth and align along a steeper plane than slab geometry models. The January 2018 event is located at ∼46  km depth. Aftershocks form a near-vertical, pipe-like structure from the plate interface to ∼10  km depth. A burst of aftershocks immediately following the mainshock shows a shallowing upward trend at a rate of ∼2  km/hr, suggesting that a fluid pressure wave released from the oceanic crust is causing brittle failure in the overriding plate, followed by upward migration of fluids. Five months later, shallow (<25  km) seismicity collocates with background seismicity, suggesting the January 2018 event activated the Pelabuhan Ratu fault system close to the coast.

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