Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Letter
  • Published:

Triggered creep as a possible mechanism for delayed dynamic triggering of tremor and earthquakes

Nature Geoscience volume 4, pages 384–388 (2011)Cite this article

Subjects

Abstract

The passage of radiating seismic waves generates transient stresses in the Earth’s crust that can trigger slip on faults far away from the original earthquake source. The triggered fault slip is detectable in the form of earthquakes1,2,3 and seismic tremor4,5,6,7. However, the significance of these triggered events remains controversial8,9, in part because they often occur with some delay, long after the triggering stress has passed. Here we scrutinize the location and timing of tremor on the San Andreas fault between 2001 and 2010 in relation to distant earthquakes. We observe tremor on the San Andreas fault that is initiated by passing seismic waves, yet migrates along the fault at a much slower velocity than the radiating seismic waves. We suggest that the migrating tremor records triggered slow slip of the San Andreas fault as a propagating creep event. We find that the triggered tremor and fault creep can be initiated by distant earthquakes as small as magnitude 5.4 and can persist for several days after the seismic waves have passed. Our observations of prolonged tremor activity provide a clear example of the delayed dynamic triggering of seismic events. Fault creep has been shown to trigger earthquakes10,11,12, and we therefore suggest that the dynamic triggering of prolonged fault creep could provide a mechanism for the delayed triggering of earthquakes.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1: Tremor-family locations and triggering prevalence.
Figure 2: Tremor triggered by the 2009 Mw 8.1 Samoa earthquake.
Figure 3: Tremor activity in the southernmost family, mid-2001 to mid-2010.
Figure 4: Multi-day tremor episode triggered by the 2002 Mw 7.9 Denali fault earthquake.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Hill, D. P. et al. Seismicity remotely triggered by the magnitude 7.3 Landers, California, earthquake. Science 260, 1617–1623 (1993).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Velasco, A. A., Hernandez, S., Parsons, T. & Pankow, K. Global ubiquity of dynamic earthquake triggering. Nature Geosci. 1, 375–379 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Freed, A. M. Earthquake triggering by static, dynamic and postseismic stress transfer. Annu. Rev. Earth Planet. Sci. 33, 335–367 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Obara, K. Nonvolcanic deep tremor associated with subduction in southwest Japan. Science 296, 1679–1681 (2002).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Peng, Z., Vidale, J. E., Wech, A., Nadeau, R. M. & Creager, K. M. Remote triggering of tremor around the Parkfield section of the San Andreas fault. J. Geophys. Res. 114, B00A06 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Rubinstein, J. L. et al. Seismic wave triggering of non-volcanic tremor, ETS, and earthquakes on Vancouver Island. J. Geophys. Res. 114, B00A01 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Guilhem, A., Peng, Z. & Nadeau, R. M. High-frequency identification of non-volcanic tremor triggered by regional earthquakes. Geophys. Res. Lett. 37, L16309 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Felzer, K. R. & Brodsky, E. E. Decay of aftershock density with distance indicates triggering by dynamic stress. Nature 441, 735–738 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Richards-Dinger, K., Stein, R. S. & Toda, S. Decay of aftershock density with distance does not indicate triggering by dynamic stress. Nature 467, 583–586 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  10. Peng, Z. & Gomberg, J. An integrated perspective of the continuum between earthquakes and slow-slip phenomena. Nature Geosci. 3, 599–607 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  11. Delahaye, E. J., Townend, J., Reyners, M. E. & Rogers, G. Microseismicity but no tremor accompanying slow slip in the Hikurangi subduction zone, New Zealand. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 277, 21–28 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Lohman, R. B. & McGuire, J. J. Earthquake swarms driven by aseismic creep in the Salton Trough, California. J. Geophys. Res. 112, B04405 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Rubinstein, J. L., Shelly, D. R. & Ellsworth, W. L. in New Frontiers in Integrated Solid Earth Sciences (eds Cloetingh, S. & Negendank, J.) 287–314 (Springer, 2010).

    Google Scholar 

  14. Thomas, A., Nadeau, R. & Bürgmann, R. Tremor-tide correlations and near-lithostatic pore pressure on the deep San Andreas fault. Nature 462, 1048–1051 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  15. Shelly, D. R., Beroza, G. C. & Ide, S. Non-volcanic tremor and low frequency earthquake swarms. Nature 446, 305–307 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Ide, S., Shelly, D. R. & Beroza, G. C. Mechanism of deep low frequency earthquakes: Further evidence that deep non-volcanic tremor is generated by shear slip on the plate interface. Geophys. Res. Lett. 34, L03308 (2007).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  17. Shelly, D. R. Migrating tremors illuminate deformation beneath the seismogenic San Andreas fault. Nature 463, 648–652 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  18. Smith, E. F. & Gomberg, J. A search in strainmeter data for slow slip associated with triggered and ambient tremor near Parkfield, California. J. Geophys. Res. 114, B00A14 (2009).

    Google Scholar 

  19. Obara, K. Time sequence of deep low-frequency tremors in the southwest Japan subduction zone: Triggering phenomena and periodic activity. [in Japanese with English abstract and legend]. J. Geogr. 112, 837–849. (2003).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. Peng, Z., Hill, D. P., Shelly, D. R. & Aiken, C. Remotely triggered microearthquakes and tremor in Central California following the 2010 M w 8.8 Chile earthquake. Geophys. Res. Lett. 37, L24312 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. Beroza, G. C. & Ide, S. Deep tremors and slow quakes. Science 324, 1025–1026 (2009).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Du, W-x., Sykes, L. R., Shaw, B. E. & Scholz, C. H. Triggered aseismic fault slip from nearby earthquakes, static or dynamic effect. J. Geophys. Res. 108(B2), 2131 (2003).

    Google Scholar 

  23. Hill, D. P. & Prejean, S. G. in Treatise on Geophysics Vol. 4 (ed. Schubert, G.) 257–292 (Earthquake Seismology (ed. Kanamori, H.), Elsevier, 2007).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  24. Hill, D. P. Dynamic stresses, Coulomb failure, and remote triggering. Bull. Seismol. Soc. Am. 98, 66–92 (2008).

    Google Scholar 

  25. Parsons, T. A Hypothesis for delayed dynamic earthquake triggering. Geophys. Res. Lett. 32, L04302 (2005).

    Google Scholar 

  26. Brodsky, E. E. & Prejean, S. G. New constraints on mechanisms of remotely triggered seismicity at Long Valley Caldera. J. Geophys. Res. 110, B04302 (2005).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  27. Brodsky, E. E. Long-range triggered earthquakes that continue after the wave train passes. Geophys. Res. Lett. 33, L15313 (2006).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  28. Shelly, D. R. & Hardebeck, J. L. Precise tremor source locations and amplitude variations along the lower-crustal central San Andreas Fault. Geophys. Res. Lett. 37, L14301 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Árnadóttir, T., Geirsson, H. & Einarsson, P. Coseismic stress changes and crustal deformation on the Reykjanes Peninsula due to triggered earthquakes on 17 June 2000. J. Geophys. Res. 109, B09307 (2004).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  30. Roland, E. & McGuire, J. J. Earthquake swarms on transform faults. Geophys. J. Int. 178, 1677–1690 (2009).

    Google Scholar 

  31. Hawthorne, J. C. & Rubin, A. M. Tidal modulation of slow slip in Cascadia. J. Geophys. Res. 115, B09406 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

We are grateful to T. Parsons and B. Chouet for reviewing this manuscript. Data were obtained from the Northern California Earthquake Data Center (NCEDC). Station PKD and HRSN stations are operated by the University of California, Berkeley. Z.P. and C.A. are supported by the National Science Foundation (EAR-0809834 and EAR-0956051).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. US Geological Survey, Menlo Park, California 94025, USA

    David R. Shelly & David P. Hill

  2. Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia 30332, USA

    Zhigang Peng & Chastity Aiken

Authors
  1. David R. Shelly
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Zhigang Peng
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. David P. Hill
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Chastity Aiken
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

D.R.S. designed and carried out the tremor detection. Z.P. analysed the broadband data of triggering earthquakes. D.R.S., Z.P. and D.P.H. analysed and interpreted the results. D.R.S. wrote the manuscript, with contributions from all authors. Figures were constructed by D.R.S. (Figs 1, 3 and Supplementary Fig. S2 and Movies), Z.P. (Fig. 4), D.P.H. (Supplementary Fig. S1) and C.A. (Fig. 2 and Supplementary Figs S3–S5).

Corresponding author

Correspondence to David R. Shelly.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Information

Supplementary Information (PDF 1594 kb)

Supplementary Movies

Supplementary Movies (MOV 3950 kb)

Supplementary Movies

Supplementary Movies (MOV 1397 kb)

Supplementary Movies

Supplementary Movies (MOV 1818 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Shelly, D., Peng, Z., Hill, D. et al. Triggered creep as a possible mechanism for delayed dynamic triggering of tremor and earthquakes. Nature Geosci 4, 384–388 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1141

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1141

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing