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Deformation cycles of subduction earthquakes in a viscoelastic Earth

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Abstract

Subduction zones produce the largest earthquakes. Over the past two decades, space geodesy has revolutionized our view of crustal deformation between consecutive earthquakes. The short time span of modern measurements necessitates comparative studies of subduction zones that are at different stages of the deformation cycle. Piecing together geodetic ‘snapshots’ from different subduction zones leads to a unifying picture in which the deformation is controlled by both the short-term (years) and long-term (decades and centuries) viscous behaviour of the mantle. Traditional views based on elastic models, such as coseismic deformation being a mirror image of interseismic deformation, are being thoroughly revised.

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Figure 1: Representative SEC models and development of observation technology.
Figure 2: Three primary processes after a subduction earthquake.
Figure 3: GPS- (red) and model-predicted (blue) surface velocities for three subduction zones that are at different stages of the earthquake cycle.
Figure 5
Figure 6
Figure 4: Evolution of seaward-landward motion transition for different earthquake sizes.

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Acknowledgements

M. Kogan and M. Chlieh provided unpublished information on GPS station reversal after the 2006 Kuril and 2001 Peru earthquakes, respectively. This is Geological Survey of Canada contribution 20110422.

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K.W. designed the study and prepared the manuscript. Y.H. did the numerical modelling. J.H. wrote the modelling code and contributed to the modelling.

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Correspondence to Kelin Wang.

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Wang, K., Hu, Y. & He, J. Deformation cycles of subduction earthquakes in a viscoelastic Earth. Nature 484, 327–332 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature11032

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