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An integrated perspective of the continuum between earthquakes and slow-slip phenomena

Abstract

The discovery of slow-slip phenomena has revolutionized our understanding of how faults accommodate relative plate motions. Faults were previously thought to relieve stress either through continuous aseismic sliding, or as earthquakes resulting from instantaneous failure of locked faults. In contrast, slow-slip events proceed so slowly that slip is limited and only low-frequency (or no) seismic waves radiate. We find that slow-slip phenomena are not unique to the depths (tens of kilometres) of subduction zone plate interfaces. They occur on faults in many settings, at numerous scales and owing to various loading processes, including landslides and glaciers. Taken together, the observations indicate that slowly slipping fault surfaces relax most of the accrued stresses through aseismic slip. Aseismic motion can trigger more rapid slip elsewhere on the fault that is sufficiently fast to generate seismic waves. The resulting radiation has characteristics ranging from those indicative of slow but seismic slip, to those typical of earthquakes. The mode of seismic slip depends on the inherent characteristics of the fault, such as the frictional properties. Slow-slip events have previously been classified as a distinct mode of fault slip compared with that seen in earthquakes. We conclude that instead, slip modes span a continuum and are of common occurrence.

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Figure 1: Illustrative examples of slow-slip signals.
Figure 2: Schematic cross-section of the Cascadia subduction zone.
Figure 3: Location map of seismically and geodetically observed slow-slip phenomena.
Figure 4: Examples of triggering seismic waves and triggered tremor.
Figure 5: Seismic moment versus source duration for a variety of fault-slip observations.

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Acknowledgements

We thank E. Brodsky, R. McCaffrey, S. Bilek and many others for sharing their measurements of moments and durations of regular earthquakes and slow-slip events. The manuscript benefits from comments by D. Shelly, J. McGuire, K. Obara, T. Melbourne and P. Segall. This work is supported by National Science Foundation (EAR-0809834 and EAR-0956051) and the US Geological Survey.

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Correspondence to Zhigang Peng.

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Peng, Z., Gomberg, J. An integrated perspective of the continuum between earthquakes and slow-slip phenomena. Nature Geosci 3, 599–607 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1038/ngeo940

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