Featured
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Letter |
Himalayan strain reservoir inferred from limited afterslip following the Gorkha earthquake
Great Himalayan earthquakes are rare. Analysis of surface motions in the months after the 2015 Gorkha earthquake reveals negligible aseismic slip, implying that stress may be stored in the crust to be tapped during future great earthquakes.
- David Mencin
- , Rebecca Bendick
- & Roger Bilham
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Letter |
Space-based detection of missing sulfur dioxide sources of global air pollution
Sulfur dioxide is a key air contaminant. A satellite-based emissions inventory reveals a number of hitherto unknown sources, with a cluster around the Persian Gulf, and identifies large discrepancies with conventional inventories in some regions.
- Chris A. McLinden
- , Vitali Fioletov
- & Joanna Joiner
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Letter |
Potential slab deformation and plunge prior to the Tohoku, Iquique and Maule earthquakes
Megathrust earthquakes rupture the shallow plate boundary in subduction zones. Analysis of seismic activity preceding megathrust quakes in Japan and Chile reveals deep seismicity that may mark plunging of the slabs prior to main fault rupture.
- Michel Bouchon
- , David Marsan
- & Blandine Gardonio
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News & Views |
Cracking cliffs feel the heat
Rockfall often seems to occur spontaneously without an obvious cause. Monitoring of a granitic cliff reveals that cyclical temperature variations can subtly act to slowly and incrementally damage hard rock until failure is inevitable.
- Valentin S. Gischig
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Article |
Rockfall triggering by cyclic thermal stressing of exfoliation fractures
Some rockfalls occur without obvious triggers such as seismicity or freeze–thaw conditions. Temperature and deformation patterns on a granite cliff suggest that cyclical thermal forcing can progressively open fractures and trigger rockfalls.
- Brian D. Collins
- & Greg M. Stock
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Letter |
The lateral extent of volcanic interactions during unrest and eruption
One volcanic eruption can trigger another. Global analysis of coupled eruptions suggests that the extent of magma mush, stress changes, dyke intrusions and earthquakes can couple volcanic eruptions over increasing distances.
- Juliet Biggs
- , Elspeth Robertson
- & Katharine Cashman
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Letter |
The role of a keystone fault in triggering the complex El Mayor–Cucapah earthquake rupture
Large earthquakes can rupture several faults. Analysis of seismic data from the 2010 El Mayor–Cucapah earthquake in California suggests that multiple faults were pinned to a keystone fault whose rupture triggered cascading slip.
- John M. Fletcher
- , Michael E. Oskin
- & Orlando J. Teran
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News & Views |
Remote-controlled earthquakes
Large earthquakes cause other quakes near and far. Analyses of quakes in Pakistan and Chile suggest that such triggering can occur almost instantaneously, making triggered events hard to detect, and potentially enhancing the associated hazards.
- Gavin Hayes
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Article |
Limitations of rupture forecasting exposed by instantaneously triggered earthquake doublet
Assessments of earthquake risk often assume rupture of a single fault. Analysis of a 1997 Pakistan earthquake reveals that not one but two separate ruptures caused the shaking, implying that cascading events should be factored into forecasts.
- E. Nissen
- , J. R. Elliott
- & T. J. Wright
The vertical fingerprint of earthquake cycle loading in southern California
Tohoku rupture reloaded?