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Article
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Crustal permeability generated through microearthquakes is constrained by seismic moment
Crustal permeability evolution predicted from observed MEQs using Bi-LSTM models. MEQ-to-permeability relations confirmed across multiple field data sets using transfer learning with scaling relationships confirmed using physics-based models.
- Pengliang Yu
- , Ankur Mali
- & Derek Elsworth
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Article
| Open Access
Full-waveform tomography reveals iron spin crossover in Earth’s lower mantle
This study reveals that in the Earth’s mid-mantle, ferropericlase (the second most abundant mineral) undergoes a major electronic reconfiguration. At the base of the mantle, an enrichment in silica may represent a crystallised ancient magma ocean.
- Laura Cobden
- , Jingyi Zhuang
- & Jeroen Tromp
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Article
| Open Access
Modelling atomic and nanoscale structure in the silicon–oxygen system through active machine learning
Understanding the silicon-oxygen system is crucial for various applications. Here, the authors present an interatomic potential covering a wide range of the Si-O configurational space and showcase applications to silica and Si-SiO2 interfaces.
- Linus C. Erhard
- , Jochen Rohrer
- & Volker L. Deringer
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Article
| Open Access
Volcano generated tsunami recorded in the near source
Tsunami generated by pyroclastic flows are recorded in near-source condition. Waveform remains stable for different velocity and geometry of the sliding body. Volume is calculated from tsunami height. Tsunami occurring near populated coast can be detected automatically in real-time.
- M. Ripepe
- & G. Lacanna
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Article
| Open Access
Structure and elasticity of CaC2O5 suggests carbonate contribution to the seismic anomalies of Earth’s mantle
Based on first-principle simulations of the properties of CaC2O5 under high pressure, the authors suggest that carbonates may contribute to the origins of the seismic velocity anomalies in Earth’s mantle and transport within the deep carbon cycle.
- Hanyu Wang
- , Lei Liu
- & Shide Mao
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Article
| Open Access
Production-induced seismicity indicates a low risk of strong earthquakes in the Groningen gas field
Authors develop an approach to distinguish between induced and triggered tectonic earthquakes. Seismicity at the Groningen gas field is solely induced. The probabilities to trigger tectonic earthquakes indicate the inherent stability of the field.
- Nepomuk Boitz
- , Cornelius Langenbruch
- & Serge A. Shapiro
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Article
| Open Access
Seismic arrival-time picking on distributed acoustic sensing data using semi-supervised learning
In this study, the authors develop a semi-supervised approach to train a deep learning model, PhaseNet-DAS, for identifying seismic phases in Distributed Acoustic Sensing (DAS) data, which enables detecting and locating earthquakes using fiber-optic networks.
- Weiqiang Zhu
- , Ettore Biondi
- & Zhongwen Zhan
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Volcaniclastic density currents explain widespread and diverse seafloor impacts of the 2022 Hunga Volcano eruption
During the 2022 Hunga Volcano eruption, 10 km3 of seafloor material was removed, fueling long-run out seafloor density currents. These powerful currents damaged seafloor cables over a length of >100 km, reshaped the seafloor, and caused mass-mortality of seafloor life.
- Sarah Seabrook
- , Kevin Mackay
- & Michael J. M. Williams
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Article
| Open Access
Melting and defect transitions in FeO up to pressures of Earth’s core-mantle boundary
Multi-technique synchrotron measurements support the viability of solid FeO-rich structures at Earth’s mantle base. An order-disorder transition identified in the iron defect structure of FeO may lead to unique physical properties in the region.
- Vasilije V. Dobrosavljevic
- , Dongzhou Zhang
- & Jennifer M. Jackson
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Article
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Cascading events during the 1650 tsunamigenic eruption of Kolumbo volcano
Three-dimensional seismic data is used to reconstruct the flank collapse of Kolombo volcano in 1650, which led to a catastrophic tsunami event.
- Jens Karstens
- , Gareth J. Crutchley
- & Christian Berndt
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An ancient river landscape preserved beneath the East Antarctic Ice Sheet
Using satellite and survey data, an ancient river landscape 300 km wide has been discovered buried and preserved beneath the ice in East Antarctica. It has likely survived largely intact for up to 34 million years since before ice sheet growth.
- Stewart S. R. Jamieson
- , Neil Ross
- & Martin J. Siegert
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Article
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Small-scale layered structures at the inner core boundary
Seismologists discover locally laminated complex ICB structure beneath Asia with new dataset of pre-critical PKiKP waveforms, which might be explained by either a kilometer thick mushy zone, or the localized coexistence of bcc and hcp iron phase.
- Baolong Zhang
- , Sidao Ni
- & Zhongqing Wu
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Comment
| Open Access
Seismic insights into Earth’s core
Seismological advances are presented and summarized to study the Earth’s core.
- Lauren Waszek
- , Jessica Irving
- & Hrvoje Tkalčić
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Article
| Open Access
Broad fault zones enable deep fluid transport and limit earthquake magnitudes
Geophysical data from Chain Transform Fault reveal that broad damage zones preferentially facilitate fluid transport that cools the mantle, increasing earthquake depths. Fluids weaken the fault and segment it, limiting earthquake magnitudes.
- Konstantinos Leptokaropoulos
- , Catherine A. Rychert
- & Satish C. Singh
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Article
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Physical state of water controls friction of gabbro-built faults
Earthquakes often originate along faults in the presence of hot and pressurized water. Experiments conducted on simulated faults reveal that the physical state of water (liquid, vapor or supercritical) controls the frictional resistance of faults.
- Wei Feng
- , Lu Yao
- & Giulio Di Toro
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Basin record of a Miocene lithosphere drip beneath the Colorado Plateau
He & Kapp link an ancient basin high on the Colorado Plateau to lithospheric dripping deep beneath it. They show that this ephemeral process is visible not only via geophysical snapshots in the present, but also leaves imprints in the geologic record.
- John J. Y. He
- & Paul Kapp
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Article
| Open Access
Foreshock properties illuminate nucleation processes of slow and fast laboratory earthquakes
Laboratory experiments demonstrate that prior to fast laboratory earthquakes the fault begins to unlock and creep, causing foreshocks to coalesce in both space and time. This demonstrates that the evolution of foreshocks is closely connected to the fault slip velocity.
- David C. Bolton
- , Chris Marone
- & Daniel T. Trugman
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Article
| Open Access
Using a physics-informed neural network and fault zone acoustic monitoring to predict lab earthquakes
When attempting to predict laboratory quakes with a small amount of training data, a Physics-Informed Neural Network (PINN) outperforms purely data-driven models. PINN models also improve transfer learning when applied to a similar, yet differing dataset.
- Prabhav Borate
- , Jacques Rivière
- & Parisa Shokouhi
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Article
| Open Access
Quality evaluation of ground improvement by deep cement mixing piles via ground-penetrating radar
Subgrade settlement is a serious distress which poses a huge threat to the service life and operation safety of roads. Here, authors propose the application of ground-penetrating radar as technical solution for the quality evaluation of ground improvement in soft soil subgrade reinforcement engineering.
- Hongyan Shen
- , Xinsheng Li
- & Yueying Yan
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Article
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Complex tsunamigenic near-trench seafloor deformation during the 2011 Tohoku–Oki earthquake
Striking spatial heterogeneity of the shallow rupture behaviour is revealed for the near-trench region in the 2011 Tohoku–Oki earthquake. Significant off-fault deformation is suggested to play a predominant role in near-trench tsunami excitation.
- Zhang Kai
- , Wang Yanru
- & Wu Ziyin
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Article
| Open Access
Climate-controlled submarine landslides on the Antarctic continental margin
Changes in climate preconditioned large-scale, recurrent Miocene to Pleistocene Antarctic submarine landslides through variations in biological productivity, ice proximity and ocean circulation, posing tsunami risk to Southern Hemisphere populations.
- Jenny A. Gales
- , Robert M. McKay
- & Zhifang Xiong
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| Open Access
Mantle heterogeneity caused by trapped water in the Southwest Basin of the South China Sea
This study suggests that the observed shear-velocity reduction beneath the southern side of the Southwest Sub-basin (SWSB) of the South China Sea (SCS) may be due to the presence of 150–300 ppm of water and 5–10% of lower continental crust.
- Jinyu Tian
- , Zhitu Ma
- & Laiyin Guo
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| Open Access
Seismically imaged lithospheric delamination and its controls on the Mesozoic Magmatic Province in South China
Lithospheric delamination is seismically imaged in the asthenosphere and is responsible for the lithospheric modification and the formation of a Mesozoic Basin and Range-style magmatic province in South China by joint analysis of geochemical data.
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- Haijiang Zhang
- , Qing-Tian Lü
- & Zeng-Qian Hou
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| Open Access
Crystal orientation fabric anisotropy causes directional hardening of the Northeast Greenland Ice Stream
This study uses radio-echo sounding measurements, ice-core data and models to map the spatial variation in ice-crystal orientation in the northeast Greenland Ice Stream and shows how it potentially affects the ice-flow dynamics in this region.
- Tamara Annina Gerber
- , David A. Lilien
- & Olaf Eisen
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Article
| Open Access
Southern Tibetan rifting since late Miocene enabled by basal shear of the underthrusting Indian lithosphere
This study presents constraints on seismic anisotropy properties in western-central Tibet, revealing pronounced north-directed basal shearing beneath the rifts in the southern plateau that sheds light on the cause of syncontractional extension there.
- Bingfeng Zhang
- , Xuewei Bao
- & Wencai Yang
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Dueling dynamics of low-angle normal fault rupture with splay faulting and off-fault damage
Tectonic plates slide past each other along faults in the Earth’s crust. Here, the authors develop physics-based computer simulations of these earthquakes to study how, where and by which processes the crust moves during such events.
- J. Biemiller
- , A.-A. Gabriel
- & T. Ulrich
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| Open Access
Ghost-arc geochemical anomaly at a spreading ridge caused by supersized flat subduction
The Southern Atlantic-Southwest Indian ridges hold mid-ocean ridge basalts with a residual subduction-related geochemical signature, whose origin is unsolved. The study suggests a link to a subduction-modified mantle transported inland >2280 km by a large-scale flat slab event.
- Guido M. Gianni
- , Jeremías Likerman
- & Sergio Zlotnik
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Article
| Open Access
Seismic magnitude clustering is prevalent in field and laboratory catalogs
Clustering of earthquake magnitudes is actively debated. Here, the authors show statistically significant magnitude clustering present in many different field and laboratory catalogs at a wide range of spatial scales (mm to 1000 km).
- Q. Xiong
- , M. R. Brudzinski
- & J. C. Hampton
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Article
| Open Access
Hidden vulnerability of US Atlantic coast to sea-level rise due to vertical land motion
This study presents a 3,500 km vertical land motion map for the US Atlantic coast, showing that different land covers (from developed areas to wetlands) are losing elevation, with rates up to 3 mm per year.
- Leonard O. Ohenhen
- , Manoochehr Shirzaei
- & Matthew L. Kirwan
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Article
| Open Access
New constraints on Cenozoic subduction between India and Tibet
By evaluating model predictions with multiple geological data, the study shows that Tibetan tectonism is most consistent with the initial indentation of a cratonic terrane, followed by subduction of a buoyant tectonic plate resembling a continental margin.
- Liang Liu
- , Lijun Liu
- & Ling Chen
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| Open Access
Seismic evidence for a 1000 km mantle discontinuity under the Pacific
This study uses reverse-time migration full-waveform seismic imaging to reveal a thinned transition zone and a 1000-km mid-mantle discontinuity under the Pacific near Hawaii which they link to the upper boundary of upwelling plume material.
- Zhendong Zhang
- , Jessica C. E. Irving
- & Tariq Alkhalifah
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Superionic effect and anisotropic texture in Earth’s inner core driven by geomagnetic field
Earth’s inner core is heterogeneous and anisotropic. A new study based on computational simulation reveals the presence of ionic hydrogen flux in iron crystals, driven by the dipole geomagnetic field, which promotes the formation of observed inner core structure.
- Shichuan Sun
- , Yu He
- & Ho-kwang Mao
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Remnant of the late Permian superplume that generated the Siberian Traps inferred from geomagnetic data
Discovering ancient mantle plumes is challenging. By combining electrical conductivity with mineral physics modelling, this work finds a remnant of an ancient plume trapped in the mantle transition zone and sheds new light on mantle plume physics.
- Shiwen Li
- , Yabin Li
- & Aihua Weng
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Matters Arising
| Open Access
Increase of P-wave velocity due to melt in the mantle at the Gakkel Ridge
- Zhiteng Yu
- & Satish C. Singh
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Matters Arising
| Open Access
Reply to: Increase of P-wave velocity due to melt in the mantle at the Gakkel Ridge
- Ivan Koulakov
- , Vera Schlindwein
- & Aleksey Ivanov
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Article
| Open Access
Up-to-fivefold reverberating waves through the Earth’s center and distinctly anisotropic innermost inner core
This study presents hitherto unreported multiply-reverberating seismic body waves through the Earth’s center. Their travel times confirm a distinct internal shell within the inner core, existing possibly due to a past change in the inner core growth.
- Thanh-Son Phạm
- & Hrvoje Tkalčić
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| Open Access
Microseismicity and lithosphere thickness at a nearly-amagmatic oceanic detachment fault system
Oceanic detachment faults play a central role in accommodating the plate divergence at mid-oceanic ridges. Here, the authors show micro-seismicity of a nearly-amagmatic flip-flop detachment fault system at the ultraslow spreading Southwest Indian Ridge.
- Jie Chen
- , Wayne C. Crawford
- & Mathilde Cannat
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| Open Access
Seismic evidence for uniform crustal accretion along slow-spreading ridges in the equatorial Atlantic Ocean
Uniform magmatic crust formed at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge in the equatorial Atlantic Ocean reveals a two-dimensional mantle upwelling facilitated by the large transform faults and the high concentration of volatiles in the primitive melt in the mantle.
- Zhikai Wang
- & Satish C. Singh
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Article
| Open Access
Insights into magma ocean dynamics from the transport properties of basaltic melt
The viscosity of magma plays a crucial role in the dynamics of planet Earth. In this study, the authors show how transport properties of basaltic melt can give us insights into magma ocean dynamics.
- Suraj K. Bajgain
- , Aaron Wolfgang Ashley
- & Bijaya B. Karki
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Article
| Open Access
Integrated rupture mechanics for slow slip events and earthquakes
A new model elucidates the connections between silent earthquakes ("slow slip events") and regular ones by accounting for their finite rupture depth. It reconciles debated features of slow slip events and explains how they might lead to earthquakes.
- Huihui Weng
- & Jean-Paul Ampuero
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Article
| Open Access
Sound velocity of hexagonal close-packed iron to the Earth’s inner core pressure
New constraints on the composition of Earth’s inner core are provided by experimental verification of Birch’s law for hexagonal close-packed iron to pressure above 300 gigapascals, about double the pressure achieved in previous investigations
- Daijo Ikuta
- , Eiji Ohtani
- & Alfred Q. R. Baron
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Article
| Open Access
Physics-informed deep learning approach for modeling crustal deformation
Modeling crustal deformation is critical for understanding of tectonic processes and earthquake potentials. Here, the authors propose a deep learning approach that can be extended in a straightforward manner to complex crustal structures and inverse problems.
- Tomohisa Okazaki
- , Takeo Ito
- & Naonori Ueda
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Article
| Open Access
Creep fronts and complexity in laboratory earthquake sequences illuminate delayed earthquake triggering
Laboratory earthquake experiments reproduce delayed earthquake triggering, similar to aftershocks, as a result of propagating slow slip fronts. The speed of the fronts can be highly sensitive to fault stress levels left behind by previous earthquakes.
- Sara Beth L. Cebry
- , Chun-Yu Ke
- & Gregory C. McLaskey
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Article
| Open Access
Southern Ocean biogenic blooms freezing-in Oligocene colder climates
A phase of unique turbulent oceanographic and tectonic circumstances during the Early Oligocene caused high productivity in the Australian Antarctic Basin and enabled the stabilization of colder global climates.
- Katharina Hochmuth
- , Joanne M. Whittaker
- & Joseph H. LaCasce
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Article
| Open Access
Resolving puzzles of the phase-transformation-based mechanism of the strong deep-focus earthquake
The developed theory for coupled deformation, plastic strain-induced phase transformation, transformation-induced plasticity, and self-blown-up deformation-transformation-heating in shear band explains the main puzzles of deep-focus earthquakes.
- Valery I. Levitas
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Article
| Open Access
Linking the scaling of tremor and slow slip near Parkfield, CA
Huang and Hawthorne present new evidence supporting that tremor and slow slip are linked by the same moment-duration scaling. First-order implications would include that tremor and slow slip are likely generated by the same fault zone process.
- Hui Huang
- & Jessica C. Hawthorne
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Article
| Open Access
Crustal melting in orogenic belts revealed by eclogite thermal properties
By measuring the thermal properties of eclogite at high pressures, the authors found that temperature of orogenic continental crust is sufficient to melt granite and phengite, leading to low-velocity and high-conductivity anomalies in orogenic belts.
- Baohua Zhang
- , Hongzhan Fei
- & Qunke Xia
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Article
| Open Access
Space-time monitoring of groundwater fluctuations with passive seismic interferometry
Characterization of groundwater systems is important for sustainable freshwater management. Here, the authors map the distribution of groundwater storage changes at several hundred meters below the metropolitan Los Angeles during 2000–2020, by developing a cost-effective method using ambient ground vibrations recorded by seismometers.
- Shujuan Mao
- , Albanne Lecointre
- & Michel Campillo
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Article
| Open Access
Coupled influence of tectonics, climate, and surface processes on landscape evolution in southwestern North America
Cenozoic landscape evolution of southwestern North America remains debated. Here, the authors reconstruct landscape using 4-D numerical models, which can explain extensional collapse and superficial geological record for the Basin and Range Province
- Alireza Bahadori
- , William E. Holt
- & Catherine Badgley
Subslab ultra low velocity anomaly uncovered by and facilitating the largest deep earthquake