A global murmur, then unusual silence

Public release date: 19-Apr-2013
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Contact: Nan Broadbent
nan0604@msn.com
408-431-9885
Seismological Society of America

News from the Seismological Society of America 2013 Annual Meeting

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH -- In the global aftershock zone that followed the major April 2012 Indian Ocean earthquake, seismologists noticed an unusual pattern. The magnitude (M) 8.6 earthquake, a strike-slip event at intraoceanic tectonic plates, caused global seismic rates of M?4.5 to rise for several days, even at distances thousands of kilometers from the mainshock site. However, the rate of M?6.5 seismic activity subsequently dropped to zero for the next 95 days.

This period of quiet, without a large quake, has been a rare event in the past century. So why did this period of quiet occur?

In his research presentation, Fred Pollitz of the U.S. Geological Survey suggests that the Indian Ocean earthquake caused short-term dynamic stressing of a global faulting system. Across the planet, there are faults that are "close to failure" and ready to rupture. It may be, suggests Pollitz and his colleagues, that a large quake encourages short-term triggering of these close-to-failure faults but also relieves some of the stress that has built up along these faults. Large magnitude events would not occur until tectonic movement loads stress back on to the faults at the ready-to-fail levels they reached before the mainshock.

Using a statistical model of global seismicity, Pollitz and his colleagues show that a transient seismic perturbation of the size of the April 2012 global aftershock would inhibit rupture in 88 percent of their possible M?6.5 earthquake fault sources over the next 95 days, regardless of how close they were to failure beforehand.

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Founded in the aftermath of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, the Seismological Society of America is an international scientific society devoted to the advancement of seismology and the understanding of earthquakes for the benefit of society. It publishes the prestigious peer-reviewed journal BSSA the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America and the bimonthly Seismological Research Letters, which serves as a general forum for informal communication among seismologists and those interested in seismology and related disciplines.

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 19-Apr-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Nan Broadbent
nan0604@msn.com
408-431-9885
Seismological Society of America

News from the Seismological Society of America 2013 Annual Meeting

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH -- In the global aftershock zone that followed the major April 2012 Indian Ocean earthquake, seismologists noticed an unusual pattern. The magnitude (M) 8.6 earthquake, a strike-slip event at intraoceanic tectonic plates, caused global seismic rates of M?4.5 to rise for several days, even at distances thousands of kilometers from the mainshock site. However, the rate of M?6.5 seismic activity subsequently dropped to zero for the next 95 days.

This period of quiet, without a large quake, has been a rare event in the past century. So why did this period of quiet occur?

In his research presentation, Fred Pollitz of the U.S. Geological Survey suggests that the Indian Ocean earthquake caused short-term dynamic stressing of a global faulting system. Across the planet, there are faults that are "close to failure" and ready to rupture. It may be, suggests Pollitz and his colleagues, that a large quake encourages short-term triggering of these close-to-failure faults but also relieves some of the stress that has built up along these faults. Large magnitude events would not occur until tectonic movement loads stress back on to the faults at the ready-to-fail levels they reached before the mainshock.

Using a statistical model of global seismicity, Pollitz and his colleagues show that a transient seismic perturbation of the size of the April 2012 global aftershock would inhibit rupture in 88 percent of their possible M?6.5 earthquake fault sources over the next 95 days, regardless of how close they were to failure beforehand.

###

Founded in the aftermath of the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, the Seismological Society of America is an international scientific society devoted to the advancement of seismology and the understanding of earthquakes for the benefit of society. It publishes the prestigious peer-reviewed journal BSSA the Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America and the bimonthly Seismological Research Letters, which serves as a general forum for informal communication among seismologists and those interested in seismology and related disciplines.

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-04/ssoa-agm041113.php

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