| Abstract: | Temporal clustering of the larger earthquakes (foreshock-mainshock-aftershock) followed by relative quiescence (stress shadow) are characteristic of seismic cycles along plate boundaries. A global seismic-moment release history, based on a little more than 100 years of instrumental earthquake data in an extended version of the catalog of Pacheco and Sykes (1992), illustrates similar behavior for Earth as a whole. Although the largest earthquakes have occurred in the circum-Pacific region, an analysis of moment release in the hemisphere antipodal to the Pacific plate shows a very similar pattern. Monte Carlo simulations confirm that the global temporal clustering of great shallow earthquakes during 1952-1964 at M ??? 9.0 is highly significant (4% random probability) as is the clustering of the events of M ??? 8.6 (0.2% random probability) during 1950-1965. We have extended the Pacheco and Sykes (1992) catalog from 1989 through 2001 using Harvard moment centroid data. Immediately after the 1950-1965 cluster, significant quiescence at and above M 8.4 begins and continues until 2001 (0.5% random probability). In alternative catalogs derived by correcting for possible random errors in magnitude estimates in the extended Pacheco-Sykes catalog, the clustering of M ??? 9 persists at a significant level. These observations indicate that, for great earthquakes, Earth behaves as a coherent seismotectonic system. A very-large-scale mechanism for global earthquake triggering and/or stress transfer is implied. There are several candidates, but so far only viscoelastic relaxation has been modeled on a global scale. |
| Genre: | Article |
| ProdID: | 70029349 |
| Citation Author: | Bufe, C. G.; Perkins, D. M. |
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| Citation End Page: | 843 |
| Citation Issue: | 3 |
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| Citation Language: | English |
| Citation Larger Work Title: | Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America |
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| Citation Number Of Pages: | 11 |
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| Citation Search Results Text: | Evidence for a global seismic-moment release sequence; 2005; Article; Journal; Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America; Bufe, C. G.; Perkins, D. M. |
| Citation Start Page: | 833 |
| Citation Volume: | 95 |
| Citation Year: | 2005 |
| Type: | citation/reference |
| Text: | Evidence for a global seismic-moment release sequence; 2005; Article; Journal; Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America; Bufe, C. G.; Perkins, D. M. |
| URL (THUMBNAIL): | http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/thumbnails/outside_thumb.jpg |
| URL (DIGITAL OBJECT IDENTIFIER): | http://dx.doi.org/10.1785/0120040110 |
| Date Other: | Sat, 1 Jan 2005 00:00 -0600 |
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