Slip triggered on southern California faults by the 1992 Joshua Tree, Landers, and big bear earthquakes

Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America
By: , and 

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Abstract

Five out of six functioning creepmeters on southern California faults recorded slip triggered at the time of some or all of the three largest events of the 1992 Landers earthquake sequence. Digital creep data indicate that dextral slip was triggered within 1 min of each mainshock and that maximum slip velocities occurred 2 to 3 min later. The duration of triggered slip events ranged from a few hours to several weeks. We note that triggered slip occurs commonly on faults that exhibit fault creep. To account for the observation that slip can be triggered repeatedly on a fault, we propose that the amplitude of triggered slip may be proportional to the depth of slip in the creep event and to the available near-surface tectonic strain that would otherwise eventually be released as fault creep. We advance the notion that seismic surface waves, perhaps amplified by sediments, generate transient local conditions that favor the release of tectonic strain to varying depths. Synthetic strain seismograms are presented that suggest increased pore pressure during periods of fault-normal contraction may be responsible for triggered slip, since maximum dextral shear strain transients correspond to times of maximum fault-normal contraction.

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Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Slip triggered on southern California faults by the 1992 Joshua Tree, Landers, and big bear earthquakes
Series title Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America
DOI 10.1785/BSSA0840030806
Volume 84
Issue 3
Year Published 1994
Language English
Publisher Seismological Society of America
Description 11 p.
First page 806
Last page 816
Country United States
State California
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