Abstract
It is a long-standing question whether the focal mechanisms of small earthquakes can be used to provide information about tectonic deformation on a regional scale. Here we address this question by using a 28-year record of seismicity in the San Francisco Bay area to compare the strain released by small earthquakes with geological, geodetic and plate-tectonic measurements of deformation in this region. We show that on a small spatial scale, the strain released by small earthquakes is closely related to specific geological features. But when averaged over a regional scale, strain release more closely follows the regional pattern of tectonic deformation: this relationship holds for all but the largest earthquakes, indicating that the earthquake strain is self-similar over a broad range of earthquake magnitudes. The lack of self-similarity observed for the largest earthquakes suggests that the time interval studied is not large enough to sample a complete set of events-the fault with the highest probability for hosting one such missing event is the Hayward fault.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 702-705 |
| Number of pages | 4 |
| Journal | Nature |
| Volume | 386 |
| Issue number | 6626 |
| State | Published - Apr 17 1997 |
| Externally published | Yes |
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Cite this
Large-scale tectonic deformation inferred from small earthquakes. / Amelung, Falk C; King, Geoffrey.
In: Nature, Vol. 386, No. 6626, 17.04.1997, p. 702-705.Research output: Contribution to journal › Article
}
TY - JOUR
T1 - Large-scale tectonic deformation inferred from small earthquakes
AU - Amelung, Falk C
AU - King, Geoffrey
PY - 1997/4/17
Y1 - 1997/4/17
N2 - It is a long-standing question whether the focal mechanisms of small earthquakes can be used to provide information about tectonic deformation on a regional scale. Here we address this question by using a 28-year record of seismicity in the San Francisco Bay area to compare the strain released by small earthquakes with geological, geodetic and plate-tectonic measurements of deformation in this region. We show that on a small spatial scale, the strain released by small earthquakes is closely related to specific geological features. But when averaged over a regional scale, strain release more closely follows the regional pattern of tectonic deformation: this relationship holds for all but the largest earthquakes, indicating that the earthquake strain is self-similar over a broad range of earthquake magnitudes. The lack of self-similarity observed for the largest earthquakes suggests that the time interval studied is not large enough to sample a complete set of events-the fault with the highest probability for hosting one such missing event is the Hayward fault.
AB - It is a long-standing question whether the focal mechanisms of small earthquakes can be used to provide information about tectonic deformation on a regional scale. Here we address this question by using a 28-year record of seismicity in the San Francisco Bay area to compare the strain released by small earthquakes with geological, geodetic and plate-tectonic measurements of deformation in this region. We show that on a small spatial scale, the strain released by small earthquakes is closely related to specific geological features. But when averaged over a regional scale, strain release more closely follows the regional pattern of tectonic deformation: this relationship holds for all but the largest earthquakes, indicating that the earthquake strain is self-similar over a broad range of earthquake magnitudes. The lack of self-similarity observed for the largest earthquakes suggests that the time interval studied is not large enough to sample a complete set of events-the fault with the highest probability for hosting one such missing event is the Hayward fault.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0030620718&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=0030620718&partnerID=8YFLogxK
M3 - Article
VL - 386
SP - 702
EP - 705
JO - Nature
JF - Nature
SN - 0028-0836
IS - 6626
ER -