Vipul Silwal

Seismic moment tensors and estimated uncertainties in southern Alaska

We present a moment tensor catalog of 106 earthquakes in southern Alaska, and we perform a conceptually based uncertainty analysis for 21 of them. For each earthquake, we use both body waves and surface waves to do a grid search over double couple moment tensors and source depths in order to find the minimum of the misfit function. Our uncertainty parameter or, rather, our confidence parameter is the average value of the curve 𝒫(V), where 𝒫(V) is the posterior probability as a function of the fractional volume V of moment tensor space surrounding the minimum misfit moment tensor. As a supplemental means for characterizing and visualizing uncertainties, we generate moment tensor samples of the posterior probability. We perform a series of inversion tests to quantify the impact of certain decisions made within moment tensor inversions and to make comparisons with existing catalogs. For example, using an L1 norm in the misfit function provides more reliable solutions than an L2 norm, especially in cases when all available waveforms are used. Using body waves in addition to surface waves, as well as using more stations, leads to the most accurate moment tensor solutions.

Earthquake nucleation and fault slip complexity in the lower crust of central Alaska

Earthquakes start under conditions that are largely unknown. In laboratory analogue experiments and continuum models, earthquakes transition from slow-slipping, growing nucleation to fast-slipping rupture. In nature, earthquakes generally start abruptly, with no evidence for a nucleation process. Here we report evidence from a strike-slip fault zone in central Alaska of extended earthquake nucleation and of very-low-frequency earthquakes (VLFEs), a phenomenon previously reported only in subduction zone environments. In 2016, a VLFE transitioned into an earthquake of magnitude 3.7 and was preceded by a 12-hour-long accelerating foreshock sequence. Benefiting from 12 seismic stations deployed within 30 km of the epicentre, we identify coincident radiation of distinct high-frequency and low-frequency waves during 22 s of nucleation. The power-law temporal growth of the nucleation signal is quantitatively predicted by a model in which high-frequency waves are radiated from the vicinity of an expanding slow slip front. The observations reveal the continuity and complexity of slip processes near the bottom of the seismogenic zone of a strike-slip fault system in central Alaska.A strike-slip fault zone in central Alaska exhibits a range of earthquake slip processes, including very-low-frequency earthquakes, some of which transition into regular, fast earthquakes.

Author Correction: Earthquake nucleation and fault slip complexity in the lower crust of central Alaska

In the version of this Article originally published, the ‘Data availability’ section contained an incorrect DOI for data from the FLATS (XV) seismic network (https://doi.org/10.7914/SN/ZE_2015); the correct DOI is: https://doi.org/10.7914/SN/XV_2014. This has now been corrected in the online versions.