Onodera (2024), New views of lunar seismicity brought by analysis of newly discovered moonquakes in Apollo short-period seismic data, Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, 129, e2023JE008153, https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JE008153
Title: Understanding the co-to-post-seismic transition through geodetic observations and slip imagery
Abstract:
Earthquake occurrence is mainly controlled by the spatio-temporal evolution of stresses in the Earth’s crust, primarily caused by the large-scale movement of tectonic plates. However, postseismic transient processes strongly contribute to stress redistribution after an earthquake and to the generation of catastrophic seismic sequences. It is thus critical to better understand them. Our project tackled this critical question by combining geodetic and seismological observations of the phenomena with numerical modelling. The novelty of the project, I will present, lay in the period over which the problem was addressed: the very early postseismic phase (minutes to days) for which few studies had been conducted. Indeed, the existence of suitable data for documenting this transition period between fast and slow slip was limited, and the methodologies to analyze these data and to provide accurate and robust slip imagery also needed to be improved or developed.
I will present a summary of the results we obtained based on our ability to accurately resolve deformation over a wide range of frequencies, amplitudes and spatial scales as well as to analyze and interpret the observations with a new approach to optimize the information contained in the surface observations or kinematic slip inversion from noisy surface ones. Our results on very early postseismic deformation allow for a better understanding of the complex spatial and temporal evolution of the deformation and hopefully by continuing to study this phase, a better assessment of fault slip over a seismic cycle, physical parameters controlling fault slip and ruptures and seismic hazard.
Title: Subduction Initiation along the Macquarie Ridge Complex, Southwest Pacific Ocean
Abstract:
How tectonic plate subduction starts is a first-order question in Earth science. The Macquarie Ridge Complex (MRC), extending 1600 km between New Zealand’s South Island and the Australia-Pacific-Antarctic triple junction, arguably constitutes the global type example for initiating plate subduction. The MRC marks the boundary between oceanic portions of the great Australian and Pacific plates, is situated proximal to the pole of rotation between these two plates, and consists of four ridge and trench/trough segments, of enigmatic alternating polarity, along its strike. The largest intraoceanic earthquake of the 20th Century, a Mw 8.2 event, occurred along the MRC in 1989, and a Mw 8.1 event occurred in 2004. Evidence is accumulating that subduction is initiating along the southern (Hjort) and northern (Puysegur) portions of the MRC, with strain partitioned between transform motion and compression along its entire length. The intervening McDougall and Macquarie segments are ambiguous with respect to subduction initiation. The MRC has the steepest sustained topography of any mountain range on Earth, with vertical relief of ~6,000 m over a horizontal distance of <25 km. Along the Macquarie segment, which includes Macquarie Island, the only subaerial expression of the MRC aside from some nearby islets and rocks, are prominent mass wasting deposits likely associated with the MRC’s high seismicity and steep topography. Such mass wasting is potentially tsunamigenic. Interpretations of marine geophysical data from the Macquarie Ridge segment of the MRC that were acquired on research voyages in 1994, 1996, 2020, and 2021 are the focus of this presentation.