The passage of radiating seismic waves generates transient stresses
in the Earth's crust that can trigger slip on faults far away from
the original earthquake source. The triggered fault slip is detectable
in the form of earthquakes and seismic tremor. However, the significance
of these triggered events remains controversial, in part because
they often occur with some delay, long after the triggering stress
has passed. Here we scrutinize the location and timing of tremor
on the San Andreas fault between 2001 and 2010 in relation to distant
earthquakes. We observe tremor on the San Andreas fault that is initiated
by passing seismic waves, yet migrates along the fault at a much
slower velocity than the radiating seismic waves. We suggest that
the migrating tremor records triggered slow slip of the San Andreas
fault as a propagating creep event. We find that the triggered tremor
and fault creep can be initiated by distant earthquakes as small
as magnitude 5.4 and can persist for several days after the seismic
waves have passed. Our observations of prolonged tremor activity
provide a clear example of the delayed dynamic triggering of seismic
events. Fault creep has been shown to trigger earthquakes, and we
therefore suggest that the dynamic triggering of prolonged fault
creep could provide a mechanism for the delayed triggering of earthquakes.
%0 Journal Article
%1 shelly_etal:2011
%A Shelly, David R.
%A Peng, Zhigang
%A Hill, David P.
%A Aiken, Chastity
%D 2011
%I Nature Publishing Group, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited.
All Rights Reserved.
%J Nature Geoscience
%K geophysics seismology
%N 6
%P 384--388
%R 10.1038/ngeo1141
%T Triggered creep as a possible mechanism for delayed dynamic triggering
of tremor and earthquakes
%U http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1141
%V 4
%X The passage of radiating seismic waves generates transient stresses
in the Earth's crust that can trigger slip on faults far away from
the original earthquake source. The triggered fault slip is detectable
in the form of earthquakes and seismic tremor. However, the significance
of these triggered events remains controversial, in part because
they often occur with some delay, long after the triggering stress
has passed. Here we scrutinize the location and timing of tremor
on the San Andreas fault between 2001 and 2010 in relation to distant
earthquakes. We observe tremor on the San Andreas fault that is initiated
by passing seismic waves, yet migrates along the fault at a much
slower velocity than the radiating seismic waves. We suggest that
the migrating tremor records triggered slow slip of the San Andreas
fault as a propagating creep event. We find that the triggered tremor
and fault creep can be initiated by distant earthquakes as small
as magnitude 5.4 and can persist for several days after the seismic
waves have passed. Our observations of prolonged tremor activity
provide a clear example of the delayed dynamic triggering of seismic
events. Fault creep has been shown to trigger earthquakes, and we
therefore suggest that the dynamic triggering of prolonged fault
creep could provide a mechanism for the delayed triggering of earthquakes.
@article{shelly_etal:2011,
abstract = {The passage of radiating seismic waves generates transient stresses
in the Earth's crust that can trigger slip on faults far away from
the original earthquake source. The triggered fault slip is detectable
in the form of earthquakes and seismic tremor. However, the significance
of these triggered events remains controversial, in part because
they often occur with some delay, long after the triggering stress
has passed. Here we scrutinize the location and timing of tremor
on the San Andreas fault between 2001 and 2010 in relation to distant
earthquakes. We observe tremor on the San Andreas fault that is initiated
by passing seismic waves, yet migrates along the fault at a much
slower velocity than the radiating seismic waves. We suggest that
the migrating tremor records triggered slow slip of the San Andreas
fault as a propagating creep event. We find that the triggered tremor
and fault creep can be initiated by distant earthquakes as small
as magnitude 5.4 and can persist for several days after the seismic
waves have passed. Our observations of prolonged tremor activity
provide a clear example of the delayed dynamic triggering of seismic
events. Fault creep has been shown to trigger earthquakes, and we
therefore suggest that the dynamic triggering of prolonged fault
creep could provide a mechanism for the delayed triggering of earthquakes.},
added-at = {2012-09-01T13:08:21.000+0200},
author = {Shelly, David R. and Peng, Zhigang and Hill, David P. and Aiken, Chastity},
biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/2a957faaa29c38f4e19f46fe236bc1a92/nilsma},
day = 8,
doi = {10.1038/ngeo1141},
interhash = {97b9fc437dddbc3b97bfd94fa2c4767e},
intrahash = {a957faaa29c38f4e19f46fe236bc1a92},
issn = {1752-0894},
journal = {Nature Geoscience},
keywords = {geophysics seismology},
month = jun,
number = 6,
pages = {384--388},
publisher = {Nature Publishing Group, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited.
All Rights Reserved.},
timestamp = {2012-09-01T13:09:31.000+0200},
title = {Triggered creep as a possible mechanism for delayed dynamic triggering
of tremor and earthquakes},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ngeo1141},
volume = 4,
year = 2011
}