Fault slip rates at depth from recurrence intervals of repeating microearthquakes
Unique attributes in sequences of recurring, similar microearthquakes at Parkfield, California, provide a means for inferring slip rate at depth throughout the active fault surface from the time intervals between sequence events. Application of the method using an 11-year microseismicity record revealed systematic spatial and temporal changes in the slip rate that were synchronous with earthquake activity and other independent measures of fault-zone slip. If this phenomenon is found to be generally common behavior in active faults, it forms the basis for a method to monitor the changing strain field throughout a seismogenic fault zone.
Nadeau
RM
Earth Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and Berkeley Seismological Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
McEvilly
TV