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Kinematic Afterslip Patterns

Geophysics 2023-08-04 v1

Abstract

Non-inertial afterslip has been inferred to occur following large earthquakes. An explanation for this slow slip phenomenon is that coseismically generated stresses induce sliding on parts of a fault surface with velocity-strengthening frictional properties. Here we develop an alternative explanation for afterslip based on the idea that afterslip may occur on any portion of a fault that exhibits positive residual geometric moment following an earthquake, including sections that ruptured coseismically. Following a large earthquake, this model exhibits exponential time decay of afterslip and allows for variable sensitivity to coseismic event magnitude and residual geometric moment. This model provides a partial explanation for the spatial relationship of co- and post-seismic slip associated with the 2011 MW=9\mathrm{M_W}{=}9 Tohoku-oki earthquake.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2308.01510,
  title  = {Kinematic Afterslip Patterns},
  author = {Brendan J. Meade},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2308.01510},
  year   = {2023}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-28T11:46:58.704Z