Modeling afterslip and aftershocks following the 1992 Landers earthquake

H. Perfettini (1) , Jean-Philippe Avouac (2)

1 LMTG - Laboratoire des Mécanismes et Transfert en Géologie
2 Tectonics Observatory

One way to probe the rheology of the lithosphere and fault zones is to analyze the temporal evolution of deformation following a large earthquake. In such a case, the lithosphere responds to a known stress change that can be assessed from earthquake slip models constrained from seismology and geodesy. Here, we model the postseismic response of a fault zone that is assumed to obey a rate-strengthening rheology, where the frictional stress varies as a? ln(${\dot{\epsilon}), ${\dot{\epsilon} being the deformation rate and a? > 0 a rheological parameter. The model is simple enough that these parameters can be estimated by inversion of postseismic geodetic data. We apply this approach to the analysis of geodetic displacements following the M w 7.3, 1992, Landers earthquake. The model adjusts well the measured displacements and implies a? ~ 0.47-0.53 MPa. In addition, we show that aftershocks and afterslip follow the same temporal evolution and that the spatiotemporal distribution of aftershocks is consistent with the idea that they are driven by reloading of the seismogenic zone resulting from frictional afterslip.

Mots clés: Tectonophysics: Rheology and friction of fault zones (8034); Computational Geophysics: Modeling (4255); Seismology: Seismicity and tectonics (1207; 1217; 1240; 1242); Geodesy and Gravity: Transient deformation (6924; 7230; 7240); Physical Properties of Rocks: Plasticity; diffusion; and creep

Domaines: Astrophysique [astro-ph]

H. Perfettini, Jean-Philippe Avouac. Modeling afterslip and aftershocks following the 1992 Landers earthquake. Journal of Geophysical Research, 2007, 112, pp.07409. ⟨10.1029/2006JB004399⟩. ⟨hal-00324504⟩