3D fault architecture controls the dynamism of earthquake swarms

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• Prof Zachary Ross (CalTech)
• Thursday 01 October 2020, 15:00-16:00
• https://zoom.us/j/93818634948.

If you have a question about this talk, please contact Oliver Shorttle.

The vibrant evolutionary patterns made by earthquake swarms are incompatible with standard, effectively two-dimensional (2D) models for general fault architecture. We leverage advances in earthquake monitoring with a deep-learning algorithm to image a fault zone hosting a 4-year-long swarm in southern California. We infer that fluids are naturally injected into the fault zone from below and diffuse through strike-parallel channels while triggering earthquakes. A permeability barrier initially limits up-dip swarm migration but ultimately is circumvented. This enables fluid migration within a shallower section of the fault with fundamentally different mechanical properties. Our observations provide high-resolution constraints on the processes by which swarms initiate, grow, and arrest. These findings illustrate how swarm evolution is strongly controlled by 3D variations in fault architecture.

This talk is part of the Earth2Earth series.

This talk is included in these lists:

• Department of Earth Sciences Seminars (downtown)
• Department of Earth Sciences seminars
• Earth2Earth
• https://zoom.us/j/93818634948
• ps635

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