Seismicity, fault architecture, and slip mode of the westernmost Gofar transform fault

宫健华 博士

University of California, San Diego

2022.11.18（星期五）14:00，腾讯会议号：524-7569-5009

报告摘要：

Oceanic transform faults accommodate plate motions through both seismic and aseismic slips. However, deformation partition and slip mode interaction at these faults remain elusive mainly limited by rare observations. We use one-year ocean bottom seismometer data collected in 2008 to detect and locate earthquakes at the westernmost Gofar transform fault. The ultra-fast slipping rate of Gofar results in ~30,000 earthquakes during the observational period, providing an excellent opportunity to investigate interrelations between the slip mode, seismicity, and fault architecture at an unprecedented resolution. Earthquake distribution indicates that the ~100 km long Gofar transform fault is distinctly segmented into five zones, including one zone contouring a M6 earthquake that was captured by the experiment. Further, a barrier zone east of the M6 earthquake hosted abundant foreshocks preceding the M6 event and halted its active seismicity afterwards. The barrier zone has two layers of earthquakes at depth, and they responded to the M6 earthquake differently. Additionally, a zone connecting to the East Pacific Rise had quasi-periodic earthquake swarms. The seismicity segmentation suggests that the Gofar fault has multiple slip modes occurring in adjacent fault patches. Spatiotemporal characteristics of the earthquakes suggest that complex fault architecture and fluid-rock interaction play primary roles in modulating the slip modes at Gofar, possibly involving multiple concurrent physical processes.

报告人简介：

宫健华，2012年和2015年毕业于北京大学地球与空间科学学院，分别获地球物理学学士和硕士学位；2021年博士毕业于麻省理工学院-伍兹霍尔海洋研究所联合项目；2021年至今在加州大学圣地亚哥分校从事博士后研究；2023年将入职印第安纳大学伯明顿分校。主要研究方向包括海洋地球物理和板块边界的结构与地震活动性。