Slow earthquakes

Slow earthquakes

A slow earthquake is a type of seismic event that occurs in sections, with ruptures happening as successive events with delays in between. This can be caused by plate tectonic loading, post-seismic slip, or other factors. Slow earthquakes may occur slowly or rapidly before, during, or after earthquakes. They are promoted by lithological, mechanical, and frictional heterogeneity within the fault zone and are enhanced by geometric complexity associated with subduction of rough crust.From: Improved Boussinesq-type equations for spatially and temporally varying bottom [2018], Natural Hazards [2018], Scientific ocean drilling in the Australasian region: a review [2022]

TIR Anomaly as Earthquake Precursor

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Published in Ramesh P. Singh, Darius Bartlett, Natural Hazards, 2018

Luca Piroddi

Seismoelectromagnetic effects refer to electromagnetic signals generated by fault failure processes in the Earth’s crust. These may occur slowly (when associated with plate tectonic loading, slow earthquakes, post-seismic slip, etc.) or rapidly preceding, during and following earthquakes. The electromagnetic emissions at infrared wavelengths have been measured on dry laboratory specimen subjects to quasi-rupture or rupture strains (Freund 2003; Wu et al. 2006a,b), while transients in magnetic and electric fields have also been observed at radio wave frequencies (Freund 2003; Carpinteri et al. 2010).

Scientific ocean drilling in the Australasian region: a review

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Published in Australian Journal of Earth Sciences, 2022

N. F. Exon, R. J. Arculus

More recently, the “slow-slip” class of earthquake has become a focus of study during IODP2. The Hikurangi margin of northeastern New Zealand, where both fast- and slow-slip earthquakes occur, is globally the best-studied margin for the latter type and has been targeted with a variety of land-based and submarine studies, including long-term observatories (e.g. IODP Expeditions 372 and 375). Wallace et al. (2019) presented a review of the likely connections between fault architecture and slip characteristics, frictional behaviour, lithological controls, fluid compositions, and physical properties that control the range of tectonism at this convergent margin. Barnes et al. (2020) stated that slow earthquake phenomena are “promoted by lithological, mechanical, and frictional heterogeneity within the fault zone, enhanced by geometric complexity associated with subduction of rough crust”.

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TIR Anomaly as Earthquake Precursor

Scientific ocean drilling in the Australasian region: a review