TY - JOUR
T1 - Temporal and spatial earthquake clustering revealed through comparison of millennial strain-rates from 36Cl cosmogenic exposure dating and decadal GPS strain-rate
AU - Iezzi, Francesco
AU - Roberts, Gerald
AU - Faure Walker, Joanna
AU - Papanikolaou, Ioannis
AU - Ganas, Athanassios
AU - Deligiannakis, Georgios
AU - Beck, Joakim
AU - Wolfers, Sören
AU - Gheorghiu, Delia
N1 - KAUST Repository Item: Exported on 2022-01-27
Acknowledgements: Tis work has been funded by NERC Grant CIAF 9183-1017, NERC Studentship NE/L002485/1, MIS 5002697/NSRF 2014-2020, Greece, and the European Union (European Regional Development Fund). A.G acknowledges funding by the project “HELPOS—Hellenic System for Lithosphere Monitoring”. We thank the Editor Antonio Avallone and three anonymous reviewers for the comments and suggestions that have improved the paper.
PY - 2021/12/2
Y1 - 2021/12/2
N2 - To assess whether continental extension and seismic hazard are spatially-localized on single faults or spread over wide regions containing multiple active faults, we investigated temporal and spatial slip-rate variability over many millennia using in-situ $^{36}$Cl cosmogenic exposure dating for active normal faults near Athens, Greece. We study a ~ NNE-SSW transect, sub-parallel to the extensional strain direction, constrained by two permanent GPS stations located at each end of the transect and arranged normal to the fault strikes. We sampled 3 of the 7 seven normal faults that exist between the GPS sites for $^{36}$Cl analyses. Results from Bayesian inference of the measured $^{36}$Cl data implies that some faults slip relatively-rapidly for a few millennia accompanied by relative quiescence on faults across strike, defining out-of-phase fault activity. Assuming that the decadal strain-rate derived from GPS applies over many millennia, slip on a single fault can accommodate ~ 30–75% of the regional strain-rate for a few millennia. Our results imply that only a fraction of the total number of Holocene active faults slip over timescales of a few millennia, so continental deformation and seismic hazard are localized on specific faults and over a length-scale shorter than the spacing of the present GPS network over this time-scale. Thus, (1) the identification of clustered fault activity is vital for probabilistic seismic hazard assessments, and (2) a combination of dense geodetic observations and palaeoseismology is needed to identify the precise location and width of actively deforming zones over specific time periods.
AB - To assess whether continental extension and seismic hazard are spatially-localized on single faults or spread over wide regions containing multiple active faults, we investigated temporal and spatial slip-rate variability over many millennia using in-situ $^{36}$Cl cosmogenic exposure dating for active normal faults near Athens, Greece. We study a ~ NNE-SSW transect, sub-parallel to the extensional strain direction, constrained by two permanent GPS stations located at each end of the transect and arranged normal to the fault strikes. We sampled 3 of the 7 seven normal faults that exist between the GPS sites for $^{36}$Cl analyses. Results from Bayesian inference of the measured $^{36}$Cl data implies that some faults slip relatively-rapidly for a few millennia accompanied by relative quiescence on faults across strike, defining out-of-phase fault activity. Assuming that the decadal strain-rate derived from GPS applies over many millennia, slip on a single fault can accommodate ~ 30–75% of the regional strain-rate for a few millennia. Our results imply that only a fraction of the total number of Holocene active faults slip over timescales of a few millennia, so continental deformation and seismic hazard are localized on specific faults and over a length-scale shorter than the spacing of the present GPS network over this time-scale. Thus, (1) the identification of clustered fault activity is vital for probabilistic seismic hazard assessments, and (2) a combination of dense geodetic observations and palaeoseismology is needed to identify the precise location and width of actively deforming zones over specific time periods.
UR - http://hdl.handle.net/10754/673920
UR - https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-02131-3
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85120905772&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1038/s41598-021-02131-3
DO - 10.1038/s41598-021-02131-3
M3 - Article
C2 - 34857777
SN - 2045-2322
VL - 11
JO - Scientific Reports
JF - Scientific Reports
IS - 1
ER -