Simulation of Tremor and Slow Slip Earthquakes Along a Strike-Slip Fault

Abstract:

We use an earthquake simulator to investigate the conditions that may result in tectonic tremor. Tremor comprises small seismic events often associated with slow slip earthquakes (SSEs) that were initially discovered in subduction zones, but have subsequently been observed along transform faults such as the San Andreas Fault. For this study, our primary region of interest is the Parkfield-Cholame segment of the San Andreas, which is located between the locked segment to the south and the creeping segment to the north. Due to Parkfield's unique history of successive earthquakes at quasi-regular intervals, deep borehole seismometers were installed in this region, enabling the discovery of low-amplitude tectonic tremor. To better understand the fault properties that result in SSEs and tremor, we utilize the earthquake simulator RSQSim to simulate multi-cycle SSEs and tremor along a planar strike-slip fault. RSQSim is a computationally efficient method that uses rate- and state- dependent friction to simulate a wide range of event sizes for long time histories of slip [Dieterich and Richards-Dinger, 2010; Richards-Dinger and Dieterich, 2012]. RSQSim has been previously used to investigate slow slip events in Cascadia [Colella et al., 2011; 2012]. Here, we examine a suite of parameters to understand the influence of normal stress, rate-and-state constants a and b, and slip speed as well as the distribution of tremor patches on tremor and SSE occurrence. We compare the simulation results to previous tremor observations.