Hydroacoustic seismicity along oceanic transform faults: Contrasts between the East Pacific Rise and Mid-Atlantic Ridge

Abstract:

We investigate the characteristics of seismicity of oceanic transform faults through analyzing hydroacoustic data recorded along the fast-spreading East Pacific Rise (EPR) and slow-spreading Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR), respectively. The investigated region on the EPR is within 15°S-15°N from the Garrett to Clipperton Transform Fault during time period of June 1996 to September 2002. Meanwhile, the investigated region on the MAR is within 15°-37°N from the Fifteen-Twenty to Oceanographer Transform Fault during time period of February 1999 to August 2003. Using space-time correlation analysis, we matched hydroacoustic events with earthquakes from the Global Centroid Moment Tensor (GCMT) solutions for event magnitude greater than 4.8. Our analyses revealed systematic differences in the seismicity characteristics between the EPR and MAR: (1) Along the EPR, more than ninety percent of seismicity occurred within several kilometers from transform faults, a few percent occurred near over-lapping spreading centers, while the rest occurred along the ridge axis. Along the MAR, hydroacoustic seismicity is much more scattered near the ridge axis, transform faults, and non-transform offsets. (2) Near the EPR transform faults, the standard deviation of the separation distance of the hydroacoustic events from the morphologically-determined transform fault axis is s = 5.7 km. In contrast, the separation distance of hydroacoustic events to the transform faults is greater (s = 11.9 km), reflecting possibly more complex acoustic scattering due to complex MAR topography as well as more complex tectonic activity. (3) The mean hydroacoustic magnitude of the investigated EPR events is 3.3 (s = 0.6), while the mean hydroacoustic magnitude of the studied MAR events is 3.0 (s = 0.7). The mean hydroacoustic seismicity rate is 2.1 events per year per km of the EPR transform fault length, comparing to the mean seismicity rate of 0.5 events per year per km of the MAR transform fault length. (4) In both the EPR and MAR, we identified anomalous hydroacoustic seismicity in off-axis regions of unknown plate boundaries. These anomalous off-axis hydroacoustic activities and their implications on mid-ocean tectonics are the focus of our ongoing investigation.