What causes slow earthquakes in subduction zones? New insights from numerical models suggest that a mixture of strong and weak rocks might be the cause.
subduction
Posted inScience Updates
Swipe Left on the “Big One”: Better Dates for Cascadia Quakes
Improving our understanding of hazards posed by future large earthquakes on the Cascadia Subduction Zone requires advancements in the methods and sampling used to date and characterize past events.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
The Highs and the Lows of Megathrust Earthquakes
Why does low-frequency energy come from the shallow part of ruptures, and the high frequencies from deep?
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Previous Intra-oceanic Subduction Found Beneath South America?
Newly mapped fast velocity slabs in the lower mantle may be remnants of westward dipping intra-oceanic subduction, before flipping to the present eastward subduction beneath South America at 85 Ma.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Subduction Initiation May Depend on a Tectonic Plate’s History
New seismic imaging study of the Puysegur Trench aims to solve one of the last major questions in plate tectonics.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Diamonds Are at Fault
Deep-seated earthquakes in subduction zones are related to diamond formation.
Posted inEditors' Highlights
Was the AD 365 Mediterranean Earthquake Normal?
The great AD 365 earthquake at Crete has implied a locked Hellenic subduction zone that can produce more earthquakes to threaten Mediterranean coastlines. But what if wasn’t a subduction zone event?
Posted inScience Updates
Earth’s Volatile Balancing Act
How do greenhouse gases and water circulate from minerals deep below Earth’s surface into the atmosphere and oceans—and then back again? Our understanding continues to evolve.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
An Innovative Approach for Investigating Subduction Slip Budgets
A new 3D model offers a state-of-the-art look at the full spectrum of slip behaviors in the Nankai subduction zone off Japan.