Slow Slip Events in New Zealand

摘要

Continuously operating global positioning system sites in the North Island of New Zealand have revealed a diverse range of slow motion earthquakes on the Hikurangi subduction zone. These slow slip events (SSEs) exhibit diverse characteristics, from shallow (30 km), long (>1 year), less frequent (approximately every 5 years) SSEs in the southern part of the subduction zone. Hikurangi SSEs show intriguing relationships to interseismic coupling, seismicity, and tectonic tremor, and they exhibit a diversity of interactions with large, regional earthquakes. Due to the marked along-strike variations in Hikurangi SSE characteristics, which coincide with changes in physical characteristics of the subduction margin, the Hikurangi subduction zone presents a globally unique natural laboratory to resolve outstanding questions regarding the origin of episodic, slow fault slip behavior. ??New Zealand's Hikurangi subduction zone hosts slow slip events with a diverse range of depth, size, duration, and recurrence characteristics.??Hikurangi slow slip events show intriguing relationships with seismicity ranging from small earthquakes and tremor to larger earthquakes.??Slow slip events play a major role in the accommodation of plate motion at the Hikurangi subduction zone.??Many aspects of the Hikurangi subduction zone make it an ideal natural laboratory to resolve the physical processes controlling slow slip.