Filling in the gaps: Improving earthquake catalogues to improve forecasting

Abstract

 Automatic phase-picking is carried out using REST, a newly-developed hybrid method whose pick quality is assessed by comparing automatic picks for a subset of 138 events with analysts’ picks. Aftershock hypocenters computed from high-quality REST picks and a 3D velocity model cluster almost exclusively in the shallow crust of the upper plate and reveal linkages at depth between surface-rupturing fault segments. Only eight aftershocks are relocated on a deeper structure positioned between patches of geodetically-detected afterslip. This indicates that afterslip has not triggered significant earthquake activity on the subduction interface during the period of aftershock activity analyzed.

References

Crustal Fault Connectivity of the Mw 7.8 2016 Kaikōura Earthquake Constrained by Aftershock Relocations(external link)

F. Lanza, C. J. Chamberlain, K. Jacobs, E. Warren‐Smith, H. J. Godfrey, M. Kortink, C. H. Thurber, M. K. Savage, J. Townend, S. Roecker, and D. Eberhart‐Phillips

Geophysical Research Letters, 46.