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The 23 June 2014 M w 7.9 Rat Islands archipelago, Alaska, intermediate depth earthquake
Author(s) -
Ye Lingling,
Lay Thorne,
Kanamori Hiroo
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1002/2014gl061153
Subject(s) - intraplate earthquake , geology , seismology , subduction , archipelago , pacific plate , slab , slip (aerodynamics) , tectonics , geophysics , oceanography , physics , thermodynamics
On 23 June 2014, the largest intermediate depth earthquake ( M w 7.9) of the last 100 years ruptured within the subducting Pacific plate about 100 km below the Rat Islands archipelago of the Western Aleutian Islands, Alaska. The unusual faulting orientation, strike = 206°, dip = 24°, and rake = −14°, is possibly related to curvature of the underthrust slab and high obliquity of the relative plate motions. The first ~15 s of the rupture generated relatively weak seismic waves, followed by strong energy release for the next 25 s. The seismic moment is 1.0 × 10 21 Nm, and slip of up to ~10 m is concentrated within a 50 km × 50 km region. The radiated energy is 1.1 to 2.7 × 10 16 J, assuming attenuation t * of 0.4 to 0.7 s. This type of intraplate faulting can be very damaging for populated regions above subduction zones such as Japan, Taiwan, Chile, and Indonesia.