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Effects of material property variations on slip estimates for subduction interface slow‐slip events
Author(s) -
Williams Charles A.,
Wallace Laura M.
Publication year - 2015
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 - 10.1002/2014gl062505
Subject(s) - slip (aerodynamics) , subduction , slipping , episodic tremor and slip , geology , geodetic datum , seismology , homogeneous , submarine pipeline , slip line field , geodesy , geometry , geotechnical engineering , petrology , shear (geology) , tectonics , statistical physics , physics , mathematics , thermodynamics
We investigate the influence of elastic heterogeneity on geodetic inversions of slow‐slip events by inverting for slip distributions of four events along the Hikurangi Margin, New Zealand. We generate Green's functions using a finite element code in conjunction with a New Zealand‐wide seismic velocity model to assign elastic properties. We find that these heterogeneous models typically require ~20% less slip than homogeneous models in cases where the slip is deep or there is reasonable geodetic coverage above the slipping region. In cases where the slip is shallow (and mostly offshore) and there is little geodetic coverage directly above the slipping region, the heterogeneous models can predict significantly larger amounts of slip (42% in our study). These changes in the predicted amounts of slip have important implications for quantifying slip budgets accommodated by slow slip at subduction zones worldwide.