No abstract

Fault slip distribution is usually retrieved from geodetic data assuming that the local crust is an elastic, homogeneous and isotropic half‐space. In the last decades spatially dense geodetic data (e.g., DInSAR maps) have highlighted complex patterns of coseismic deformation that require new modeling tools, such as numerical methods, able to represent rheological and geometrical complexities of the Earth's crust. In this work, we develop a procedure to perform inversion of geodetic data based on the finite element method, accounting for a more realistic description of the local crust. The method is applied to the 2009 L'Aquila earthquake (Mw 6.3), using DInSAR images of the coseismic displacement. Results highlight the non‐negligible influence of the medium structure: homogeneous and heterogeneous models show discrepancies up to 20% in the fault slip distribution values. Furthermore, in the heterogeneous models a new area of slip appears above the hypocenter. We also perform a resolution study, showing that the information about fault slip distributions retrieved from geodetic data should be considered as averaged on surrounding patches.

We provide a detailed, seismically defined three-dimensional model for the subducting plate interface along the Middle America Trench between northern Nicaragua and southern Costa Rica. The model uses data from a weighted catalog of about 30,000 earthquake hypocenters compiled from nine catalogs to constrain the interface through a process we term the "maximum seismicity method." The method determines the average position of the largest cluster of microseismicity beneath an a priori functional surface above the interface. This technique is applied to all seismicity above 40 km depth, the approximate intersection of the hanging wall Mohorovičić discontinuity, where seismicity likely lies along the plate interface. Below this depth, an envelope above 90% of seismicity approximates the slab surface. Because of station proximity to the interface, this model provides highest precision along the interface beneath the Nicoya Peninsula of Costa Rica, an area where marked geometric changes coincide with crustal transitions and topography observed seaward of the trench. The new interface is useful for a number of geophysical studies that aim to understand subduction zone earthquake behavior and geodynamic and tectonic development of convergent plate boundaries.

[1] The coseismic slip distribution of the M w 9.0 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake has been estimated by inverting near-field onshore and offshore geodetic data, using Green's function calculated with a 3-D finite element (FE) model. The FE model simulates several geophysical features of the subduction zone that hosted the rupture surface of the event. These features include a 3-D geometric configuration and distribution of material properties of the tectonic system, a precise geometric configuration of the irregular rupture surface, and an irregular free surface according to the topography and bathymetry. A model that simulates rupture along the interface between the relatively weak overriding Okhotsk plate and stiff subducting slab of the Pacific Plate requires less slip to produce the observed surface deformation, compared to a model having uniform material properties across the rupture interface. Furthermore, the estimated slip of the heterogeneous model is more widely distributed over the shallow portion of the plate boundary, whereas the estimated slip of the homogeneous model is more focused updip of the epicenter. This demonstrates the sensitivity of inverse analyses of geodetic data for the 2011 Tohoku-Oki earthquake to the simulated domain geometry and configuration of material properties.