Abstract
We present a realistic model of the San Andreas fault zone. We propose that aseismic ground displacement is a sum of visco-elastic relaxation following large earthquakes, transient fault slip, steady fault slip and a large-scale relative plate motion. We used the model to explain the aseismic ground displacements observed after the San Francisco earthquake of 1906.
The data do not resolve the question of which is the dominant mechanism, but viscoelastic relaxation can contribute a significant fraction of the displacement if the elastic plate thickness is 50 km or less. If the relative plate motion is taken to be 5.5 cm/yr, as found from plate rotation pole studies, then the zone of significant shearing in the mantle is probably at least 100 km thick beneath California.
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Rundle, J.B., Jackson, D.D. (1977). A Viscoelastic Relaxation Model for Post-Seismic Deformation from the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906. In: Wyss, M. (eds) Stress in the Earth. Contributions to Current Research in Geophysics (CCRG). Birkhäuser, Basel. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-0348-5745-1_25
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-0348-5745-1_25
Publisher Name: Birkhäuser, Basel
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