This paper discusses the processes and mechanical factors that define the seismogenic zone and the updip transition from seismic to aseismic faulting. We review friction laws for granular and clay-rich fault zones and discuss them in the context of the mechanics of stick-slip and the requirements for instability. Seismogenic faulting is driven by the unstable release of stored elastic energy, a...

The junction of the Aleutian Island and the Kamchatka peninsula defines a sharp turn in the boundary of the Pacific and North American plates, terminating the subduction zones of the northwest Pacific. The regional pattern of shear-wave birefringence near the junction indicates that trench-parallel strain follows the seismogenic Benioff zone, but rotates to trench-normal beyond the slab edge. A...

[1] Subduction zone plate boundary megathrust faults accommodate relative plate motions with spatially varying sliding behavior. The 2004 Sumatra-Andaman (Mw 9.2), 2010 Chile (Mw 8.8), and 2011 Tohoku (Mw 9.0) great earthquakes had similar depth variations in seismic wave radiation across their wide rupture zones – coherent teleseismic short-period radiation preferentially emanated from the dee...

Megathrust earthquakes and their associated tsunamis cause some of the worst natural disasters. In addition to earthquakes, a wide range slip behaviors are present at subduction zones, including slow that span multiple orders spatial temporal scales. Understanding these events may shed light on stress or strength conditions megathrust fault. Out all types very low frequency (VLFEs) most enigmat...

Field observations of major earthquake fault zones show that shear deformation is often confined to principal slipping zones that may be of order 1–100 μmwide, located within a broader gouge layer of order 10–100 mm wide. This paper examines the possibility that the extreme strain localization observed may be due to the coupling of shear heating, thermal pressurization, and diffusion. In the ab...