Subduction Zones of the World:

Comparison to the Cascadia

Subduction Zone and the
Potential for Producing Largescale Earthquakes
By Alicia Thompson

Outline

Subduction Zone and Large-scale earthquake

Tour of subduction zones
South American
New Zealand
Sumatra
Nankai
Kamchatka and Kurile
Alaska and Aleutian
Cascadia
Conclusion

Subduction Zone

What is a
subduction zone?
Ocean to
Continental
Ocean to Ocean
www3.telus.net/.../images/subduction.gif

What can cause a large-scale

earthquake?

B. During an

http://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/c1187/

Robert McCaffrey

Region

Subduction rate
(mm/yr)
South Chile 70

Age of the Plate

(Ma)
26

Date

1960

9.6

New
Zealand
North
Sumatra

43

120

1931

7.8

33

72

2004

9.3

Nankai

57

20

1707

8.8

Kamchatka

78

84

1952

8.9

Kuriles

81

110

1963

8.5

Alaska

54

42

1964

9.3

West
Aleutian
Cascadia

73

84

1965

8.7

42

1700

9.1

From Seth Stein and Emile A. Okal

South American

During the 1960

Chile earthquake, the
western margin of
the South American
Plate lurched as
much as 60 feet
relative to the
subducting Nazca
Plate, in an area 600
miles long and more
than 100 miles wide.

New Zealand

New Zealand

The Indonesian Islands

Sumatra, 2005

Thrust-faulting on the
interface of the India
plate and the Burma
plate
Fault- rupture
propagated to the
northwest from the
epicenter for about
500 km with a
maximum
displacement of the
plane about 20 meters

Japanese islands

Nankai
Location map of Nankai margin,
illustrating the coseismic slip
areas of the 1944 (light red
filled contours) and 1946
(blue arrows denote rupture
sequence) earthquakes
obtained from the tsunami
data and seismic wave data.
Red contours indicate the
plate depth from the sea
floor. Areas marked in black
represent locations with 2.5
km water depth and 7 km
sub-bottom depth to the
plate interface

Kamchatka and Kurile

Kamchatka: The rupture started in the

north and propagated southwest for 600
700 km with a velocity of 33.5 km/s
The slip may represent two asperities,
both in the down-dip portion of the
ruptured fault: a smaller asperity near the
initiation of the rupture and another, larger
one, within the second half of the rupture.

Kamchatka and Kurile

Kurile:

The rupture started in the south

and propagated mainly to the northeast.
The latest significant event in the Kuriles
(M8.3) occurred on November 15, 2006
in the central arc. Prior to this event, the
250-km-long segment of the arc
between the 1918 rupture in the
southwest and the 1915 rupture in the
northeast has been recognized as a
seismic gap

Kamchatka and Kurile

The consequence of this is that the subducting

lithosphere is relatively cold and thick and the
Wadati-Benioff zone is clearly defined by hypocenters
plunging to depths of 600 km south of the southern
tip of Kamchatka.
There is a gap in seismicity that occurs between 200
300 km within the Kamchatka slab. This is a common
observation in deep slabs around the world.
Later, deeper earthquakes increase in numbers due
to transformational faulting related to phase
transitions in the deep part of the upper mantle. In
Kamchatka, resumption of seismic activity starts at
400500 km.

Alaska and Aleutian

Alaska

1964: A unilateral rupture started

in the Prince William Sound region and
propagated southwest for ~800 km.
The studies indicate two major moment
release areas. The larger asperity was
located near the epicenter, and a second,
smaller one was within the second half of
the rupture zone near Kodiak Island.

Alaska and Aleutian

Aleutian:

A unilateral rupture
propagating from southeast to
northwest for about 600 km.
Three major pulses of moment
release were identified from the
analysis of teleseismic Pwaves
which correlate with Rat, Buldir, and
Near tectonic blocks

Alaska and Aleutian

The maximum depth of seismicity
changes from 250 km to 50 km from
east to west.
the slab seismicity below 100 km is
characterized by dips that vary
smoothly from shallow (45) in the
eastern Aleutians to steep (60) in the
central Aleutians and slightly shallower
and less well resolved dip (~50) in
the far western Aleutian.

Cascadian Subduction Zone

Juan de Fuca plate

subducts from about
27 to 12 at a
shallow depth of
about 6070 km

www.bhrc.ac.ir/.../subduction_files/ima
ge001.jpg

Conclusion
By

understanding how mega-thrust

earthquakes occur in other
subduction zones may be able to
make preparations for potential
earthquakes along the Cascadia
Subduction zone.

References

Long-Term Perspectives on Giant Earthquakes and Tsunamis at Subduction Zones by Kenji Satake1 and Brian F.
Atwater2
Global frequency of magnitude 9 earthquakes by Robert McCaffrey
NanTroSEIZE: The Nankai Trough Seismogenic Zone Experiment A Proposed IODP Complex Drilling Project
Revised October 1, 2003
Ultralong Period Seismic Study of the December 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake and Implications for Regional
Tectonics and the Subduction Process by Seth Stein and Emile A. Okal
The Great Sumatra Quake by Mark Wheeler
Subduction zone coupling and tectonic block rotations in the North Island, New Zealand Laura M. Wallace and
John Beavan. Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences, Lower Hutt, New Zealand
Appendix L: Cascadia Subduction Zone By Arthur D. Frankel1 and Mark D. Petersen1
www3.telus.net/.../images/subduction.gif
Surviving a TsunamiLessons from Chile, Hawaii, and Japan Compiled by Brian F. Atwater, Marco Cisternas V.1,
Joanne Bourgeois2, Walter C. Dudley3, James W. Hendley II, and Peter H.Stauffer 1999; Reprinted 2001;
revised and reprinted 2005 http://pubs.usgs.gov/circ/c1187/
USGS/Cascades Volcano Observatory, Vancouver, Washington
http://vulcan.wr.usgs.gov/Glossary/PlateTectonics/Maps/map_south_america_plates.html
Chapter 2 www.cdemhawkesbay.govt.nz/PicsHotel/cdem/Brochure/Facing%20the%20Risks_Chap
%202_Earthquake%20Hazards
Subduction zone coupling and tectonic block rotations in the North Island, New Zealand Laura M. Wallace and
John Beavan Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences, Lower Hutt, New Zealand
http://www.freewebs.com/mdreyes3/plate-tectonics.jpg
Tectonic Summary Magnitude 9.1 OFF THE WEST COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATRA
Sunday, December 26, 2004 at 00:58:53 UTC
http://neic.usgs.gov/neis/eq_depot/2004/eq_041226/neic_slav_ts.html
A new view into the Cascadia subduction zone and volcanic arc: Implications for earthquake hazards along the
Washington margin Tom Parsons et others .