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Publication Date

2022-05-09

First Advisor

Jack Loveless

Document Type

Honors Project

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Geosciences

Keywords

tectonics, structural geology, seismology, moment balance, moment tensor, earthquake

Abstract

In this study, global seismic moment balance is assessed by comparing interseismic moment accumulation rate with coseismic moment release rate using a combination of a grid-based approach and spatial interpolation. The interseismic moment accumulation rate is found using a block model constrained by geodetic data. The coseismic moment release rate is calculated using centroid moment tensors from the Global CMT Database (globalcmt.org), converting their format into a moment release rate comparable to the interseismic data. The difference between these two values is the moment balance. The results of this comparison show largely imbalanced moment, both in places with an excess of accumulated moment and released moment. Subduction zones show the highest surplus of accumulated moment. The locations with an excess of coseismic moment release correspond to the locations of the largest earthquakes in the earthquake catalog used; they all are also located on subduction zones. After spatial interpolation, although the earthquakes with sizeable coseismic release rates affected the cells close to them, other cells in the same subduction zone still showed high rates of accumulated moment. This implies that different segments of the same subduction zone may act independently.

Rights

©2022 George C. Pharris. Access limited to the Smith College community and other researchers while on campus. Smith College community members also may access from off-campus using a Smith College log-in. Other off-campus researchers may request a copy through Interlibrary Loan for personal use.

Language

English

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