Global seismicity characteristics of subduction‐to‐strike‐slip transitions

Abstract

There are at least 30 major plate boundary segments worldwide where the plate boundary changes from subduction to strike‐slip; these include six triple junctions and 24 two‐plate boundaries. This study investigates earthquake seismicity in the 24 two‐plate subduction‐to‐strike‐slip transition (SSST) regions by utilizing recently published earthquake relocations, ternary diagrams of focal mechanisms, and moment rate calculations. To facilitate cross‐regional comparisons, we categorize the geometry of SSST plate boundaries in terms of (1) their radius of curvature, (2) their sense of curvature, that is, whether they are convex or concave as viewed from the downgoing plate, and (3) their tectonic complexity, that is, the variability of crustal thickness and the segmentation of the plate boundary trace. We observe three main trends in SSST regions: (1) there is a conspicuous scarcity of strike‐slip earthquakes along plate boundary segments that plate motion models indicate are strike‐slip boundaries; (2) in these apparent strike‐slip segments, both the rate of occurrence of earthquakes of any kind and the moment release rate are low compared to adjacent subduction segments; and (3) there were few observable differences in seismicity between convex and concave boundaries. The observation that transform zones exhibit moment rate deficiencies, that is, have few large‐magnitude earthquakes in the historical record, may have important implications for seismic hazard assessment in SSST regions. In particular, is motion along these boundaries aseismic with little seismic hazard, or is motion expressed in very large magnitude, infrequent, but potentially devastating earthquakes? In at least three such regions, New Zealand, the Philippines, and the Dominican Republic, paleoseismic evidence and the historical record of seismicity suggest that very large, infrequent earthquakes do occur.