GNSS-Based Modeling and Study of Postseismic Crustal Movement of the May 24, 2013, MW 8.3 Sea of Okhotsk Deep-Focus Earthquake

Abstract

The mechanisms of preparation and occurrence of the strongest deep-focus earthquakes with MW≥8, as well as their surface manifestations, remain insufficiently studied because of the lack of the relevant data. There are but three seismic events of this kind which have so far been instrumentally recorded. This paper describes the identification and analysis of the changes in the characteristics of modern crustal movement of the 2013, MW 8.3 Sea of Okhotsk deep-focus earthquake based on the data from long-term continuous geodetic-class GNSS stations in the Sea of Okhotsk region on the Kamchatka Peninsula, the Sakhalin Island, and the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk and the Sea of Japan. There has been found temporal stability of variations in the average annual geodetic site velocities. The coordinates of GNSS-stations do not show non-linear changes typical of strong shallow earthquakes in the initial post-seismic period. The Maxwell rheology for modeling of viscoelastic relaxation of the asthenosphere/upper mantle as a result of seismic impact allows for a first approximation to qualitatively and quantitatively reproduce the displacement patterns of GNSS-sites of the Kamchatka Peninsula observed in the initial postseismic period (2–3 years after the mainshock). After that, the model estimates of postseismic movements of the peninsula become systematically lower than the observed. The values calculated for the OKHT station motion on the western coast of the Sea of Okhotsk are in good agreement with those recorded for postseismic displacements over the entire measurement interval. The observed directions of the Sakhalin Island postseismic movements systematically deviate to the northeast from the model directions and are oriented almost orthogonally to the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench. Besides the viscoelastic relaxation process, another possible reason for this issue could be an enhanced viscous friction in the bottom of the subducting Pacific plate, leading to the intense deformation of the Sakhalin Island and the western coast of Kamchatka.