Investigation on variations of apparent stress in the region in and around the rupture volume preceding the occurrence of the 2021 Alaska MW8.2 earthquake

Abstract

On July 29, 2021, a large earthquake of MW8.2 occurred south of the Alaska Peninsula. To investigate the spatial-temporal changes of crustal stress in the earthquake-stricken area before this event, we selected 159 earthquakes of 4.7 ≤ MW ≤ 6.9 that occurred in the epicentral region and its surroundings between January 1980 and June 2021 to study the temporal variation and spatial distribution of their apparent stress. In addition, we analyzed the correlation between seismic activities and Earth’s rotation and explored the seismogenic process of this earthquake. The crustal stress rose from January 2008 to December 2016. This period was followed by a sub-instability stage from January 2017 until the occurrence of the MW8.2 earthquake. The average rate of apparent stress change in the first five years of the stress increase period was roughly 2.3 times that in the last four years. The lateral distribution of the apparent stress shows that the areas with apparent stress greater than 1.0 MPa exhibited an expanding trend during the seismogenic process. The maximum apparent stress was located at the earthquake epicenter during the last four years. The distribution of the apparent stress in the E-W vertical cross section revealed that an apparent stress gap formed around the hypocenter during the first five years of the stress increase period, surrounded by areas of relatively high apparent stress. After the Alaska earthquake, most parts of this gap were filled in by aftershocks. The seismic activities during the sub-instability stage exhibited a significant correlation with Earth’s rotation.