Microseismicity but no tremor accompanying slow slip in the Hikurangi subduction zone, New Zealand

Abstract

Geodetically-detected episodes of slow slip appear in several subduction zones to be accompanied by bursts of low-frequency coherent noise known as seismic tremor, but whether a single physical process governs this association or even whether slow slip is invariably accompanied by tremor remains unresolved. Detailed analysis of broadband seismic data spanning a slow slip episode in the Hikurangi subduction zone, New Zealand, reveals that slow slip was accompanied by distinct reverse-faulting microearthquakes, rather than tremor. The timing, location, and faulting style of these earthquakes are consistent with stress triggering down-dip of the slow slip patch, either on the subduction interface or just below it. These results indicate that tremor is not ubiquitous during subduction zone slow slip, and that slow slip in subduction zone environments is capable of triggering high-frequency earthquakes near the base of the locked subduction thrust. In this and other locations (Hawaii, Boso Peninsula) where slow slip is accompanied by triggered microseismicity, the estimated upper extent of the slow slip is shallower (less than ~ 20 km) than in those locations from which tremor has been reported. This suggests that ambient temperature- or pressure-dependent factors govern the character of the seismic response to slow slip on subduction thrusts and other large faults, with rheological or lithological conditions at shallow depths triggering high-frequency microearthquakes and those at greater depths triggering seismic tremor.