Transient aseismic vertical deformation during the interseismic cycle across the Pisia-Skinos normal fault (Gulf of Corinth, Greece)

Abstract

Loading and deformation during the interseismic period of the earthquake cycle is often considered to be constant for continental faults, therefore assuming that the short-term (annual-decadal) deformation is representative of longer-term deformation. Based on this assumption, geodetically-derived deformation rates are sometimes used to infer the slip-rates and thus seismic hazard of faults. However geological observations indicate that deformation and slip rates are variable over a range of timescales, and we present an observation of variable deformation across an active normal fault occurring on an annual timescale. The Pisia-Skinos normal fault in the Gulf of Corinth, Greece, is a well-known fault which slipped most recently during a sequence of damaging earthquakes in 1981. Using vertical deformation data, available from the European Ground Motion Service (EGMS), we observe uplift/subsidence of the footwall/hangingwall of the Pisia fault between 2016-2021. Of particular interest is our observation that the deformation is not uniform over the 6 year time period, instead there is an up to 7-fold increase in the vertical deformation rate in mid-2019. We hypothesise that this deformation is aseismic as there is no temporally correlated increase in the earthquake activity (M>1). We explore four possible causative mechanisms  for observed deformation; shallow slip, post-seismic after-slip, deep slip on an underlying shear zone, and post-seismic visco-elastic rebound. Our preferred hypothesis is that the transient deformation is caused by centimetre-scale slip in the upper 5km of the Pisia fault zone, based on the magnitude and spatial extent of the deformation. Our results suggest that continental normal faults can exhibit variable deformation over shorter timescales than previously observed, implying that the interseismic period of the earthquake cycle on continental faults may be more variable than previously hypothesised. This also highlights potential pitfalls of using slip rates measured over short-timescales to infer seismic hazard.