We intend to figure out the difference of stress drops, which is a characteristic source parameter, between shallow and deep-focus earthquakes. Significant stress drop difference may shed light on the difference of physical mechanisms of shallow and deep-focus earthquakes, which has been a elusive question. We select from deep-focus earthquakes (> 400 km) in 2000-2018 and obtain their stress drops using P and S waves. We find that stress drops of deep-focus earthquakes are about one order of magnitude higher than that of shallow earthquakes, indicating about one order of magnitude higher shear strength of shallow faults than faults in the mantle. The wide range of stress drops further suggests coexistence of phase transformation and shear-induced melting mechanisms of deep-focus earthquakes.
Citation to related publication:
Liu, M., Huang, Y., & Ritsema, J. (2020, March 4). Stress drop variation of deep-focus earthquakes based on empirical Green's function [preprint]. Submitted to Geophysical Research Letters. https://doi.org/10.31223/osf.io/8jx6p and Liu, M., Huang, Y., & Ritsema, J. (2020). Stress Drop Variation of Deep-Focus Earthquakes Based on Empirical Green’s Functions. Geophysical Research Letters, 47(9), e2019GL086055. https://doi.org/10.1029/2019GL086055
