TRANSTEQ - Modeling and Understanding Transient Earthquake Deformation

• Applicant: Professor Marcos Moreno, Ph.D.
• Subject Area: Palaeontology
• Term: from 2015 to 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 281471150

• Final Report Year: 2022

Final Report Abstract

Our main scientific goal was to provide insights into the interaction mode of earthquakes and transient deformation. In doing so, we will analyze and simulate the kinematics of spatialtemporal changes of deformation related to the Iquique earthquake. These included (1) Processing of GPS and InSAR time series of surface deformation in the pre- and postseismic phases, (2) Detection of low magnitude transient deformation signals, (3) Numerical modeling of subduction zone mechanisms that are responsible for the observed transient deformation field during the interseismic, coseismic and early postseismic periods. The main achievements of the project are demonstrated by a large number of high-impact publications, the acquisition of data that are freely accessible, and the development of young scientists.

Publications

• 2016. Separating rapid relocking, afterslip, and viscoelastic relaxation: An application of the postseismic straightening method to the Maule 2010 cGPS. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 121(10), pp.7618-7638
  Bedford, J., Moreno, M., Li, S., Oncken, O., Baez, J.C., Bevis, M., Heidbach, O. and Lange, D.
  (See online at https://doi.org/10.1002/2016JB013093)
• 2017. The super-interseismic phase of the megathrust earthquake cycle in Chile. Geophysical Research Letters, 44(2), pp.784-791
  Melnick, D., Moreno, M., Quinteros, J., Baez, J.C., Deng, Z., Li, S. and Oncken, O.
  (See online at https://doi.org/10.1002/2016GL071845)
• 2018. Back to full interseismic plate locking decades after the giant 1960 Chile earthquake. Nature communications, 9(1), pp.1-10
  Melnick, D., Li, S., Moreno, M., Cisternas, M., Jara-Muñoz, J., Wesson, R., Nelson, A., Báez, J.C. and Deng, Z.
  (See online at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-018-05989-6)
• 2018. Characterizing afterslip and ground displacement rate increase following the 2014 Iquique-Pisagua Mw 8.1 earthquake, Northern Chile. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 123(5), pp.4171-4192
  Hoffmann, F., Metzger, S., Moreno, M., Deng, Z., Sippl, C., Ortega-Culaciati, F. and Oncken, O.
  (See online at https://doi.org/10.1002/2017JB014970)
• 2018. Chilean megathrust earthquake recurrence linked to frictional contrast at depth. Nature Geoscience, 11(4), pp.285-290
  Moreno, M., Li, S., Melnick, D., Bedford, J.R., Baez, J.C., Motagh, M., Metzger, S., Vajedian, S., Sippl, C., Gutknecht, B.D. and Contreras-Reyes, E.
  (See online at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41561-018-0089-5)
• 2018. Greedy automatic signal decomposition and its application to daily GPS time series. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 123(8), pp.6992-7003
  Bedford, J. and Bevis, M.
  (See online at https://doi.org/10.1029/2017JB014765)
• 2018. Spatiotemporal variation of mantle viscosity and the presence of cratonic mantle inferred from 8 years of postseismic deformation following the 2010 Maule, Chile, earthquake. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 19(9), pp.3272-3285
  Li, S., Bedford, J., Moreno, M., Barnhart, W.D., Rosenau, M. and Oncken, O.
  (See online at https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GC007645)
• 2019. Machine learning can predict the timing and size of analog earthquakes. Geophysical Research Letters, 46(3), pp.1303-1311
  Corbi, F., Sandri, L., Bedford, J., Funiciello, F., Brizzi, S., Rosenau, M. and Lallemand, S.
  (See online at https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GL081251)
• 2019. Role of lower crust in the postseismic deformation of the 2010 Maule earthquake: Insights from a model with power-law rheology. Pure and Applied Geophysics, 176(9), pp.3913-3928
  Peña, C., Heidbach, O., Moreno, M., Bedford, J., Ziegler, M., Tassara, A. and Oncken, O.
  (See online at https://doi.org/10.1007/s00024-018-02090-3)
• 2020. Months-long thousand-kilometre-scale wobbling before great subduction earthquakes. Nature, 580(7805), pp.628-635
  Bedford, J.R., Moreno, M., Deng, Z., Oncken, O., Schurr, B., John, T., Báez, J.C. and Bevis, M.
  (See online at https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-020-2212-1)