loading page

Lateral change of in-plate stress and outer-rise seismicity along the southern Mariana trench
  • +3
  • Jiangyang Zhang,
  • Hongfeng Yang,
  • Han Chen,
  • Fan Zhang,
  • Gaohua Zhu,
  • Zhen Sun
Jiangyang Zhang
South China Sea Institute Of Oceanology

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

Author Profile
Hongfeng Yang
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Author Profile
Han Chen
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Author Profile
Fan Zhang
South China Sea Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Author Profile
Gaohua Zhu
The Chinese University of Hong Kong
Author Profile
Zhen Sun
CAS Key Laboratory of Ocean and Marginal Sea Geology, South China Sea Institute of Oceanology
Author Profile

Abstract

We modeled the bending deformation of the subducting plate at the southern Mariana using a 3-D elastic plate flexural model. Intraplate stresses were investigated, with the along-strike variable boundary loadings. In order to match the observed plate geometry, boundary vertical loading near the Challenger Deep had to be set twice of that in the region further east within our study area. By comparing results between 2-D and 3-D models, we found that the difference on estimating plate stress can exceed 20% when there is an along-strike variation in plate bending. Finally, we found that the sharp lateral variation in the σ and the σ corresponded to an outer-rise earthquake cluster at the southern Mariana subduction zone, indicating that along-strike variation in σ and σ may be a significant mechanism to cause non-uniform distribution of outer-rise earthquakes.