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The Global Seismic Moment Rate of Mars after Event S1222a
  • +16
  • Martin Knapmeyer,
  • Savas Ceylan,
  • Ana-Catalina Plesa,
  • Constantinos Charalambous,
  • John Clinton,
  • Nikolaj L. Dahmen,
  • Cecilia Durán,
  • Anna Catherine Horleston,
  • Taichi Kawamura,
  • Doyeon Kim,
  • Jiaqi Li,
  • M Plasman,
  • Simon C. Stähler,
  • Géraldine Zenhäusern,
  • Renee Weber,
  • Domencio Giradini,
  • Mark Paul Panning,
  • Philippe Lognonn'e,
  • William Bruce Banerdt
Martin Knapmeyer
German Aerospace Center DLR

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Savas Ceylan
ETH Zurich
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Ana-Catalina Plesa
German Aerospace Center
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Constantinos Charalambous
Imperial College London
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John Clinton
Swiss Seismological Service
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Nikolaj L. Dahmen
ETH Zurich
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Cecilia Durán
ETH Zürich
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Anna Catherine Horleston
University of Bristol
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Taichi Kawamura
IPGP
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Doyeon Kim
ETH Zürich
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Jiaqi Li
University of California, Los Angeles
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M Plasman
Institut de physique du globe de Paris
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Simon C. Stähler
Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule Zürich
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Géraldine Zenhäusern
Institute of Geophysics, ETH Zurich
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Renee Weber
NASA MSFC
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Domencio Giradini
ETH Zurich
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Mark Paul Panning
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology
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Philippe Lognonn'e
Université Paris Cité, Institute de physique de globe de Paris, CNRS
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William Bruce Banerdt
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
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Abstract

The seismic activity of a planet can be described by the corner magnitude, events larger than which are extremely unlikely, and the seismic moment rate, the long-term average of annual seismic moment release. Marsquake S1222a proves large enough to be representative of the global activity of Mars and places observational constraints on the moment rate. The magnitude-frequency distribution of relevant Marsquakes indicates a b-value of 1.17, but with its uncertainty and a volcanic region bias, b=1 is still possible. The moment rate is likely between 1.5e15 Nm/a and 1.6e18 Nm/a, with a marginal distribution peaking at 4.9e16 Nm/a. Comparing this with pre-InSight estimations shows that these tended to overestimate the moment rate, and that 30 % or more of the tectonic deformation may occur silently, whereas the seismicity is probably restricted to localized centers rather than spread over the entire planet.