Abstract
Segments of many faults are observed to slip aseismically at the
surface. On the central segment of the San Andreas Fault, aseismic slip
accumulates largely in creep events: few-mm bursts of slip which occur
every few weeks to months. But even though we have observed creep events
worldwide since the 1960s, we still do not know how big most events are
or which forces drive them. To address this uncertainty, we
systematically identify creep events along the central San Andreas Fault
and determine their along-strike rupture extents. We first use
cross-correlation and visual inspection to identify events at individual
creepmeters. With data from 18 USGS creepmeters, we identify 2120
records of creep events between 1985 and 2020. We then search for slip
that is closely timed across multiple creepmeters. We identify 306
instances of closely timed slip, which could indicate 306 creep events
that rupture multiple creepmeter locations. Through visual inspection
and statistical analysis of timing, we identify a variety of creep event
types, including single-creepmeter events, small (< 2 km)
events, medium-sized (3-6 km) events, large (> 10 km)
events, and events that rupture multiple fault strands. The existence of
many large (> few-km) events suggests that creep events are
not produced by small, rainfall-associated perturbations; they are more
likely driven by complex or heterogeneous frictional weakening, and they
may provide a window into the dynamics of larger-scale slip on the San
Andreas Fault.