Investigation of Phase-Converted Seismic Waves at the Hikurangi Plate
Interface, New Zealand
Abstract
In the northern Hikurangi margin, aseismic slip events known as slow
slip events (SSEs) occur approximately every 18-24 months with a long
duration (weeks to months), and have been shown to cause 1 to 3 cm of
horizontal surface displacement onshore and 1.5 to 5.4 cm of vertical
displacement (uplift) offshore. The discovery of SSEs has expanded our
scientific understanding of slip behavior at subduction zones to
encompass behaviors beyond earthquake-producing (fast) slip events.
Using converted phase seismic signals from local earthquakes in addition
to direct P and S arrivals allows us to further analyze the properties
of the plate interface along the subduction zone, including its
composition, topography and heterogeneity. It has been hypothesized
that these properties play a role in the process of slow slip, therefore
our investigation of converted waves focuses on the area offshore the
east coast of the North Island of New Zealand, where dozens of SSEs have
been observed in the past twenty years. We examine an earthquake catalog
comprised of local slab earthquakes occurring recorded on ocean-bottom
seismometers (OBSs) from the one-year-long Hikurangi Ocean Bottom
Investigation of Tremor and Slow Slip (HOBITSS) experiment as well as
New Zealand’s permanent GeoNet on-land seismic network. Preliminary
findings indicate strong secondary arrivals on the vertical component of
the land stations which are likely Sp conversions from the plate
interface. We aim to identify conversions from the plate interface on
the OBSs from the HOBITSS experiment, as these data will help us resolve
a part of the plate interface that was not investigated in previous
converted wave studies. We will conduct a systematic search for
phase-converted arrivals from the plate interface, initially focusing
primarily on Sp conversions by examining the vertical component
seismograms.