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Science 15 May 1992:
Vol. 256. no. 5059, pp. 1005 - 1007
DOI: 10.1126/science.256.5059.1005
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Articles

Stress Diffusion Along the San Andreas Fault at Parkfield, California

P. E. Malin 1 and M. G. Alvarez 1

1 Department of Geology, Duke University, Durham, NC 27706

Beginning in January 1990, the epicenters of microearthquakes associated with a 12-month increase in seismicity near Parkfield, California, moved northwest to southeast along the San Andreas fault. During this sequence of events, the locally variable rate of cumulative seismic moment increased. This increase implies a local increase in fault slip. These data suggest that a southeastwardly diffusing stress front propagated along the San Andreas fault at a speed of 30 to 50 kilometers per year. Evidently, this front did not load the Parkfield asperities fast enough to produce a moderate earthquake; however, a future front might do so.

Submitted on December 23, 1991
Accepted on March 2, 1992


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Kinematic Inversion of the 2004 M 6.0 Parkfield Earthquake Including an Approximation to Site Effects.
P. Liu, S. Custodio, and R. J. Archuleta (2006)
Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America 96, S143-S158
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »
Seismological studies at Parkfield IV: Variations in controlled-source waveform parameters and their correlation with seismicity, 1987 to 1995.
E. Karageorgi, T. V. McEvilly, and R. Clymer (1997)
Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America 87, 39-49
   Abstract »    PDF »
Differential analysis of coda Q using similar microearthquakes in seismic gaps. Part 2: Application to seismograms recorded by the Parkfield High Resolution Seismic Network.
M. Antolik, R. M. Nadeau, R. C. Aster, and T. V. McEvilly (1996)
Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America 86, 890-910
   Abstract »    PDF »


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