Activation of optimally and unfavourably oriented faults in a uniform local stress field during the 2011 Prague, Oklahoma, sequence

The orientations of faults activated relative to the local principal stress directions can provide insights into the role of pore pressure changes in induced earthquake sequences. Here, we examine the 2011 M 5.7 Prague earthquake sequence that was induced by nearby wastewater disposal. We estimate the local principal compressive stress direction near the rupture as inferred from shear wave splitting measurements at spatial resolutions as small as 750 m. We find that the dominant azimuth observed is parallel to previous estimates of the regional compressive stress with some secondary azimuths oriented subparallel to the strike of the major fault structures. From an extended catalogue, we map ten distinct fault segments activated during the sequence that exhibit a wide array of orientations. We assess whether the five near-vertical fault planes are optimally oriented to fail in the determined stress field. We find that only two of the fault planes, including the M   5.7 main shock fault, are optimally oriented. Both the M 4.8 foreshock and M   4.8 aftershock occur on fault planes that deviate 20–29° from the optimal orientation for slip. Our results confirm that induced event sequences can occur on faults not optimally oriented for failure in the local stress field. The results suggest elevated pore fluid pressures likely induced failure along several of the faults activated in the 2011 Prague sequence

Tsunamigenic structures in a creeping section of the Alaska subduction zone

International audienceSegments of subduction zones that are capable of generating tsunamigenic earthquakes appear to have characteristic structural configurations. These structures include heterogeneous plate interfaces, a small wedge of deformed sediment at the toe of the overriding plate (the frontal prism), and splay faults in the crust of the overriding plate that root within the plate boundary megathrust. Here we use seismic reflection imaging to show that these features also exist within a creeping segment of the Alaska subduction zone, the Shumagin Gap. We identify an active crustal-scale normal fault system that dips landward and resembles that involved in the 2011 Tohoku-oki earthquake in Japan. We also find that the Shumagin Gap has a small frontal prism, a deep-water splay fault, and that the plate interface here is rough and thinly sedimented. We propose that lateral propagation of rupture from a neighbouring segment into the Shumagin Gap may explain a tsunamigenic earthquake that occurred there in 1788 and that tsunamigenic potential should be considered in hazard assessments for the region. Our results demonstrate that structural configurations similar to those in Tohoku may exist in other subduction zones, including within creeping segments or segments with no record of historical megathrust earthquakes, but are underrecognized. Identifying similar configurations globally may improve our ability to anticipate regions capable of generating large tsunamis