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Rupture Process of the 2020 Caribbean Earthquake along the Oriente Transform Fault, Involving Supershear Rupture and Geometric Complexity of Fault
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  • Tira Tadapansawut,
  • Ryo Okuwaki,
  • Yuji Yagi,
  • Shinji Yamashita
Tira Tadapansawut
University of Tsukuba, University of Tsukuba
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Ryo Okuwaki
University of Tsukuba, University of Tsukuba

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

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Yuji Yagi
University of Tsukuba, University of Tsukuba
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Shinji Yamashita
University of Tsukuba, University of Tsukuba
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Abstract

A large strike-slip earthquake occurred in the Caribbean Sea on 28 January 2020. We inverted teleseismic P-waveforms from the earthquake to construct a finite-fault model by a new method of inversion that simultaneously resolves the spatiotemporal evolution of fault geometry and slip. The model showed almost unilateral rupture propagation westward from the epicenter along a 300 km section of the Oriente transform fault with two episodes of rupture at speeds exceeding the local shear-wave velocity. Our modeling indicated that the 2020 Caribbean earthquake rupture encountered a bend in the fault system associated with a bathymetric feature near the source region. The geometric complexity of the fault system triggered multiple rupture episodes and a complex rupture evolution. Our analysis of the earthquake revealed complexity of rupture process and fault geometry previously unrecognized for an oceanic transform fault that was thought to be part of a simple linear transform fault system.
16 Jan 2021Published in Geophysical Research Letters volume 48 issue 1. 10.1029/2020GL090899