Earthquake source mechanisms and plate tectonics

Abstract

This review and the accompanying references will be concerned mainly with earthquake source studies pertinent to plate tectonics. Studies on geological problems, lithospheric flexure and mantle convection are discussed in other reviews in this volume. In the earlier stage of the development of plate tectonics, the distribution of earthquakes and the geometrical configuration of earthquake source mechanisms played an important role. As more sophisticated techniques for retrieving earthquake source parameters (synthetic seismogram method for both body and surface waves, inversion method, matching filter method, etc.) were developed, emphasis in the last four years was placed on the determination of not only the geometry of the source but also more quantitative parameters such as the stress drop, the amount of slip, the complexity, the strength of non-isotropic components, and the spectral characteristics. Also significant emphasis was placed on intraplate earthquakes and events on continental plate boundaries.

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