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A New Approach to Calculate Earthquake Slip Distributions
Credit: Douglas Sprott, CC BY-NC 2.0

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The Looming Crisis of Sinking Ground in Mexico City
Credit: Chaussard et al., 2021, https://doi.org/10.1029/2020JB020648

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The First Angstrom-Scale View of Weathering
Credit: Moondigger, CC BY-SA 2.5

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100-year Anniversary of the Great 1920 Haiyuan Earthquake
Image Credit: Jing Liu-Zeng

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Probing the Age of the Oldest Ocean Crust in the Pacific
Credit: Tominaga et al. [2021], Figure 8b

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Issue Information

  •  27 January 2022
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A Fragment of Argoland From East Gondwana in the NE Himalaya

Ji'en Zhang, Wenjiao Xiao, John Wakabayashi, Brian F. Windley, Chunming Han,
  •  25 January 2022

Key Points

  • The Longzi block in the NE Himalaya records Early Cretaceous shortening and Late Jurassic alkali magmatism

  • First geological evidence demonstrates that the Longzi block is the westernmost fragment of Argoland that was separated from East Gondwana

  • New archipelagic framework since the Late Jurassic demonstrates Mesozoic geodynamics of Neotethys and Cenozoic two-stage collision in Tibet

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Hydro‐Mechanical Measurements of Sheared Crystalline Rock Fractures With Applications for EGS Collab Experiments 1 and 2

Meng Meng, Luke P. Frash, Wenfeng Li, Nathan J. Welch, J. William Carey, Joseph Morris, Ghanashyam Neupane, Craig Ulrich, Timothy Kneafsey,
  •  22 January 2022

Key Points

  • Hydroshearing requires a natural fracture that is mechanically weak, hydraulically conductive, and favorably oriented

  • Fracture shear slip does not always result in permeability enhancement; when phyllosilicate rich, we observed decreasing permeability

  • Slip-tendency analysis improved by hydro-mechanical measurement helps to select the best candidate fracture for hydroshearing in the field

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Parsimonious Velocity Inversion Applied to the Los Angeles Basin, CA

Jack B. Muir, Robert W. Clayton, Victor C. Tsai, Quentin Brissaud,
  •  22 January 2022

Key Points

  • We generate a new velocity model of the northeastern Los Angeles Basin using data from the Community Seismic Network

  • Using a level-set framework, we parsimoniously balance the existing Community Velocity Models with new data constraints

  • The new model indicates a steeper and deeper basin underneath downtown Los Angeles, significantly amplifying 4–6 s Love waves

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The Influence of the Ailaoshan‐Red River Shear Zone on the Mineralization of the Beiya Deposit on the Southeastern Margin of the Tibetan Plateau Revealed by a 3‐D Magnetotelluric Survey

Nian Yu, Enci Wang, Xuben Wang, Wenxin Kong, Dewei Li, Ruiheng Li,
  •  21 January 2022

Key Points

  • The magmatic system related to the formation of the Beiya deposit is imaged by a 3-D magnetotelluric survey

  • A deep magmatic source is imaged beneath the Ailaoshan-Red River shear zone

  • The result supports the Beiya deposit was formed in an extensional tectonic setting and associated with the Ailaoshan-Red River shear zone

Open access

Array Signal Processing on Distributed Acoustic Sensing Data: Directivity Effects in Slowness Space

Sven Peter Näsholm, Kamran Iranpour, Andreas Wuestefeld, Ben D. E. Dando, Alan F. Baird, Volker Oye,
  •  21 January 2022

Key Points

  • We model directional sensitivity and gauge length effects on distributed acoustic sensing systems using array signal processing theory

  • We provide closed-form expressions to estimate the steered response in slowness or wavenumber space for a given gauge length setting

  • The frameworks can also be used to in some extent compensate for the directivity which varies along a geometrically non-linear cable layout

Open access

Azimuthal Anisotropy Tomography of the Southeast Asia Subduction System

Yuanyuan Hua, Dapeng Zhao, Yi-Gang Xu,
  •  20 January 2022

Key Points

  • A high-resolution 3-D model of P wave velocity and azimuthal anisotropy beneath SE Asia is determined

  • Different slab geometries beneath Sumatra and Java are related to the lithosphere age of the subducting slab

  • The Hainan plume upwelling is resisted by a stagnant slab in the MTZ, causing divergent shape azimuthal anisotropies

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A Test of the Hypothesis That Syn‐Collisional Felsic Magmatism Contributes to Continental Crustal Growth Via Deep Learning Modeling and Principal Component Analysis of Big Geochemical Datasets

Xin Lin, Domenico Cicchella, Jun Hong, Ganggang Meng,
  •  19 January 2022

Key Points

  • We built a deep neural network of whole-rock geochemistry and mean zircon Hf isotopes of igneous rocks to extract implicit information

  • We showed that mantle-sourced bulk continental crust-like granitoids are common in collisional settings and differ from arc magmas

  • Our statistical modeling helps to demonstrate evident contribution of syn-collisional felsic magmatism to net continental crust growth

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Elastic Wave Velocity Changes Due to the Fracture Aperture and Density, and Direct Correlation With Permeability: An Energetic Approach to Mated Rock Fractures

K. Sawayama, T. Ikeda, T. Tsuji, F. Jiang, O. Nishizawa, Y. Fujimitsu,
  •  18 January 2022

Key Points

  • A numerical approach based on internal energy calculations was developed to calculate precise velocity changes with fracture opening

  • Velocity can be accounted for by superposition of a linear function of the fracture density and quadratic function of the aperture size

  • Normalized velocity has a linear relationship with normalized permeability, and the trend depends on fracture density

Open access

Pinpointing Early Signs of Impending Slope Failures From Space

Shuo Zhou, Antoinette Tordesillas, Emanuele Intrieri, Federico Di Traglia, Guoqi Qian, Filippo Catani,
  •  18 January 2022

Key Points

  • Ground deformation data from Sentinel-1 encode rich information and can be used to predict the location of impending landslides

  • In imbalanced satellite data, point-level clustering dynamics diminish but outlying motions at grid cell level become distinctive

  • The third quartile of ground displacement in a cell accurately identifies the location of the 2017 Xinmo landslide almost 1 year in advance

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A new oxybarometer for basalts based on olivine‐melt Mn‐Fe2+ exchange coefficient and FeT/Mn ratios in olivine and melt

Zhongxing Sun, Xiaolin Xiong,
  •  3 February 2022

Key Points

  • A new oxybarometer is developed based on olivine-melt Mn-Fe2+ exchange coefficient (〖"KD" 〗_"ol/m" ^(〖"Mn-Fe" 〗^"2+" ))

  • 〖"KD" 〗_"ol/m" ^(〖"Mn-Fe" 〗^"2+" ) is nearly constant with the variation of experimental conditions

  • The new oxybarometer provides a simple and efficient method for melt Fe3+/FeT calculation

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The effect of the 3‐D Structure on Strain Accumulation and the Interseismic Behavior along the North Anatolian Fault in the Sea of Marmara

Zeynep Yılmaz, Ali Özgün Konca, Semih Ergintav,
  •  2 February 2022

Key Points

  • We considered the competing effects of the heterogeneous structure and interseismic behavior along the Main Marmara Fault

  • The basins that surround the fault lead to more localized strain and slightly deeper locking depth estimates

  • The existing data shows creep in Western Marmara, which correlates well with the focal mechanisms, distribution of seismicity and repeaters

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Oxidation extent of the upper mantle by subducted slab and possible oxygen budget in deep Earth inferred from redox kinetics of olivine

Chengcheng Zhao, Takashi Yoshino, Baohua Zhang,
  •  2 February 2022

Key Points

  • Redox kinetics of olivine were investigated by diffusion couple method at 1 GPa and 1373 – 1573 K

  • Below ΔFMQ +1, redox process is controlled by O grain boundary diffusion, while above that, by H diffusion related with Mg vacancy

  • Slow redox rate limits homogenization of subducted slab with mantle. A highly underestimated oxygen reservoir may be present in deep Earth

Open access

Orbital artifacts in multi‐GNSS Precise Point Positioning time series

Radosław Zajdel, Kamil Kaźmierski, Krzysztof Sośnica,
  •  2 February 2022

Key Points

  • Using different GNSS constellations introduces artificial signals in station coordinate estimates reaching centimeters

  • GPS introduces strong diurnal/semidiurnal signals in station coordinates and troposphere parameters, which can be reduced using multi-GNSS

  • The magnitude of the artifacts varies between site locations, depending on the observation geometry and direction of the satellite flybys

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A revised adiabatic temperature profile for the mantle

Tomoo Katsura,
  •  2 February 2022

Key Points

  • The previous olivine-wadsleyite phase relations and P-V-T relations of mantle minerals are corrected using the pressure effect on EMF

  • Comparing the 410-km discontinuity depth with the olivine-wadsleyite phase relations suggests 1839(38) K at the discontinuity

  • The adiabatic temperatures are 1646(35) at 50-km depth and 2587(60) K at 2800-km depth

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Active and passive seismic imaging of the central Abitibi greenstone belt, Larder Lake, Ontario

Mostafa Naghizadeh, Richard Smith, Kate Rubingh, Ross Sherlock, John Ayer, Bruno Lafrance, Saeid Cheraghi, David Snyder, Jérome Vergne, Dan Hollis, Aurélien Mordret,
  •  1 February 2022

Key Points

  • We acquired active and passive seismic surveys over a metal-endowed region to investigate the reliability of passive seismic methods

  • The seismic reflectivity, shear-wave velocity, and P-S convertibility profiles exhibited a very good correlation and were complementary

  • This study provided detailed geophysical models of the upper-crust (top 10 km) and upper mantel (beneath the Moho) in the central Abitibi

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The Role of Slow Slip Events in the Cascadia Subduction Zone Earthquake Cycle

Juliette P. Saux, Elias G. Molitors Bergman, Eileen L. Evans, John P. Loveless,
  •  1 February 2022

Key Points

  • We estimate pure interseismic velocities reflecting subduction zone coupling by removing slow slip effects from GPS time series

  • Pure interseismic coupling may extend deeper than 30 km, providing a source of stress released by slow slip events

  • Slow slip events below 30 km depth on the Cascadia Subduction Zone partially release deep interseismic slip deficit

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Geophysical Inversion Using a Variational Autoencoder to Model an Assembled Spatial Prior Uncertainty

J. Lopez-Alvis, F. Nguyen, M. C. Looms, T. Hermans,
  •  1 February 2022

Key Points

  • A variational autoencoder (VAE) may be used to effectively assemble a diverse set of patterns in a single prior for geophysical inversion

  • Geologically consistent transformations can be used to improve pattern diversity when training the VAE

  • A VAE assembled prior produces less biased geophysical images than those produced by smooth inversion or a VAE trained on a single pattern

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Evolution of short‐term seismic hazard in Alberta, Canada, from induced and natural earthquakes: 2011‐2020

Mauricio Reyes Canales, Javad Yusifbayov, Mirko van der Baan,
  •  1 February 2022

Key Points

  • We generated short-term seismic hazard maps for the province of Alberta, Canada, from 2011 until 2020, including natural and induced seismicity sources

  • Considerable variations in the -and -values have been observed throughout the different seismic clusters in Alberta, with significant implications in the seismic hazard

  • The regions with the highest short-term seismic hazard during the last decade in Alberta have been related to cases of induced seismicity

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Admittance of the Earth rotational response to zonal tide potential

C. Bizouard, L. I. Fernández, L. Zotov,
  •  1 February 2022

Key Points

  • Admittance coefficients defining the Earth's rotational response to zonal tidal components are determined from the length of day changes

  • This study applies the full hydro-atmospheric corrections to be removed from the LOD before estimating the admittances

  • The dispersion between the estimated admittances and their frequency dependent model between 7 and 35 days is reduced substantially

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Precise point positioning for the efficient and robust analysis of GPS data from large networks

J. F. Zumberge, M. B. Heflin, D. C. Jefferson, M. M. Watkins, F. H. Webb,
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Calibration of the ruby pressure gauge to 800 kbar under quasi‐hydrostatic conditions

H. K. Mao, J. Xu, P. M. Bell,
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A moment magnitude scale

Thomas C. Hanks, Hiroo Kanamori,
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Determination of earthquake source parameters from waveform data for studies of global and regional seismicity

A. M. Dziewonski, T.-A. Chou, J. H. Woodhouse,
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The development and evaluation of the Earth Gravitational Model 2008 (EGM2008)

Nikolaos K. Pavlis, Simon A. Holmes, Steve C. Kenyon, John K. Factor,

Key Points

  • Document the development of first ever gravity model to degree 2190
  • Demonstrate EGM2008's performance
  • Compare EGM2008 with other models

Open access

ITRF2014: A new release of the International Terrestrial Reference Frame modeling nonlinear station motions

Zuheir Altamimi, Paul Rebischung, Laurent Métivier, Xavier Collilieux,

Key Points

  • ITRF2014 benefits from accurate modeling of station annual and semiannual displacements
  • ITRF2014 benefits from accurate modeling of postseismic deformations for sites affected by major earthquakes
  • Leading to the determination of accurate and robust secular frame and site velocities

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Seismic velocity structure and composition of the continental crust: A global view

Nikolas I. Christensen, Walter D. Mooney,
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Slip instability and state variable friction laws

Andy Ruina,
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Dynamics of the stream‐power river incision model: Implications for height limits of mountain ranges, landscape response timescales, and research needs

Kelin X. Whipple, Gregory E. Tucker,
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Modeling of rock friction: 1. Experimental results and constitutive equations

James H. Dieterich,
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Open access

Dynamic weakening of serpentinite gouges and bare surfaces at seismic slip rates

B. P. Proctor, T. M. Mitchell, G. Hirth, D. Goldsby, F. Zorzi, J. D. Platt, G. Di Toro,

Key Points

  • Gouge friction approaches that of bare surfaces at high normal stress
  • Dehydration reactions and bulk melting in serpentinite in < 1 m of slip
  • Flash heating causes dynamic frictional weakening in gouge and bare surfaces

Open access

Mapping Deep Electrical Conductivity Structure in the Mount Isa region, Northern Australia: Implications for Mineral Prospectivity

Wenping Jiang, Russell J. Korsch, Michael P. Doublier, Jingming Duan, Ross Costelloe,

Key Points

  • Magnetotelluric data reveal crustal architecture of the eastern margin of the Proterozoic Mount Isa Province
  • Magnetotelluric models demonstrate spatial correlation between the crustal-scale Carpentaria conductivity anomaly and the Gidyea Suture zone
  • Crustal-penetrating structures act as potential pathways for transporting metalliferous fluids to form mineral deposits in the upper crust

free access

The development and evaluation of the Earth Gravitational Model 2008 (EGM2008)

Nikolaos K. Pavlis, Simon A. Holmes, Steve C. Kenyon, John K. Factor,

Key Points

  • Document the development of first ever gravity model to degree 2190
  • Demonstrate EGM2008's performance
  • Compare EGM2008 with other models

Open access

Philippine Sea and East Asian plate tectonics since 52 Ma constrained by new subducted slab reconstruction methods

Jonny Wu, John Suppe, Renqi Lu, Ravi Kanda,

Key Points

  • Twenty-eight East Asia subducted slabs mapped from tomography and unfolded to constrain plate reconstructions
  • Slab evidence for a subducted 8000 × 2500 km “East Asian Sea” that existed between the Pacific and Indian Oceans in the early Cenozoic
  • Miocene arc-arc collision between the northern Philippine Sea plate and the Ryukyu-SW Japan Eurasian margin ~15–20 Ma

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Evidence for the Innermost Inner Core: Robust Parameter Search for Radially Varying Anisotropy Using the Neighborhood Algorithm

J. Stephenson, H Tkalčić, M. Sambridge,

Key Points

  • The “neighborhood algorithm” provides a robust methodology for testing layered anisotropy in the Earth's inner core

  • There is no significant change observed in the strength of anisotropy with depth in the inner core

  • The innermost inner core is defined as a gradual change in the slow propagation direction of anisotropy

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Over a Century of Sinking in Mexico City: No Hope for Significant Elevation and Storage Capacity Recovery

E. Chaussard, E. Havazli, H. Fattahi, E. Cabral-Cano, D. Solano-Rojas,

Key Points

  • Integration of 115 years of deformation data reveals subsidence up 50 cm/year in Mexico City

  • The majority of the subsidence is irreversible and its rates are linearly correlated to the thickness of the upper aquitard

  • Migration of low-quality water to the productive aquifer sets the stage for a water crisis, which influences the socioeconomic landscape

Open access

ITRF2014: A new release of the International Terrestrial Reference Frame modeling nonlinear station motions

Zuheir Altamimi, Paul Rebischung, Laurent Métivier, Xavier Collilieux,

Key Points

  • ITRF2014 benefits from accurate modeling of station annual and semiannual displacements
  • ITRF2014 benefits from accurate modeling of postseismic deformations for sites affected by major earthquakes
  • Leading to the determination of accurate and robust secular frame and site velocities

free access

January 2002 volcano‐tectonic eruption of Nyiragongo volcano, Democratic Republic of Congo

D. Tedesco, O. Vaselli, P. Papale, S. A. Carn, M. Voltaggio, G. M. Sawyer, J. Durieux, M. Kasereka, F. Tassi,
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Aseismic continuation of the Lesser Antilles slab beneath continental South America

J. C. VanDecar, R. M. Russo, D. E. James, W. B. Ambeh, M. Franke,
Open access

The Nature of the Lithosphere‐Asthenosphere Boundary

Catherine A. Rychert, Nicholas Harmon, Steven Constable, Shunguo Wang,

Key Points

  • Temperature determines the LAB depth to first order, but the LAB is laterally variable in depth and possibly also in character
  • Sharp discontinuities overlying strong seismic and magnetotelluric anomalies suggest a melt-defined LAB, at least in many locations
  • The LAB is dynamic and dictated by mantle dynamics including melt generation and migration with broad implications for Earth's evolution

Plain Language Summary

Plate tectonic theory is the framework that describes everything from the formation of the continents billions of years ago to natural disasters such as volcanoes, earthquakes, and tsunamis today. Even climate change estimates over geologic timescales rely on accurate plate tectonic reconstructions to understand the paleo-oceans. Despite the intricate links between plate tectonics and life on Earth, exactly what makes a plate “plate-like” is debated. In other words, what properties define the transition from the rigid plate, or lithosphere, to the weaker, convecting asthenosphere, and where does this transition occur? Classically, the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary is defined thermally, with a gradual transition from the cold conductively cooling lithosphere to the warmer, convecting asthenosphere beneath. Overall, lithospheric thickening with age is observed beneath the oceans and toward the continental interiors suggesting that temperature and conductive cooling play a first-order role in controlling lithospheric thickness. However, within any given tectonic age interval a wide range of lithospheric thicknesses have been reported. Observations of sharp changes with depth in seismic wave speed and strong anomalies in seismic wave speed and electrical resistivity are similarly inconsistent with the smooth variations predicted by simple conductive cooling. Other properties or processes must define the tectonic plate. The lithosphere may be relatively dehydrated, which would enhance its strength. In contrast, asthenospheric hydration could make it relatively weak and also reduce its melting temperature. A small amount of partial melt beneath the plate in the asthenosphere may exist, which could further ease convection and therefore define the plate. Melt provides a simple explanation for a host of observations with large implications for plate tectonics, mantle dynamics, and Earth's evolution. So far reports of melt are variable in location and character. The variability in lithospheric thickness and also melt location and character suggests that the lithosphere-asthenosphere boundary is likely dynamic and dictated by mantle dynamics including melt generation and migration.

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