report detailed observations of a slow-slip event that occurred along the southern San Andreas Fault following the magnitude 8.3 earthquake that hit offshore Chiapas, Mexico, in September 2017. But the underlying conditions and mechanisms that cause slow slip are still poorly understood. Measurements along the southern San Andreas Fault in California, one of the most studied examples of a creeping fault, have shown that this section often experiences bouts of accelerated creep and that these events can be spontaneous or triggered by seismic events. Because both types of events release pent-up energy, determining the proportion of seismic versus aseismic slip along active faults is crucial for estimating their potential hazard.Īlthough conventional interpretations predict that aseismic slip should occur at a roughly constant rate, geodetic observations have shown that at some locations fault creep is anything but steady.

About 20 years ago, however, seismologists began finding that some faults, or sections of faults, can experience slow earthquakes-a gradual type of aseismic slip, or “creep,” that can last for months. In the traditional model of the earthquake cycle, a seismic event occurs when an active fault abruptly releases strain that has built up over time. Source: Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth

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