The March 16, 2014 Mw 6.7 earthquake played an important role in the complex seismic sequence leading to the nucleation of the April 1st, 2014 Mw 8.2 Pisagua earthquake in northern Chile. The Mw 6.7, an upper plate reverse faulting event with nodal planes highly rotated counterclockwise with respect to the strike of the megathrust at its location, is analyzed. For each nodal plane of the regional W-phase centroid moment tensor solution, the spatiotemporal slip distribution is inverted using near-field records. The optimal space and time smoothing constraints are determined objectively based on the Akaike's Bayesian Information Criterion. We analyze seismicity on the region affected by the Mw 6.7 and Mw 8.2 Pisagua mainshock, with accurate hypocenter locations obtained using a 3D heterogeneous medium. We also performed regional moment tensor inversion of events (M≥4.0) occurred before the Mw 8.2. Our results suggest the sub-vertical fault plane dipping southward (dip∼70°) as being the causative fault of the March 16 Mw 6.7 earthquake. The rupture propagated to the northwest, lasted 15s, and yielded a total seismic moment of 1.36×1019Nm (Mw 6.7). Estimated slip is characterized by total rupture length of ∼22km, and suggest shallow slip distributed between ∼ 3km, down to 17km depth. A comparison between coastal tide gauge records and forward tsunami modeling show similarity of the time series, thus supporting the plausibility of our estimated slip models. Our interpretation suggests that the rupture of the Mw 6.7 intraplate could be explained by stress accommodation between two segments along-dip with different mechanical properties at the interplate boundary, and inside the upper plate.

Anomalous or low-quality seismic data from seismometer malfunctions or incorrect metadata can interfere with real-time seismic processing and degrade products provided by earthquake early warning systems. Thus, it is important to monitor data quality to detect sensor failures rapidly and exclude anomalous data from processing. Here, we detect data anomalies and malfunctioning sensors by comparing instrumentally corrected waveforms between co-located broadband and strong-motion seismometers in Southern California Seismic Network (SCSN). We assume that a signal within the common resolution range of both sensors should have near-identical instrumentally corrected waveforms. Specifically, two waveform consistency metrics, amplitude ratio and cross-coefficient, are evaluated. Both metrics should be similar to 1 for normal data; deviation from 1 in either metric indicates at least one of the sensors is producing unreliable data. We examine these two metrics for 1 yr of local earthquake records and identify 32 problematic channels out of a total of 672 in the SC SN. In addition, we show the feasibility of nearreal-time data quality monitoring through measuring the inconsistency rate over a short period of time using anonymous large-amplitude signals. We highlight this method because of its general detectability in a broad variety of data issues and ease of integration into real-time monitoring systems. This method is expected to help identify malfunctioning instruments and enhance overall network data quality, which is required to lay a solid foundation for robust earthquake early warning and other real-time seismic processing systems.

Investigation of large, destructive earthquakes is challenged by their infrequent occurrence and the remote nature of geophysical observations. This thesis sheds light on the source processes of large earthquakes from two perspectives: robust and quantitative observational constraints through Bayesian inference for earthquake source models, and physical insights on the interconnections of seismic and aseismic fault behavior from elastodynamic modeling of earthquake ruptures and aseismic processes. To constrain the shallow deformation during megathrust events, we develop semi-analytical and numerical Bayesian approaches to explore the maximum resolution of the tsunami data, with a focus on incorporating the uncertainty in the forward modeling. These methodologies are then applied to invert for the coseismic seafloor displacement field in the 2011 Mw 9.0 Tohoku-Oki earthquake using near-field tsunami waveforms and for the coseismic fault slip models in the 2010 Mw 8.8 Maule earthquake with complementary tsunami and geodetic observations. From posterior estimates of model parameters and their uncertainties, we are able to quantitatively constrain the near-trench profiles of seafloor displacement and fault slip. Similar characteristic patterns emerge during both events, featuring the peak of uplift near the edge of the accretionary wedge with a decay toward the trench axis, with implications for fault failure and tsunamigenic mechanisms of megathrust earthquakes. To understand the behavior of earthquakes at the base of the seismogenic zone on continental strike-slip faults, we simulate the interactions of dynamic earthquake rupture, aseismic slip, and heterogeneity in rate-and-state fault models coupled with shear heating. Our study explains the long-standing enigma of seismic quiescence on major fault segments known to have hosted large earthquakes by deeper penetration of large earthquakes below the seismogenic zone, where mature faults have well-localized creeping extensions. This conclusion is supported by the simulated relationship between seismicity and large earthquakes as well as by observations from recent large events. We also use the modeling to connect the geodetic observables of fault locking with the behavior of seismicity in numerical models, investigating how a combination of interseismic geodetic and seismological estimates could constrain the locked-creeping transition of faults and potentially their co- and post-seismic behavior.

The relationship between M0 and the rupture duration is often difficult to establish. This is particularly true for large earthquakes for which the moment rate functions (MRF) generally have complicated shapes, and the estimated durations can vary considerably depending on the methodology used to evaluate the MRF. In this work, we show that the centroid time-delay (τc) provides an alternative estimate of the source duration. Inverted MRFs often end gradually, making the end of coseismic rupture difficult to detect. In such cases, when the rupture duration is not well defined, the time-delay τc is a useful quantity to represent the first-order temporal characteristics of the rupture process. Variations in stress parameter Δσ can be investigated by assuming a standard scaling relationship between the seismic moment M0 and τc. This simple scaling relationship can also be used to identify unusual earthquakes, with unique source properties, such as events involving complicated rupture processes or earthquakes characterized by unusual rupture velocities, stress drops or aspect ratios.

Using an experimental setup which allows to follow optically the propagation of an interfacial crack front in a heterogeneous medium, we show that the fracture front dynamics is governed by local and irregular avalanches with large velocity fluctuations. Events defined as high velocity bursts are ranked in catalogs with analogous characteristics to seismicity catalogs: time of occurence, epicenter location and energy parameter (moment). Despite differences in the fracturing mode (opening for the experiments and shear rupture for earthquakes), in the acquisition mode and in the range of time scales, the distributions of moment and epicenter jumps in the experimental catalogs obey the same scaling laws with exponents similar to the corresponding distributions for earthquakes. The record-breaking event analysis also shows very strong similarities between experimental and real seismicity catalogs. The results suggest that the dynamics of crack propagation is controlled by the elastic interactions between microstructures within the material.

The North Anatolian Fault (NAF) extends for about 1500 km from Karliova to the east, to the Egean Sea in the west. The Marmara region, located near the western end of the NAF, is a tectonically active zone characterized by the transition between a strike slip stress regime and an extensional one in the Aegean Sea. Microseismic studies performed around the Marmara Sea in 1995 [Tectonophysics316, 2000, 1], and just before the 1999 Izmit Earthquake Bull. Seism. Soc. Am.92, 2002a, 361;J. Seismol.6, 2002b, 287) permitted the analysis of the evolution of seismicity connected to this destructive earthquake and its sequels. Several observations indicate that the aftershock distribution fits well the EW orientation of the NAF, but the ruptures are not simple and linear as a first glance would suggest. Instead they are segmented in at least five pieces as shown by the slip variation and aftershock clusters, showing complexity at different scales (Bull. Seism. Soc. Am.92, 2002a, 361). There is still a gap, across the northern border of the Marmara Sea that has not ruptured, and this is the only sector that did not break on the NAF since the 1939 great Erzincan earthquake. Will it rupture as a whole with a large magnitude earthquake, or by segments with smaller magnitude events? The Hurst analysis of the overall behaviour of the seismicity in the Marmara region since historical times shows that if a large earthquake occurs in the near future, it might break the complete gap. The Hurst character of the time variation of seismicity is persistent with H= 0.82. The aftershocks of the 1999 Izmit earthquake can be analyzed by using the Hurst method, showing an exceptionally high persistent memory.

The broad-band teleseismics records of the earthquake of October 29,1989 in Algeria (MW = 6.0) allow a detailed study of the rupture process of this earthquake. The focal mechanism obtained by P and SH modeling corresponds to reverse faulting with a small amount of left-lateral movement along a fault striking 246° and dipping 56°. The rupture is found to be complex with two sub-events separated in time but occurring on the same plane. The lowfrequency records of an accelerometer located some 25 km to the west of the main shock are also better fi tted when the rupture is composed of a double pulse. In the two cases, there is strong evidence for the rupture to propagate from south-west towards north-east.The relocalisation of the main shock by using a master-event technique and the data from Italian and Spanish stations led to the same conclusions. Soon after the main event, a temporary seimic network was installed in the epicentral area. The aftershock clouds defi ne a SW-NE fault dipping to the NW compatible with the results of the modelisations of the teleseismic body-waves and the accelerogram. The focal mechanisms correspond mainly to reverse faulting. The maximum principal direction of the stress tensor obtained from the inversion is about N-S and the minimum is vertical, typical of a compressive regime. The Chenoua earthquake took place on a fault which was not recognized as active. Repeated comparable seismic events on this fault and on the fault that borders the massif to the south explain this intriguing topographic feature.