Current assumptions on the level of inter-dependency between the magnitudes of earthquakes and the magnitudes of their aftershocks vary significantly, ranging from assumed independence for models like epidemic type aftershock-sequence (ETAS) to assumed positive correlation, at least for the events leading up to the largest earthquakes, for models like accelerated moment release. Recently, a met...

The three principal New Madrid mainshocks of 1811–1812 were followed by extensive aftershock sequences that included numerous felt events. Although no instrumental data are available for either the mainshocks or the aftershocks, available historical accounts do provide information that can be used to estimate magnitudes and locations for the large events. In this article we investigate two of t...

The occurrence of aftershocks following a major financial crash manifests the critical dynamical response of financial markets. Aftershocks put additional stress on markets, with conceivable dramatic consequences. Such a phenomenon has been shown to be common to most financial assets, both at high and low frequency. Its present-day description relies on an empirical characterization proposed by...

Fault slip during plate boundary earthquakes releases a portion of the shear stress accumulated due to frictional resistance to relative plate motions. Investigation of 101 large [moment magnitude (Mw) ≥ 7] subduction zone plate boundary mainshocks with consistently determined coseismic slip distributions establishes that 15 to 55% of all master event-relocated aftershocks with Mw ≥ 5.2 are loc...

[1] Large earthquakes can trigger distant earthquakes in geothermal areas. Some triggered earthquakes happen while the surface waves pass through a site, but others occur hours or even days later. Does this prolonged seismicity require a special mechanism to store the stress from the seismic waves that differs from ordinary aftershock mechanisms? These questions have driven studies of long-rang...

[1] We argue that by fracturing rock, not by raising it relative to base level, tectonics plays its most important role in causing rapid incision of valleys and rapid erosion of hillslopes. Tectonic deformation riddles the upper crust with fractures, which not only provide avenues for water flow and thus promote weathering and further disintegration of rock but also fragment bedrock into debris...

We present and discuss the spatial distribution of more than 1000 aftershocks of the largest continental intraplate earthquake to occur during the modern seismological period. The data were recorded on a network of eight portable digital seismographs deployed for 3 weeks starting 17 days after the mainshock. We have calculated high-quality single-event locations, based on a 1D velocity model de...

The extent to which ongoing seismicity in intraplate regions represents long-lived aftershock activity is unclear. We examined historical and instrumental seismicity in the New Madrid central U.S. region to determine whether present-day seismicity is composed predominantly of aftershocks of the 1811-1812 earthquake sequence. High aftershock productivity is required both to match the observation...

[1] Using the example of the 1992 M 7.3 Landers earthquake, we show that in the aftermath of a large earthquake the depth extent of aftershocks shows an immediate deepening from pre-earthquake levels, followed by a time-dependent postseismic shallowing. We use these seismic data to constrain the change in the depth of the seismic-aseismic transition with time throughout the earthquake cycle. Mo...