@article {schlaphorst_local_2023,
	title = {Local seismicity around the Chain Transform Fault at the Mid-Atlantic Ridge from OBS observations},
	journal = {Geophysical Journal International},
	volume = {234},
	number = {2},
	year = {2023},
	note = {Publisher: Oxford University Press (OUP)},
	month = {08/2023},
	pages = {1111{\textendash}1124},
	abstract = {Seismicity along transform faults provides important constraints for our understanding of the factors that control earthquake ruptures. Oceanic transform faults are particularly informative due to their relatively simple structure in comparison to their continental counterparts. The seismicity of several fast-moving transform faults has been investigated by local networks, but as of today there been few studies of transform faults in slow spreading ridges. Here, we present the first local seismicity catalogue based on event data recorded by a temporary broad-band network of 39 ocean{\textendash}bottom seismometers located around the slow-moving Chain Transform Fault (CTF) along the Mid-Atlantic Ridge (MAR) from 2016 to 2017 March. We locate 972 events in the area by simultaneously inverting for a 1-D velocity model informed by the event P- and S-arrival times. We refine the depths and focal mechanisms of the larger events using deviatoric moment tensor inversion. Most of the earthquakes are located along the CTF (700) and Romanche transform fault (94) and the MAR (155); a smaller number (23) can be observed on the continuing fracture zones or in intraplate locations. The ridge events are characterized by normal faulting and most of the transform events are characterized by strike-slip faulting, but with several reverse mechanisms that are likely related to transpressional stresses in the region. CTF events range in magnitude from 1.1 to 5.6 with a magnitude of completeness around 2.3. Along the CTF we calculate a b-value of 0.81 {\textpm} 0.09. The event depths are mostly shallower than 15 km below sea level (523), but a small number of high-quality earthquakes (16) are located deeper, with some (8) located deeper than the brittle-ductile transition as predicted by the 600 {\textdegree}C-isotherm from a simple thermal model. The deeper events could be explained by the control of sea water infiltration on the brittle failure limit.},
	keywords = {3706 Geophysics},
	issn = {0956-540X},
	doi = {10.1093/gji/ggad124},
	author = {Schlaphorst, David and Rychert, Catherine A. and Harmon, Nicholas and Hicks, Stephen P. and Bogiatzis, Petros and Kendall, J-Michael and Abercrombie, Rachel E.}
}
@article {fang_smatstack_2023,
	title = {SMatStack to Enhance Noisy Teleseismic Seismic Phases: Validation and Application to Resolving Depths of Oceanic Transform Earthquakes},
	journal = {Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems},
	volume = {24},
	number = {11},
	year = {2023},
	note = {_eprint: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1029/2023GC011109},
	month = {10/2023},
	pages = {e2023GC011109},
	abstract = {The depths of most moderate-sized oceanic earthquakes are poorly constrained because of the lack of local recording stations and noisy teleseismic recordings. This hampers our understanding of slip behaviors along oceanic faults and the mechanical properties of the oceanic lithosphere. In this study, we develop a new method to enhance the weak body-wave signals, particularly the depth phases, associated with earthquakes on oceanic transform faults using large-aperture arrays in the teleseismic range. We simulate the enhanced teleseismic signals to refine the centroid depths of moderate-sized earthquakes. We validate the new approach using synthetic waveforms and show it outperforms conventional methods when dealing with noisy signals. We obtain the depth estimates for three moderate-sized earthquakes on the Chain transform fault in the equatorial Atlantic Ocean and find two of them are consistent with a local catalog derived using oceanic bottom seismometers. Application of the new method to the past decades of teleseismic recordings of moderate-sized earthquakes on the large and slow-slipping transform faults will provide significantly improved constraints on the width of the seismogenic zone, thus advancing our understanding of the rheology of oceanic lithosphere and earthquake processes in oceanic settings and, by comparison, their more dangerous continental counterparts. The new method is not limited to oceanic transform earthquakes, but can be easily adapted to other seismological studies in which noisy but coherent signals could be revisited for better usage.},
	keywords = {array analysis, earthquake depths, oceanic transform faults, seismogenic zone},
	issn = {1525-2027},
	doi = {10.1029/2023GC011109},
	url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2023GC011109},
	author = {Fang, Hongjian and Abercrombie, Rachel E.}
}
@article {nakai_near_2021,
	title = {Near Trench 3D Seismic Attenuation Offshore Northern Hikurangi Subduction Margin, North Island, New Zealand},
	journal = {Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth},
	volume = {126},
	number = {3},
	year = {2021},
	note = {_eprint: https://agupubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1029/2020JB020810},
	month = {02/2021},
	pages = {e2020JB020810},
	abstract = {We image seismic attenuation near the Hikurangi trench offshore New Zealand, using ocean bottom and land-based seismometers, revealing high attenuation above a recurring shallow slow-slip event and within the subducting Hikurangi Plateau. The Hikurangi subduction margin east of the North Island, New Zealand is the site of frequent shallow slow slip events. Overpressured fluids are hypothesized to lead to slow slip at shallow depths close to the oceanic trench. Seismic attenuation, energy loss of seismic waves, can be used to detect high temperatures, melt, the presence of fluids, and fractures. We use local earthquake P- and S-waves from 180 earthquakes to invert for t*, and subsequently invert for Qp and Qs, offshore the North Island directly above the area of slow slip. We image Qp and Qs to \~{}25 km depth, increasing resolution of previously identified coastal low Q (100{\textendash}300), and finding a new region of even higher attenuation (Qp and Qs < 50{\textendash}100) directly above the shallow slow slip event of 2014{\textendash}2015, beneath the offshore seismic array. This highest attenuation is downdip of a subducting seamount, and is spatially correlated with a high seismic reflectivity zone and Vp/Vs > 1.85, all of which provide evidence for the presence of fluids. The Qp and Qs is low at the trench (<50{\textendash}100) and in the subducting plate (100{\textendash}200), suggesting that seismic wave scattering due to faults, fractures, and the inherent heterogeneous composition of the Hikurangi Plateau, a large igneous province, plays a role in seismic attenuation.},
	keywords = {fluids, seismic attenuation, subduction zone},
	issn = {2169-9356},
	doi = {10.1029/2020JB020810},
	url = {https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1029/2020JB020810},
	author = {Nakai, Jenny S. and Sheehan, Anne F. and Abercrombie, Rachel E. and Eberhart-Phillips, Donna}
}
