@article {warren-smith_episodic_2019, title = {Episodic stress and fluid pressure cycling in subducting oceanic crust during slow slip}, journal = {Nature Geoscience}, volume = {12}, number = {6}, year = {2019}, note = {Number: 6 Publisher: Nature Publishing Group}, month = {jun}, pages = {475{\textendash}481}, abstract = {Slow slip events are part of a spectrum of aseismic processes that relieve tectonic stress on faults. Their spatial distribution in subduction zones has been linked to perturbations in fluid pressure within the megathrust shear zone and subducting oceanic crust. However, physical observations of temporal fluid pressure fluctuations through slow slip cycles remain elusive. Here, we use earthquake focal mechanisms recorded on an ocean-bottom seismic network to show that crustal stresses and fluid pressures within subducting oceanic crust evolve before and during slow slip events. Specifically, we observe that the retrieved stress ratio, which describes the relative magnitudes of the principal compressive stresses, systematically decreases before slow slip events in New Zealand{\textquoteright}s northern Hikurangi subduction zone, and subsequently increases during the evolution of each slow slip event. We propose that these changes represent the accumulation and release of fluid pressure within overpressured subducting oceanic crust, the episodicity of which may influence the timing of slow slip event occurrence on subduction megathrusts. This work contributes an improved understanding of the physical driving forces underlying slow subduction earthquakes, and a potential means by which to monitor stress and fluid pressure accumulation in such regions.}, keywords = {seismology, Tectonics}, issn = {1752-0908}, doi = {10.1038/s41561-019-0367-x}, url = {https://www.nature.com/articles/s41561-019-0367-x}, author = {Warren-Smith, E. and Fry, B. and Wallace, L. and Chon, E. and Henrys, S. and Sheehan, A. and Mochizuki, K. and Schwartz, S. and Webb, S. and Lebedev, S.} } @article {Wallace2016, title = {Slow slip near the trench at the Hikurangi subduction zone, New Zealand}, journal = {Science}, volume = {352}, number = {6286}, year = {2016}, month = {may}, pages = {701{\textendash}704}, issn = {0036-8075}, doi = {10.1126/science.aaf2349}, url = {https://www.sciencemag.org/lookup/doi/10.1126/science.aaf2349}, author = {Wallace, L. M. and Webb, S. C. and Ito, Y. and Mochizuki, K. and Hino, R. and Henrys, S. and Schwartz, S. Y. and Sheehan, A. F.} }