Physics Colloquium: Donna Shillington, Lamont-Doherty Observatory

• Date
  Wed, Mar 06

  Time
  4:00 PM — 5:00 PM

  Address
  Marshak
  160 Convent Avenue
  

  Location
  Marshak, MR-418N

  p: 212.650.6832

  Admission
  Free

• Event Details

  Impact of the incoming oceanic plate on the generation of earthquakes in the Alaska subduction zone

  Abstract:
  
  At subduction zones, one tectonic plate is thrust beneath another, and large earthquakes (such as the 2011 earthquake offshore Japan) can be generated at the contact between the two plates (called the seismogenic zone). The downgoing oceanic plate in subduction zones is thought to influence a wide spectrum of seismic and magmatic processes in these tectonic settings, including properties and behavior of the seismogenic zone (where great subduction zone earthquakes are generated), the generation of arc magmas, and deep seismicity. New marine seismic data collected offshore of the Alaska Peninsula image dramatic variations in the characteristics of the downgoing plate in a part of this subduction zone that exhibits large along-stirke changes in earthquake rupture history, present-day locking and deep seismicity. Linkages between variations in the downgoing plate and variations in seismic processes will be explored.