Collaborative Research: Controls on along-strike variations in locked and creeping megathrust behavior at the Hikurangi convergent margin

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The physical processes dictating the spectrum of fault slip modes (spanning destructive earthquakesto slow slip events and aseismic creep) and the links between these behaviors and long-termmorphotectonic evolution of subduction systems are not understood. There is a fundamentalneed to address this important problem with an integrated, system-level approach combininggeodynamical modeling with high-quality geophysical and geological constraints on subductionmargin characteristics.This project will conduct an interdisciplinary, multinational collaborative program involving the USA, New Zealand, Japan and the UK to evaluate system-level controls on processes that govern both slip behavior and long-term deformation at subduction zones. The focus is on the Hikurangi margin in New Zealand, where GPS data show a transition in slip behavior from predominantly stick-slipin the south to aseismic creep in the northern North Island, and where a wide range of subduction-relatedprocesses and characteristics vary along-strike. The aim is to rigorously investigate the feedbacksbetween plate interface slip behavior, solid and fluid mass fluxes, and manifestations of plate boundary mechanics in the long-term geological record that likely reflect common driving processes linking forearc uplift, sediment transfer and underplating, plate boundary strength, and seismogenesis. The Principal Investigators will address this important problem through an integrated approach combining large-scale seismic imaging, paleoseismology, and geomorphology, focused through the lens of state-of-the-art numerical modelling.