Geological constraints on the mechanisms of slow earthquakes

地球的构造板块不断地相互移动和滑动。尽管构造板块在地质时期以恒定的速度运动，但板块边界的运动速度要复杂得多，在那里相对运动是局部的。观测到的跨越板块边界的滑动速率从地震中非常突然的快速运动到大约两侧板块的长期平均值的蠕变。最近的地震学和大地测量观测定义了一系列的现象，称为“慢地震”，类似于常规地震，但它们的滑动速度较慢，因此可以持续数周。由于慢震在某些地方比常规地震发生得更频繁，它们为我们提供了一个令人兴奋的窗口，可以看到深层滑动的控制。如果我们能够了解慢地震的机制，它们可能成为监测和预测可能具有破坏性的大型常规地震的工具。在接下来的五年里，我的研究计划将重点放在慢地震上，以向控制它们的基本物理学提供信息，并调查慢地震滑动与地震滑动和蠕变的关系。我和我的研究小组将讨论几个关键目标：1.确定是什么限制了慢地震的滑移率，以防止它们成为常规地震；2.通过建立潜在的过程来解释慢地震如何在各种构造环境中发生；3.定义慢地震和常规地震中滑动之间的空间和时间关系，以评估它们之间的潜在因果关系；4.确定什么控制了慢地震的大小。实施克服地震学和地球物理空间分辨率限制的地质野外、微观分析和实验研究相结合的计划。这项工作将走在地质学重点研究的新兴领域的前沿，寻求通过产生针对慢震机制特定方面的真正新颖的数据来调查慢震。这些结果可以为建模和观测工作提供基础，这些工作确定了慢震和常规地震如何相互调制，并最终可能导致将慢震作为预测未来地震的工具的基础。这项研究计划将支持四个研究生水平和五个或更多的本科生研究项目。我努力创造一个公平、透明和包容的培训环境。我的培训理念在整个研究经历中纳入了从招聘到毕业的步骤，目的是扩大对地球科学的参与，特别是来自代表性不足群体的参与。通过参加我的研究计划，学员将发展一系列宝贵的技术、数据分析、项目管理、写作和演示技能，为他们在一系列科学和工程行业或学术界的职业生涯做好准备。

Earth's tectonic plates are constantly moving and slipping by one another. Although the tectonic plates move at constant velocities over geological time, the rates of motion at the plate boundaries, where relative motions are localized, are much more complex. Observed slip rates across plate boundaries range from very sudden, rapid motion in earthquakes to creep at approximately the long-term average of the plates on either side. Recent seismological and geodetic observations have defined a suite of phenomena, called `slow earthquakes', which are like regular earthquakes, but their slip rates are slower so they can last for weeks. Because slow earthquakes happen more frequently than regular earthquakes in some places, they present an exciting window into the controls on slip at depth. If we could understand the mechanisms of slow earthquakes, they might be a tool for monitoring and forecasting large, potentially devastating regular earthquakes. In the next five years, my research program will focus on slow earthquakes to inform the basic physics that controls them and to investigate how slow earthquake slip is related to seismic slip and creep. My research group and I will address several key objectives: 1. Determining what limits the slip rate in slow earthquakes to stop them becoming regular earthquakes; 2. Explaining how slow earthquakes can occur in a wide variety of tectonic settings by establishing the underlying process; 3. Defining the spatial and temporal relations between slip in slow and regular earthquakes to assess potential causal relations between them; 4. Determining what controls the sizes of slow earthquakes. We will implement an integrated geological field, micro-analytical, and experimental research program that is designed to overcome the spatial resolution limitations of seismology and geophysics. This work will be at the forefront of the emerging field of geologically focused research seeking to investigate slow earthquakes by yielding genuinely novel data that target specific aspects of the mechanisms of slow earthquakes. The outcomes can provide the foundation for modelling and observational work that defines how slow and regular earthquakes modulate one another and, ultimately, may lead to a basis for using slow earthquakes as a tool for forecasting future earthquakes. This research program will support four graduate ¬level and five or more undergraduate research projects. I work hard to create a training environment that is fair, transparent, and inclusive. My training philosophy incorporates steps throughout the research experience, from recruitment to graduation, that aim to broaden participation in the Geosciences, particularly from under-represented groups. By participating in my research program, trainees will develop a valuable range of technical, data analysis, project management, writing, and presentation skills to prepare them for careers in a range of science and engineering industries or academia.