Deep low-frequency tremor that correlates with passing surface waves

Abstract

The large surface waves from the 2004 Sumatra-Andaman earthquake dynamically perturbed the upper mantle structure in Japan and triggered periodic deep low-frequency seismic tremor in eastern and western Shikoku, western and central Tokai, and the Kii peninsula. We use the relationship between the amplitude of the triggered tremor and the stresses of the seismic waves to investigate the mechanism of deep low-frequency seismic tremor. Volumetric strain changes from the 15-30 s Rayleigh waves play an important role in the strong triggering, likely via Coulomb failure stress changes. Building on previous results that the tremor signals become increasingly strong with increasing dilatation, we observe a clear increase in the triggered tremor with an increase in the dilatation due to the Rayleigh waves at the 30 km depth source regions. We also observe a correlation with the Coulomb failure stress change resolved on an appropriate plane. There is an exponential relationship between the signal amplitude from triggered tremor and'both the dilatation and the Coulomb shear stress at the source region. This combined with the shape of the tremor packets implies that the tremor amplitude is predictable based on the amplitude of the incoming waves. The amplitude variations can be explained by a distribution of sources in the tremor source region. Copyright 2008 by the American Geophysical Union.