Aseismic slip and seismic swarms leading up to the 2024 M7.3 Hualien earthquake.

ABSTRACT: Understanding the role of aseismic slip in earthquake cycles is essential for assessing seismic hazards and short-term forecasting. Eastern Taiwan's double-vergence suture zone, where the Philippine Sea Plate subducts beneath the Eurasian Plate, experiences frequent M ≥ 6 earthquakes and widespread aseismic slip, making it an ideal natural setting to study earthquake triggering processes. Here we demonstrate how aseismic deformation contributed to the April 3, 2024 Mw7.3 Hualien earthquake by analyzing a 24-year catalog of repeating earthquake sequences (RESs) and earthquake swarms. We find that six out of nine swarms in the epicentral area, northern Longitudinal Valley, were accompanied by increasing aseismic slip rates, as revealed by RESs on the west-dipping Central Range Fault (CRF). A

SUBMITTER: Peng W 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12518827 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature