0016-7622/2014-83-5-493/$ 1.00 GEOL. SOC. INDIA Genesis of a New Slab Tear Fault in the Indo-Australian Plate, Offshore Northern Sumatra, Indian Ocean BASAB MUKHOPADHYAY* and SUJIT DASGUPTA # *Geological Survey of India, 27 J. L. Nehru Road, Kolkata 700016 # Ex. Geological Survey of India, 27 J. L. Nehru Road, Kolkata - 700016 Email: basabmukhopadhyay@yahoo.com Abstract: Following the December 2004 and March 2005 major shallow foci inter-plate earthquakes in the north Sumatra region, a slab-tear fault located within the subducting Indian plate ruptured across the West Sunda Trench (WST) within the marginal intra-plate region. Trend, length and movement pattern of this New Tear Fault (NTF) segment is almost identical to another such slab-tear fault mapped previously by Hamilton (1979), located around 160 km south of NTF. Seismic activity along the NTF remained quasi-stable till the end of the year 2011, when an earthquake of magnitude 7.2 occurred on 10.01.2012 just at the tip of NTF, only around ~ 100 km within the intra-plate domain west of WST. The NTF rupture propagated further towards SSW with the generation of two more large earthquakes on 11.04.2012. The foreshock (10.01.12; M7.2) mainshock (11.04.12; M 8.6) aftershock (11.04.12; M 8.2) sequence along with numerous smaller magnitude aftershocks unmistakably define the extension of NTF, a slab-tear fault that results tectonic segmentation of the convergent plate margin. Within the intra-plate domain most earthquakes display consistent left-lateral strike slip mechanism along NNE trending fault plane. Keywords: Slab-tear fault; New tear fault (NTF), Rupture, Intra-plate Oceanic environment, Northern Sumatra, 2012 Sumatra Earthquake (M 8.6), 2004 Great Sumatra Earthquake (M 9.2). INTRODUCTION Subducting lithospheric slab at convergent margins are often characterised by tear faults resulting into segmentation of the inclined Benioff zone. Variation in the velocity of subduction rollback along the length of the subduction system is considered prime force responsible for formation of slab tear faults (Govers and Wortel, 2005). The differential rollback velocities within different segments of Benioff zone are accommodated by horizontal motion near the top part of the descending slab that yields to develop tear faults. Slab tearing is thus responsible for the development of segmented lithospheric structural units. Examples of such slab breaking faults include among others; Hunter fracture zone in New Hebrides Arc (Schellart et al., 2002) from North Fiji basin; Palu fault at the edges of the Calabrian, Caribbean and Scotia arcs (Govers and Wortel, 2005) on the island of Sulawesi; Tyrrhenian Sea and the Apennine belt in Italy (Rosenbaum et al., 2008; Gasparon et al., 2009). From the 3500 km long Burmese-Andaman- Sumatra subduction slab between north Sumatra and north Burma, Dasgupta et al. (2003) and later Mukhopadhyay et al. (2009) have mapped several extensive hinge or tear faults that abut at high angles to the N-S trending arc. It was also demonstrated that these sub-vertical tear faults are seismically active and display conspicuous left lateral strike slip movement at shallow crustal level of the Benioff zone. Such slab tear faults are, however, not restricted to tearing only the inclined portion of down-going lithosphere, but often traverses across the trench within the proximal intra-plate oceanic domain. The Wecoma fault, a left- lateral strike slip active fault traverses the floor of the Cascadia basin, seaward of the Oregon convergent margin (Appelgate et al., 1992) is an example. Hamilton (1979) from the oceanic domain of the West Sunda Trench (WST) mapped a NNE trending left lateral strike slip fault. This fault (referred as Hamilton fault, HF in Fig.1) is seismically active and display left lateral motion (Dasgupta and Mukhopadhyay, 1993). Subsequent studies demonstrate that slab tear fault (see Figure 4 of Dasgupta et al., 2003) cut across the trench and join HF. Similar tear fault cutting across the trench has also been mapped from Great Nicobar region. In the northern Sumatra, the convergent plate boundary is highly active with occurrence of shallow focus thrust JOUR.GEOL.SOC.INDIA, VOL.83, MAY2014 494 BASAB MUKHOPADHYAY AND SUJIT DASGUPTA earthquakes having tsunamogenic potentiality: 2.11.2002 (M 7.2; h 31 km), 26.12.2004 (M 9.2; h 26 km) and 28.03.2005 (M 8.7; h 30 km). On the contrary, the proximal intra-plate Indo-Australian plate beyond the arc trench zone in northern Sumatra is charaterised by sparse seismicity (Figs. 2 and 3), even till the end of 2011. The scenario changed by the occurrences of three large strike-slip intra- plate earthquake of 11th April 2012 (M 8.6 and 8.2) with a pre-shock on 10.01.2012 (M 7.2). These earthquakes (M 8.6 and M 8.2) are the largest intra-plate strike-slip earthquakes (McGuire and Beroza, 2012) recorded till date. The 11th April 2012 earthquake with its pre-shock and aftershocks occur along a NNE-SSW trending linear seismic zone (Fig.1) that makes acute angle to Ninety East Ridge (NER) and disposed perpendicular to West Sunda Trench (WST), similar to the HF. In this note, we study the seismotectonics of the region through three temporal domains: 1964 to 24.12.2004, i.e., pre-2004 mega earthquake of 26 December; 26.12.2004 to 31.12.2011; and 01.01.2012 to 24.11.2012, i.e., the period in which the marginal intra-plate domain behaved super- active; and argue to bring to focus that a new NNE trending and ~ 400 km long fault has freshly ruptured the marginal intra-plate region; propagated from NNE (from the top part of the subducting lithosphere) to SSW and is essentially a continuation of slab-tear fault that segments the descending slab. EARTHQUAKE DATA In order to summarise present day seismotectonics of offshore northern Sumatra in light of the newly active NNE- SSW trending linear seismic zone, earthquake catalogue (source: ISC and NEIC- USGS) from 1964 to 2012 with a cutoff magnitude of 5.0 and CMT double couple fault plane solution data (source: http://www.seismology.harvard.edu) from 1977 to 2012 for the present study area (Longitude 87E 98E and Latitude 4S +7N) are compiled. A total of 890 earthquake events covering a rather wide range of magnitude (5.0 to 9.2) with focal depths extending to as deep as 250+ km are plotted (Figure 1) with suitable symbols (combination of magnitude and focal depths) over a tectonic map draped on bathymetric image after Smith and Sandwell (1997). SPATIO-TEMPORAL SEISMICITY PATTERN AND SEISMOTECTONICS Spatial Analysis of Earthquakes Spatially, majority of the earthquakes in this zone are product of strain built up and release along coupled convergent plate boundary to the east of WST, where earthquakes are originating from both subducting Indo- Australian plate and overriding Sunda plate (Fig.1). In this tectonic domain, the Benioff zone, West Sunda Trench (WST), West Andaman fault (WAF) and Sumatra fault System (SFS) are important seismogenic tectonic planes. Three important shallow focus Benioff zone earth- quakes (Figure 1) with tsunamogenic potentiality occurred along the Benioff zone are 2.11.2002 (M 7.2; h 31 km), 26.12.2004 (M 9.2; h 26 km) and 28.03.2005 (M 8.7; h 30 km).
Fig.1. Seismicity map offshore Northern Sumatra region with earthquake epicentre (data period: 1964-2012) plotted over bathymetric image (data after Smith and Sandwell, 1997). Major tectonic features depicted include the West Sunda Trench (WST); West Andaman Fault (WAF); Sumatra Fault System (SFS); five numbers slab-tear faults [see text for ref] transverse to WST and the left lateral Hamilton Fault (HF) [named after Hamilton, 1979]. Note the NNE- SSW trending seismic zone well within the Indo- Australian plate making low angle to Ninety East Ridge (NER) and almost perpendicular to WST; this higher marginal intraplate seismicity manifested only during early 2012 (compare Figures 2 and 3) after the large events that struck on 10.01.2012 (M 7.2, h 19 km) and two earthquakes of 11th April 2012 (M 8.6; h 23 km) followed by M 8.2 (h 16 km). Also note the three nearby convergent plate margin major thrust earthquakes of 02.11.2002 (M 7.2; h 31 km), 26.12.2004 (M 9.2; h 26 km) and 28.03.2005 (M 8.7; h 30 km). MR: Margui Ridge; WB Wharton Basin. JOUR.GEOL.SOC.INDIA, VOL.83, MAY2014 GENESIS OF A NEW SLAB TEAR FAULT IN THE INDO-AUSTRALIAN PLATE, INDIAN OCEAN 495 Another set of shallow foci earthquakes locate within the marginal intraplate setting beyond the trench axis towards west of WST; within this segment three well- defined linear seismic zones (Fig.1) are noticed: (i) earthquakes along NER, (ii) a NNE-SSW trending zone in and around HF defining its activity and (iii) another well- defined NNE-SSW zone placed in between (i) and (ii). This last zone has produced three large intraplate strike-slip earthquakes during early 2012 (Fig.1): 10.1.2012 (M 7.2), 11th April 2012 (8 hr: 38 mn: 37.3 sec; M 8.6; h 23 km) Sumatra earthquake and the largest aftershock of M 8.2 (11.4.2012; 10 hr: 43mn: 9.4sec; h 16 km). These earthquakes have been tagged as intraplate (within Indo- Australian plate) seismicity and argued in favour of complex rupture pattern (Meng et al., 2012; Duputel et al., 2012; Satriano et al., 2012; Delescluse et al., 2012, Yue et al., 2012 and Pollitz et al., 2012). Temporal Analysis of Earthquakes Prior to the great Sumatra earthquake of 2004 the region under study displayed normal background seismicity (see Fig.2a) both along the inclined subducting plate and the horizontal plate segment to the west of WST. Post 2004, shallow part of the Benioff zone became super-active (see Fig.3a) along with moderate increase of seismicity to the immediate west of WST; and finally in post 2011 the focus of seismicity shifted to the marginal horizontal segment of the lithosphere (see Fig.4a). Seismotectonic analyses for these three periods are as follows: 1964 - 24.12.2004 This temporal domain indicates the prevailing tectonic scenario and also delineates the seismically active fault planes prior to the occurrence of 26.12.2004 Great Sumatra Earthquake (M 9.2). Within this period, there are 298 earthquakes (magnitude range from 5.0 to 7.2), mostly deeper in-slab events and occurrence of a large thrust earthquake on 2.11.2002 (M 7.2; h 31 km) along the plate interface (Fig.2a). The other significant observation is activity along the NNE trending HF, seaward of WST (Hamilton, 1979; Dasgupta and Mukhopadhyay, 1993) and its continuation within the inclined lithosphere as slab-tear fault (see Dasgupta et al., 2003). CMT solutions (Fig.2b) indicate left-lateral shear along this fault that clearly traverses from the inclined slab to the horizontal segment of the Indo-Australian plate across the WST. 26.12.2004 31.12.2011 The temporal domain is characterised by the occurrence of two shallow foci thrust earthquakes; 26.12.2004 Great Sumatra Earthquake (M 9.2) and 28.03.2005 (M 8.7) Nias Island earthquake in the plate coupled margin (Fig.3a). This period is marked by 491 earthquakes with magnitude ranging from 5.0 to 9.2, mostly generated from shallower
Fig.2. (a) Seismicity map with earthquake data for the period 1964 - 24.12.2004. Note the fault (Hamilton fault: HF; Hamilton 1979) marked in black line that traverses in continuation of slab tear fault (white straight line) in the subduction zone. (b) Plot of strike slip (CMT) earthquake epicenter for the period 1977 24.12.2004 with beachball diagrams showing left-lateral strike-slip solutions along HF and its continuation within the inter-plate domain. Reference and other abbreviations are as per Fig.1. JOUR.GEOL.SOC.INDIA, VOL.83, MAY2014 496 BASAB MUKHOPADHYAY AND SUJIT DASGUPTA segment of the subduction front. Other important feature is the development of a new tear fault (NTF) segment (~ 130 km) across WST in continuation of a slab-tear fault (Mukhopadhyay et al, 2009). NTF (Figure 3a) is delineated from seismicity pattern and its kinematics inferred from CMT solutions. The entire fault segment across WST shows consistent left lateral strike slip motion (Figure 3b). It is worth noticing that this new fault segment is placed ~160 km due northwest and parallel to Hamilton fault (HF). It is, therefore, prognosticated that the slab tear fault created after the differential stress distribution caused by the 2004 and 2005 Sumatra and Nias earthquakes has been activated and extended to create the fresh rupture, NTF. 1.1.2012 24.11.2012 This temporal domain marks the preshock-mainshock- aftershock sequences; pre-shock (10.1.2012; M 7.2), main shock on 11th April 2012 (8 hr: 38 mn: 37.3 sec; M 8.6; h 23 km) followed by several aftershocks including the largest aftershock of M 8.2 (11.4.2012; 10 hr: 43mn: 9.4sec; h 16 km). Within this period, there are 101 earthquakes with magnitude range from 5.0 to 8.6 originated from crustal depths. Disposition of earthquakes has reportedly formed a complicated pattern with a dominant spread along NNE- SSW (Figure 4a); CMT solutions indicate consistent left-
Fig.3. (a) Seismicity map with earthquake data for the period 26.12.2004 31.12.2011. Note the fresh rupture (NTF, New Tear fault) marked in black line located 160 km towards north along the trench axis and parallel to HF. This fault (NTF) formed in continuation of the slab tear fault (white line). (b) Plot of strike slip (CMT) earthquake epicenter for the period 26.12.2004 31.12.2011 with beachball diagram showing left- lateral strike-slip solutions along NTF and its continuation within the inter- plate domain. Reference and other abbreviations are as per Fig.1. lateral strike slip faulting along the NNE nodal plane for all three large earthquakes and also moderate aftershocks (Figure 4b). We argue that the slab tear fault in the convergent plate interface has continued in the intraplate zone and generated a fresh 300 km rupture as NTF. It is also interesting to note that the 10.1.2012 (M 7.2) and the main shock (M 8.6) occur at the southwestern tip of the post 2005 NTF (see previous analysis in section 3.2.2 and Figure 3a, b). This also indicates stress accumulation and release at the tip of the propagating rupture / fault for subsequent failure deep inside the Indo-Australian plate. Global CMT indicates overall shallow plunging compressional axis along NW- SE and tensional axis is also shallow plunging along NNE SSW direction. It is remarkable to state that CMT of the 2004 M 9.2 Sumatra earthquake in the Benioff zone shows NE-SW compression parallel to the extensional direction of the strike slip earthquakes described above. Extensional earthquakes in the aftermath of reverse faulting events are not unprecedented (see McGuire and Beroza (2012) for more explanation). DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION We infer that the earthquake of 11th April 2012 (M 8.6) JOUR.GEOL.SOC.INDIA, VOL.83, MAY2014 GENESIS OF A NEW SLAB TEAR FAULT IN THE INDO-AUSTRALIAN PLATE, INDIAN OCEAN 497 has occurred in the Indo-Australian plate due to tearing of it along a NNE-SSW trending freshly ruptured zone (NTF), an extension of slab tear fault from subduction interface in response to the differential shear stress generated in the lithospheric plate by the far-field plate motion. Detailed inferences vis a vis the evidence drawn through the current study in the line described above are enumerated below: From seismic, gravity data, earthquake focal mechan- ism (Subrahmanyam et al., 2008) and deep penetration seismic reflection surveys (Maurin and Rangin, 2009) it is understood that the northern tip of NER collides with the Indo-Burmese arc between latitude 18 o N and 19 o N. The differential stress generated due to very slow subduction of extremely rigid ridge (NER) with denser material along 18 o -19 o N latitude and a relatively faster subduction of Indo-Australian plate along 0 o N latitude, produces a strike slip motion inside the Indo- Australian plate. The GPS data (Simons et al., 2007) corroborate this view; 47 55 mm/yr slow movement along NER and relatively faster movement of ~ 63mm/ yr further east (Wharton basin) below Sumatra along 100 o E longitude (Fig.5). This differential motion in adjacent parts of the Indo-Australian plate has resulted into extreme torsion deep inside the plate, which is
Fig.4. (a) Seismicity map with earthquake data for the period 1.1.2012 24.11.2012. Note the fresh rupture (NTF) extended towards SW and forms a seismic zone trending NNE-SSW that generated shallow foci M 7.2 earthquake on 10.1.2012 at the tip of the rupture followed by 11th April 2012 Sumatra (M 8.6) earthquake and its largest aftershock of M 8.2 on the same day. The slab tear fault extends as NTF beyond the trench zone. Reference and other abbreviations are as per Fig.1. (b) CMT solution of earthquakes along NTF show left- lateral strike slip motion along NNE-SSW fault plane. reflected predominantly by left lateral strike slip motion on near vertical rupture planes (HF and NTF) and also by tear faults imaged by us in previous studies (Dasgupta et al, 2003; Mukhopadhyay et al., 2009). The convergence between Indo-Australian and SE Asian plate / Sunda plate is accommodated by the Burma-Andaman-Sumatra-Java subduction system (Curray et al., 1979; Sieh et al., 1991; Sieh and Natawidjaja, 2000; Vigny et al., 2003; Simoes et al., 2004; Socquet et al., 2006; Simons et al., 2007; Stork et al., 2008). The oblique subduction along this belt generates 20 50 m of trench-parallel displacement that could have been accumulated since the last megathrust earthquake of 2004, only part of which has been taken up by the Sumatra Fault System (Ishii et al., 2013). This also suggests that the remaining trench- parallel motion was released during the magnitude 8.6 earthquake on 11 April 2012 within the subducting plate (see Ishii et al., 2013 for details). In our opinion, the residual trench parallel motion coupled with the normal stress distribution caused by the 2004 megathrust event has generated the rupture, NTF, in continuation of the tear fault. The tear fault (as imaged by Mukhopadhyay et al., 2009) in continuation of rupture zone (NTF) within subduction domain has JOUR.GEOL.SOC.INDIA, VOL.83, MAY2014 498 BASAB MUKHOPADHYAY AND SUJIT DASGUPTA been marked elsewhere as a sharp tectonic boundary (Engdahl et al., 2007) or by a NNESSW ridge (Franke et al., 2008). Observing the seismicity pattern in this zone which increases after 2004, it is a possibility that the tear fault system have been reactivated by normal stress variation during 26 December 2004 Sumatra Earthquake and producing a fresh rupture zone (NTF) to accomplish the recent seismicity. In general, tear faults in the subducting lithosphere were generated due to the differential plate motion in different part of the arc segment as stated above and subduction rollback that occur time to time in the evolutionary history of the Sumatra arc system. A schematic three-dimensional cartoon (Fig.6) is drawn to illustrate the structure of under-thrusted Indo-Australian plate vis--vis the position of tear faults and its continuation as fresh rupture zones (HF and NTF). Engdahl et al. (2007) have also indicated clear evidence of increase of strike slip faulting in the outer- rise and near-trench zone following the 2004 and 2005 earthquake. Further, the Coulomb stress change calculations (Delescluse et al., 2012) on 11th April 2012 Sumatra (M 8.6) earthquake shows that the co- seismic slips of the Sumatra and Nias island earthquakes have promoted oceanic left-lateral strike- slip earthquakes on pre-existing meridian-aligned fault planes. The faults (HF, NTF and tear faults) marked by this study bear the signature. It is to be mentioned here that HF, NTF and corresponding tear fault imaged by us are also being subducted below the Sumatra today and getting activated periodically to produce profuse seismicity to form the NNE-SSW trending linear seismic zones. It is prudent at this juncture to summarise that like the scenario described above, similar seismotectonic scenario and existence of fresh rupture defined by small magnitude Fig.5. Average GPS derived motions (mm/yr) in the Burma- Andaman-Sumatra sector with Regional Tectonic Framework (after Mitchell, 1985; Dasgupta and Nandy, 1995). Arrows with filled heads represent relative motion between Indo-Australia and Sunda plates. Single headed arrow represents strike-slip motion along Sagaing and Sumatra dextral fault system. References: &Simons et al. (2007), *Sieh et al. (1991), ^Socquet et al. (2006), # Curray et al. (1979), @ Vigny et al. (2003). Note the presence of tear faults from subduction regime cutting across the Indo-Australian plate in three occasions (refer text for more inferences). An: Andaman Island, Ni: Nicobar Island, Ch: Cheduba Island, o: Mogok Belt, +: Paleogene tin-granite belt, - : sedimentary province, HF Hamilton Fault, ET: Eastern Trough, WT: Western Trough, WST: West Sunda trench, IBR: Indo Burma Ranges, KF: Khlong Marui Fault, KI: Kra Isthmus, SF: Sagaing Fault.
Fig.6. A simplified and schematic three-dimensional cartoon to illustrate the structure of under-thrusted Indo-Australian plate vis--vis position of fresh ruptures (HF and NTF) in intraplate zone and its continuation as slab tear faults in the subduction regime. JOUR.GEOL.SOC.INDIA, VOL.83, MAY2014 GENESIS OF A NEW SLAB TEAR FAULT IN THE INDO-AUSTRALIAN PLATE, INDIAN OCEAN 499 earthquakes with left lateral strike slip movement in continuation of slab tear faults are present in other two places along the Andaman Sumatra subduction interface. These are: (i) along 6 o N latitude below Nicobar Island and (ii) along 18 o N latitude below Cheduba Island (see Figure 5 for location). Association of large earthquake within these rupture zones is hitherto unknown, but occurrence of large one in future with pure strike-slip movement and size comparable to Sumatra Earthquake (M 8.6) cannot be altogether ruled out. 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