The effect of pre-existing fabrics on plate bending and seismicity in Alaska subduction zone

Abstract

Remnant fabrics inherited from mid-ridge play a key role in variations of plate deformation, hydration and seismicity along subduction zones. However, the quantitative relationships between the orientation of these remnant faults, plate bending and seismic activity at subduction zones still remain unclear. Here, we investigated the flexure of the Alaska subducting plate and assessed the relations between plate flexural curvatures, trench–fabric angle and seismicity. The results show that the flexural curvature and seismicity have nearly linear relationships with the trench–fabric angle. We find that remnant faults are more likely to be reactivated by plate bending at low trench–fabric angle region, causing greater plate deformation, hydration, weakening and seismicity. Plate weakening in turn promotes flexural bending curvature, resulting in higher degree of fracture and more earthquakes. However, at the high trench–fabric angle region, it is inclined to form new trench-parallel bending faults that have smaller bending curvature and less seismicity.