Slip Deficit Rates on Southern Cascadia Faults Resolved with Viscoelastic Earthquake Cycle Modeling of Geodetic Deformation

Abstract

The fore-arc of the southern Cascadia subduction zone (CSZ), north of the Mendocino triple junction (MTJ), is home to a network of Quaternary-active crustal faults that accumulate strain due to the interaction of the North American, Juan de Fuca (Gorda), and Pacific plates. These faults, including the Little Salmon and Mad River fault (LSF and MRF) zones, are located near the most populated parts of California’s north coast and show paleoseismic evidence for three slip events of several-meter scale in the past 1700 yr. However, the geodetic slip rates of these faults are poorly constrained. In this work, we analyze a new compilation of interseismic geodetic velocities from Global Navigation Satellite Systems, leveling, and tide gauge data near the MTJ to constrain present-day slip deficit rates on upper-plate faults and coupling on the megathrust. We construct Green’s functions for interseismic slip deficit for discrete faults embedded in an elastic plate overlying a viscoelastic mantle. We then use a constrained least-squares inversion to determine best-fitting slip rates on the major faults and investigate slip rate trade-offs between faults. Results indicate that the LSF and MRF systems together accumulate 4–5 mm/yr of reverse-slip deficit, although their separate slip rates cannot be determined independently. Modeling of the horizontal and vertical velocities suggests that the southernmost CSZ is coupled interseismically to deeper than 25 km depth. We also find that 6–17 mm/yr of right-lateral slip deficit extends north of the MTJ and into the southern Cascadia fore-arc. These results reinforce the notion that both the southernmost Cascadia megathrust and the smaller fore-arc faults above it contribute to regional seismic hazard.