Maguire et al., “Focal Mechanism Determination of Event S1222a and Implications for Tectonics Near the Dichotomy Boundary in Southern Elysium Planitia, Mars.”

Published on JGR Planets

August 2023

Cite: Maguire, R., Lekić, V., Kim, D., Schmerr, N., Li, J., Beghein, C., et al. (2023). Focal Mechanism Determination of Event S1222a and Implications for Tectonics Near the Dichotomy Boundary in Southern Elysium Planitia, Mars. Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets, 128, e2023JE007793. https://doi.org/10.1029/2023JE007793

Abstract

On May 4th, 2022 the InSight seismometer SEIS-VBB recorded the largest marsquake ever observed, S1222a, with an initial magnitude estimate of urn:x-wiley:21699097:media:jgre22285:jgre22285-math-0001 4.6. Understanding the depth and source properties of this event has important implications for the nature of tectonic activity on Mars. Located ∼37 degrees to the southeast of InSight, S1222a is one of the few non-impact marsquakes that exhibits prominent surface waves. We use waveform modeling of body waves (P and S) and surface waves (Rayleigh and Love) to constrain the focal mechanism, assuming a double-couple source, and find that S1222a likely resulted from reverse faulting in the crust (source depth near 22 km). We estimate the scalar moment is 2.5×1015 – 3.5×1015 Nm (magnitude MW 4.2 – 4.3). Our results suggest active compressional tectonics near the dichotomy boundary on Mars, likely due to thermal contraction from planetary cooling.

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