Investigating Potential Relationships Between Rates of Seismicity, Strain Accumulation, and Slow Slip in the Oaxaca Region of Mexico.
Investigating Potential Relationships Between Rates of Seismicity, Strain Accumulation, and Slow Slip in the Oaxaca Region of Mexico.
Recent research has suggested that seismicity may be more likely during slow slip episodes (SSEs). The Mexico subduction zone is an ideal location for studying the interaction between slow slip events and earthquakes due to the region's frequent seismic activity. In fact, there have been notably ten magnitude 7 or larger earthquakes from 2012 to 2022. GNSS time series data from seismic stations near Oaxaca, Mexico has revealed a variety of SSEs and that the rate of strain accumulation associated with subduction has varied in between SSEs. Analyzing GNSS data from an inland and a coastal station from the years 2004-2021, we compared the geodetic rates of motion with estimates of the seismicity rate in neighboring regions over the same time frames. Our preliminary results indicate that there are no strong relationships between either the rate of slow slip or the rate of strain accumulation with the concurrent seismicity rate. However, we do observe a weak correlation between the seismicity rate and the geodetic velocities during both SSEs and strain accumulation at the coastal station. Additionally, both stations showed a strong negative relationship between the duration of an SSE and the concurrent geodetic velocity, suggesting there are SSEs with slower slip rates that last longer.