ETS Research

The following list contains references to our Episodic Tremor and Slip research projects ordered from current to older and includes published papers, some presentations, posters and related material.  Authors are either current or past students or staff of the Department of Earth and Space Sciences at the University of Washington

2021

Wech, A. G. (2021). Cataloging tectonic tremor energy radiation in the Cascadia subduction zone. Journal of Geophysical Research: Solid Earth, 126, e2021JB022523. https://doi.org/10.1029/2021JB022523

2018

Hall, K., Houston, H., & Schmidt, D. (2018). Spatial comparisons of tremor and slow slip as a constraint on fault strength in the northern Cascadia subduction zone. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 19, 2706- 2718. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GC007694

2017

Sweet, J. R., Creager, K. C., Houston, H., & Chestler, S. R., 2019, Variations in Cascadia Low-Frequency Earthquake Behavior With Downdip Distance. Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 20. https://doi.org/10.1029/2018GC007998

Chestler, S. R., and K. C. Creager, Evidence for a scale-limited low-frequency earthquake source process, 2017, J. Geophys. Res. Solid Earth, 122, doi:10.1002/2016JB013717, 1-16.

Chestler, S. R., and K. C. Creager, A model for low-frequency earthquake slip, 2017, Geochem., Geophys., Geosystems, 18 doi:10.1002/2017GC007253, 1-19.

2016

Gomberg, J.,  A. G. Wech, K. C. Creager, K. Obara, D. Agnew, Reconsidering earthquake scaling, 2016, Geophys. Res. Lett, DOI: 10.1002/2016GL069967

2015

Houston, Heidi, Low friction and fault weakening revealed by rising sensitivity of tremor to tidal stress, Nature Geoscience 04/2015; 8(5). DOI: 10.1038/ngeo2419, 2015

Suguru Yabe, Yoshiyuki(Yoshi)Tanaka,Heidi Houston,Satoshi Ide, Tidal sensitivity of tectonic tremors in Nankai and Cascadia subduction zones, Journal of Geophysical Research; 120(11). DOI: 10.1002/2015JB012250, 2015

2014

Schmalzle, G., R. McCaffrey, K. C. Creager, Central Cascadia Subduction Zone Creep, 2014, Geochem., Geophys., Geosyst., 15, doi:10.1002/2013GC005172, 1515-1532.

Sweet, J. R., K. C. Creager and H. Houston, A family of repeating low-frequency earthquakes at the downdip edge of tremor and slip, 2014, Geochem., Geophys., Geosyst., 15, doi 10.1002/2014GC005449, 3713-3721.

Jiangang Han1, John E. Vidale, Heidi Houston, Kevin Chao,3 and Kazushige Obara, Triggering of tremor and inferred slow slip by small earthquakes at the Nankai subduction zone in southwest Japan,, Geophy. Res. Lett. V41,22, p8053-8060, DOI: 10.1002/2014GL061898, 2014 (REF)

2013

Trevor W. Thomas, John E. Vidale, Heidi Houston, Kenneth C. Creager, Justin R. Sweet, Abhijit Ghosh, Evidence for tidal triggering of high-amplitude rapid tremor reversals and tremor streaks in northern Cascadia, Geophy. Res. Lets. V40,16 p4254-4259, DOI: 10.1002/grl.50832, 2013  (REF)

2012

Ghosh, A., J. E. Vidale, and K. C. Creager (2012), Tremor asperities in the transition zone control evolution of slow earthquakes, J. Geophys. Res., 117, B10301, doi:10.1029/2012JB009249 [PDF]

John E. Vidale and Heidi Houston (2012) Slow Slip: A new kind of earthquake, Physics Today, January, 2012 [PDF].

2011

Wech, A. G. and K. C. Creager, 2011, A continuum of stress, strength and slip in the Cascadia transition zone, Nature GeoSci..,4, 1-5, doi:10.1038/ngeo121. 2011.

Web page of ESS PhD graduate Abhijit Ghosh showing beam-backprojection movies

Zhang, J., P. Gerstoft, P. M. Shearer, H. Yao, J. E. Vidale, H. Houston, and A. Ghosh (2011), Cascadia tremor spectra: Low corner frequencies and earthquake-like high-frequency falloff, Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst., 12, Q10007, doi:10.1029/2011GC003759 [PDF]

Heidi Houston, Brent G. Delbridge, Aaron G. Wech, Kenneth C. Creager (2011), Rapid tremor reversals in Cascadia generated by a weakened plate interface, Nature Geoscience 4, 404–409doi:10.1038/ngeo1157 [PDF]

Vidale, J. E., A. J. Hotovec, A. Ghosh, K. C. Creager, and J. Gomberg (2011), Tiny intraplate earthquakes triggered by nearby episodic tremor and slip in Cascadia, Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst., 12, Q06005, doi:10.1029/2011GC003559 [PDF]

Gershenzon, N. I., G. Bambakidis, E. Hauser, A. Ghosh, and K. C. Creager (2011), Episodic tremors and slip in Cascadia in the framework of the Frenkel-Kontorova model, Geophys. Res. Lett., 38, L01309, doi:10.1029/2010GL045225 [PDF].

Wech, A.G., and K.C. Creager (2011), A continuum of stress, strength and slip in the Cascadia subduction zone, Nature Geoscience, doi:10.1038/ngeo1157. [PDF]

2010

Ghosh, A., J. E. Vidale, J. R. Sweet, K. C. Creager, A. G. Wech, H. Houston, and Emily. E. Brodsky (2010), Rapid, continuous streaking of tremor in Cascadia, Geochem. Geophys. Geosyst., 11, Q12010, doi:10.1029/2010GC003305 [PDF] [Media report] [Highlight].

Wech, A.G. (2010), Interactive Tremor Monitoring, Seis. Res. Lett., 81:4, p. 664-669

Ghosh, A., J. E. Vidale, J. R. Sweet, K. C. Creager, A. G. Wech, and H. Houston (2010), Tremor bands sweep Cascadia, Geophys. Res. Lett., 37, L08301, doi:10.1029/2009GL042301 [PDF].

Gomberg, J., et al. (2010), Slow-slip phenomena in Cascadia from 2007 and beyond: A review, GSA Bull., v. 122, no. 7/8, p. 963-978, doi:10.1130/B30287.1 [PDF].

Wendy A. McCausland, Kenneth C. Creager, Mario La Rocca, and Stephen D. Malone, (2010) Short-term and long‐term tremor migration patterns of the Cascadia 2004 tremor and slow slip episode using small aperture seismic arrays, J. Geophys. Res., 115, B00A24, doi:10.1029/2008JB006063 [PDF]

Wech AG, KC Creager, H Houston, JE Vidale (2010). An earthquake-like magnitude-frequency distribution of slow slip in northern Cascadia. Geophy Res. Lett. Vol 37. # L22310 [PDF]

2009

Mario La Rocca, Kenneth C. Creager, Danilo Galluzzo, Steve Malone, John E. Vidale, Justin R. Sweet, Aaron G. Wech, (2009) Cascadian tremor located near plate interface constrained by S minus P wave times, Science V323, 620-621 [PDF]

Ghosh, A., J. E. Vidale, Z. Peng, K. C. Creager, and H. Houston (2009), Complex nonvolcanic tremor near Parkfield, California, triggered by the great 2004 Sumatra earthquake, J. Geophys. Res., 114, B00A15, doi:10.1029/2008JB006062 [PDF] [Media report].

Peng, Zhigang, John E. Vidale, Aaron G. Wech, Robert M. Nadeau, Kenneth C. Creager (2009) Remote triggering of tremor along the San Andreas Fault in central California. Jour. Geophy. Res. Vol 114 B00A06, doi:10.1029.2008JB006049 [PDF]

Wech, A.G., K.C. Creager, T.I. Melbourne (2009), Seismic and geodetic constraints on Cascadia slow slip, J. Geophys. Res., 114, B10316. [PDF]

Rubinstein, Justin L., Joan Gomberg, John E. Vidale, Aaron G. Wech, Honn Kao, Kenneth C. Creager, Garry Rogers, 2009, Seismic wave triggering of nonvolcanic tremor, episodic tremor and slip and earthquakes on Vancouver Island. Jour. Geophy. Res. Vol 114, B00A01, doi:10.1029/2008JB005875. [PDF]

2008

Ghosh, et.al (2008) Tremor patches in Cascadia revealed by seismic array analysis (2009), Geophys. Res. Lett., 36, L17316, doi: 10.1029/2009GL039080 [PDF]

Wech, A.G., and K.C. Creager (2008), Automatic detection and location of Cascadia tremor, Geophys. Res. Lett., 35, L20302. [PDF]

Gomberg, Joan, Justin L. Rubinstein, Zhigang Peng, Kenneth C. Creager, John E. Vidale, Paul Bodin. (2008). Widspread Triggering of Nonvolcanic Tremor in California. Science Vol 319 p173, [PDF]

Mario La Rocca, Danilo Galluzzo, Steve Malone, Wendy McCausland, Gilberto Saccorotti, and Edoardo Del Pezzo (2008), Testing Small-Aperture Array Analysis on Well-Located Earthquakes, and Application to the Location of Deep Tremor, Bull. Seis. Soc. Amer, 98,2 620-635 [PDF]

2007

Wech, A.G., and K.C. Creager (2007), Cascadia tremor polarization evidence for plate interface slip, Geophys. Res. Lett., 34, L22306. [PDF]

Rubinstein, Justin L., John Vidale, Joan Gomberg, Paul Bodin, Kenneth C. Creager, Stephen D. Malone, (2007) Non-volcanic tremor driven by large transient shear stresses, Nature, 448,2 doi:10.1038/nature06017 [PDF]

2003-2005

La Rocca, Mario, Wendy McCausland, Danilo Galluzzo, Steve Malone, Gilberto Saccorotti, Edoardo Del Pezzo, (2005) Array measurments of deep tremor signals in the Cascadia subduction zone. Geophy. Res. Let. 2005 doi:10.1029/2005GL023974 [PDF]

McCausland, W., S. Malone, and D. Johnson, (2005) Temporal and spatial occurrence of deep non-volcanic tremor: From Washington to northern California, Geophys. Res. Lett., 32, L24311 [PDF]

McCausland, Wendy A., and Malone, Steve, Deep Tremor Along the Cascadia Subduction Zone, (2003) Abstract in Program of GSA Annual Meeting, [SLIDES].

Original Paper describing ETS in the Pacific Northwest by Rogers & Dragert, 2003

The last detailed ETS-related experiment organized by UW was back in 2009 - 2011 called an Array of Arrays.

Episodic Tremor and Slip (ETS) periods in northern Washington have been individually studied over a number of years. During each of these periods web pages were constructed at the time describing the events and the research efforts made to study them.  Here we list references to the original pages as then constructed.

We have made some comparative tremor map snapshots showing tremor locations by week of several previous northern Washington ETS events.  There is also a set of comparative density maps for the past three ETS episodes.