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The March 25, 1998 Antarctic Earthquake: Great earthquake caused by postglacial rebound

Earth, Planets and Space volume 52, pages 133–136 (2000)Cite this article

Abstract

A large Mw = 8.1 earthquake occurred off southeast coast of Antarctica near the Balleny Island region on March 25, 1998. We inverted teleseismic body-wave records to determine the rupture pattern using an iterative deconvolution method. The source parameters obtained are: the centroid depth=20km, (strike, dip, rake)= (282, 83, −1), the seismic moment M0 = 1.6 × 1021 Nm (Mw = 8.1), the length L = 200 km, and the average slip D = 4.4 m. This earthquake occurred in the mid-plate but there has been no reports of such large earthquakes in this region. Furthermore, the source mechanism cannot be related to the plate motion inferred from the nearby transform faults. Therefore this earthquake is not a usual tectonic event. Here we show that the compressional axis of our source mechanism coincides with the horizontal crustal motion predicted by the Earth’s response to present-day and past ice mass changes in Antarctica. Our result suggests that the 1998 Antarctica earthquake is caused by the postglacial rebound in the Antarctica.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Geoscience, National Defense Academy, Yokosuka, Japan

    Seiji Tsuboi

  2. Earthquake Research Institute, University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

    Masayuki Kikuchi & Yoshiko Yamanaka

  3. National Institute of Polar Research, Tokyo, Japan

    Masaki Kanao

Authors
  1. Seiji Tsuboi
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  2. Masayuki Kikuchi
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  3. Yoshiko Yamanaka
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  4. Masaki Kanao
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Seiji Tsuboi.

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Now at Faculty of Science, Yokohama City University, Yokohama, Japan.

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Tsuboi, S., Kikuchi, M., Yamanaka, Y. et al. The March 25, 1998 Antarctic Earthquake: Great earthquake caused by postglacial rebound. Earth Planet Sp 52, 133–136 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1186/BF03351621

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