Prolonged post-seismic deformation of the 1960 great Chile earthquake and implications for mantle rheology

Abstract

Contemporary crustal deformation of the southern Andean margin shows an interesting feature: While nearly all coastal GPS sites move landward, consistent with interseismic deformation near a locked subduction fault, sites 300-400 km landward of the rupture region of the M-w 9.5 1960 Chile earthquake are moving in the opposite direction. We attribute the seaward motion of these inland sites to a prolonged crustal deformation due to mantle stress relaxation following the 1960 great earthquake. In order to reproduce the observed seaward motion using a three-dimensional finite element model we need to incorporate a mantle viscosity of about 3 x 10(19) Pa s. The possibility that the seaward motion is caused by a silent slip event on the plate interface at large depths cannot be completely excluded, and our analysis provides a working model for future field tests.