Extreme plate boundary localization promotes shallow earthquake slip at the Japan Trench

Published in Science · View the paper (DOI)

Researchers confirm that a 30-meter-thick layer of soft and slippery pelagic clay at the Japan Trench enabled the earthquake to rupture all the way to the trench, producing a massive tsunami. The discovery sheds new light on why the 2011 earthquake behaved so differently from predicted models.

Extreme plate boundary localization promotes shallow earthquake slip at the Japan Trench

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