Slip-Length Scaling in Large Earthquakes: The Role of Deep-Penetrating Slip below the Seismogenic Layer

Coseismic slip is observed to increase with earthquake rupture length for lengths far beyond the length scale set by the seismogenic layer. The observation, when interpreted within the realm of static dislocation theory and the imposed limit that slip be confined to the seismogenic layer, implies that earthquake stress drop increases as a function of rupture length for large earthquakes and, hence, that large earthquakes differ from small earthquakes. Here, a three-dimensional elastodynamic model is applied to show that the observed increase in coseismic slip with rupture length may be satisfied while maintaining a constant stress drop across the entire spectrum of earthquake sizes when slip is allowed to penetrate below the seismogenic layer into an underlying zone characterized by velocity-strengthening behavior. Is this deep coseismic slip happening during large earthquakes? We point to a number of additional associated features of the model behavior that are potentially observable in the Earth. These include the predictions that a substantial fraction, on the order of one-third of the total coseismic moment, is due to slip below the seismogenic layer and that slip below the seismogenic layer should be characterized by long rise times and a dearth of high-frequency motion.