The first slow-slip events seen off southern Costa Rica

[redqueen]

Slow-slip events (SSEs) are slow earthquake ruptures that generate just a few centimeters of slip over periods ranging from days to years. They are thought to occur in many of the world's subduction zones, but these subtle slips can be tricky to observe, especially when they happen under the ocean, where monitoring capabilities are often more limited than on land.

Gaining a better understanding of where and how often SSEs occur is important, in part because they may modulate larger earthquakes that are more likely to cause damage and produce tsunamis.

In Geophysical Research Letters researchers provide new insight into SSEs, reporting five events that occurred off the Osa Peninsula of southern Costa Rica, where the Cocos Plate subducts under the Caribbean Plate. The SSEs—the first ever documented off this part of Costa Rica—took place in 2013, 2018, and 2022 and were identified using data from a network of continuously operating Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) stations.

(More at link)

https://phys.org/news/2023-10-slow-slip-events-southern-costa-rica.amp