The 2009 Samoa–Tonga great earthquake triggered doublet

Thorne Lay (), Charles J. Ammon, Hiroo Kanamori, Luis Rivera, Keith D. Koper and Alexander R. Hutko
Additional contact information
Thorne Lay: University of California Santa Cruz
Charles J. Ammon: The Pennsylvania State University, 440 Deike Building, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA
Hiroo Kanamori: Seismological Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, MS 252-21, Pasadena, California 91125, USA
Luis Rivera: Institut de Physique du Globe de Strasbourg, UMR7516, Université de Strasbourg/CNRS, France
Keith D. Koper: Saint Louis University, 3642 Lindell Boulevard, St Louis, Missouri 63108, USA
Alexander R. Hutko: US Geological Survey, NEIC, MS 966 Box 2504, DFC, Denver, Colorado 80225, USA

Nature, 2010, vol. 466, issue 7309, 964-968

Abstract: Double strike: two linked earthquakes caused 2009 South Pacific tsunami The tsunami that struck the Samoan and northern Tongan islands in September 2009 was preceded by a magnitude-8 earthquake on the outer slope of the oceanic trench, where the Pacific plate bends as it enters the subduction zone. This was initially thought to be the sole source of the tsunami, but a more complex picture is emerging. Two groups report the occurrence of two earthquakes, a 'triggered doublet', at nearly the same time and place. What is not clear is which triggered the other. Beavan et al. use an analysis of Global Positioning System station displacements and tsunami models to show that the outer-rise earthquake was accompanied — possibly triggered by — a near-simultaneous mega-thrust earthquake in the adjacent Tonga subduction zone. Lay et al. analyse the available seismic data, and their model suggests that the outer-rise event triggered megathrust faulting. Either way, this dual strike suggests a mechanism for the occasional large tsunamis generated at the Tonga subduction zone.

Date: 2010
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DOI: 10.1038/nature09214

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