Daniel Melnick Marco Cisternas Marcos Moreno Lisa Ely Robert L. Wesson 2015 <p><span>Individual great earthquakes are posited to release the elastic strain energy that has accumulated over centuries by the gradual movement of tectonic plates</span>^{<a id="ref-link-2" title="Reid, H. F. The California Earthquake of April 18, 1906: The Mechanics of the Earthquake (Carnegie Inst., 1910)." href="https://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v8/n7/full/ngeo2468.html#ref1" data-mce-href="https://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v8/n7/full/ngeo2468.html#ref1">1</a>,<span>&nbsp;</span><a id="ref-link-3" title="Savage, J. C. A dislocation model of strain accumulation and release at a subduction zone. J. Geophys. Res. 88, 4984-4996 (1983)." href="https://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v8/n7/full/ngeo2468.html#ref2" data-mce-href="https://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v8/n7/full/ngeo2468.html#ref2">2</a>}<span>. However, knowledge of plate deformation during a complete seismic cycle—two successive great earthquakes and the intervening interseismic period—remains incomplete</span>^{<a id="ref-link-4" title="Wang, K., Hu, Y. &amp; He, J. Deformation cycles of subduction earthquakes in a viscoelastic Earth. Nature 484, 327-332 (2012)." href="https://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v8/n7/full/ngeo2468.html#ref3" data-mce-href="https://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v8/n7/full/ngeo2468.html#ref3">3</a>}<span>. A complete seismic cycle began in south-central Chile in 1835 with an earthquake of about magnitude 8.5 (refs&nbsp;</span><a id="ref-link-5" title="Darwin, C. Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty[rsquor]s Ships Adventure and Beagle, Between the Years 1826 and 1836: Journal and Remarks, 1832-1836 Vol. 3 (Henry Colburn, 1839)." href="https://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v8/n7/full/ngeo2468.html#ref4" data-mce-href="https://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v8/n7/full/ngeo2468.html#ref4">4</a><span>,<span>&nbsp;</span></span><a id="ref-link-6" title="FitzRoy, R. Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of his Majesty[rsquor]s Ships Adventure and Beagle, Between the Years 1826 and 1836, Proceedings of the Second Expedition, 1831-1836 Vol. 2 (Henry Colburn, 1839)." href="https://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v8/n7/full/ngeo2468.html#ref5" data-mce-href="https://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v8/n7/full/ngeo2468.html#ref5">5</a><span>) and ended in 2010 with a magnitude 8.8 earthquake</span>^{<a id="ref-link-7" title="Vigny, C. et al. The 2010 M-w 8.8 Maule megathrust earthquake of central Chile, monitored by GPS. Science 332, 1417-1421 (2011)." href="https://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v8/n7/full/ngeo2468.html#ref6" data-mce-href="https://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v8/n7/full/ngeo2468.html#ref6">6</a>}<span>. During the first earthquake, an uplift of Isla Santa María by 2.4 to 3 m was documented</span>^{<a id="ref-link-8" title="Darwin, C. Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty[rsquor]s Ships Adventure and Beagle, Between the Years 1826 and 1836: Journal and Remarks, 1832-1836 Vol. 3 (Henry Colburn, 1839)." href="https://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v8/n7/full/ngeo2468.html#ref4" data-mce-href="https://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v8/n7/full/ngeo2468.html#ref4">4</a>,<span>&nbsp;</span><a id="ref-link-9" title="FitzRoy, R. Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of his Majesty[rsquor]s Ships Adventure and Beagle, Between the Years 1826 and 1836, Proceedings of the Second Expedition, 1831-1836 Vol. 2 (Henry Colburn, 1839)." href="https://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v8/n7/full/ngeo2468.html#ref5" data-mce-href="https://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v8/n7/full/ngeo2468.html#ref5">5</a>}<span>. In the second earthquake, the island was uplifted</span>^{<a id="ref-link-10" title="Moreno, M. et al. Toward understanding tectonic control on the Mw 8.8 2010 Maule Chile earthquake. Earth Planet. Sci. Lett. 321-322, 152-165 (2012)." href="https://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v8/n7/full/ngeo2468.html#ref7" data-mce-href="https://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v8/n7/full/ngeo2468.html#ref7">7</a>}<span><span>&nbsp;</span>by 1.8 m. Here we use nautical surveys made in 1804, after the earthquake in 1835 and in 1886, together with modern echo sounder surveys and GPS measurements made immediately before and after the 2010 earthquake, to quantify vertical deformation through the complete seismic cycle. We find that in the period between the two earthquakes, Isla Santa María subsided by about 1.4 m. We simulate the patterns of vertical deformation with a finite-element model and find that they agree broadly with predictions from elastic rebound theory</span>^{<a id="ref-link-11" title="Savage, J. C. A dislocation model of strain accumulation and release at a subduction zone. J. Geophys. Res. 88, 4984-4996 (1983)." href="https://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v8/n7/full/ngeo2468.html#ref2" data-mce-href="https://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v8/n7/full/ngeo2468.html#ref2">2</a>}<span>. However, comparison with geomorphic and geologic records of millennial coastline emergence</span>^{<a id="ref-link-12" title="Bookhagen, B., Echtler, H., Melnick, D., Strecker, M. &amp; Spencer, J. Using uplifted Holocene beach berms for paleoseismic analysis on the Santa Maria Island, south-central Chile. Geophys. Res. Lett. 33, L15302 (2006)." href="https://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v8/n7/full/ngeo2468.html#ref8" data-mce-href="https://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v8/n7/full/ngeo2468.html#ref8">8</a>,<span>&nbsp;</span><a id="ref-link-13" title="Jara-Munoz, J. &amp; Melnick, D. Unraveling sea-level variations and tectonic uplift in wave-built marine terraces, Santa Maria Island, Chile. Quat. Res. 83, 216-228 (2015)." href="https://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v8/n7/full/ngeo2468.html#ref9" data-mce-href="https://www.nature.com/ngeo/journal/v8/n7/full/ngeo2468.html#ref9">9</a>}<span><span>&nbsp;</span>reveal that 10–20% of the vertical uplift could be permanent.</span></p> application/pdf 10.1038/ngeo2468 en Nature Vertical deformation through a complete seismic cycle at Isla Santa María, Chile article