Sensitivity Analysis of the Thermal Structure Within Subduction Zones Using Reduced-Order Modeling

TL;DR

This study develops reduced-order models to analyze how various parameters influence the thermal structure of subduction zones, which is crucial for understanding megathrust earthquake rupture extents and associated hazards.

Contribution

It introduces data-driven, computationally efficient ROMs for subduction zone temperature profiles, enabling sensitivity analysis of key physical parameters affecting earthquake rupture.

Findings

Temperature is most sensitive to shear heating parameters.

Variability in input parameters significantly affects rupture extent estimates.

Coefficient of friction strongly influences the depth of the rupture limit.

Abstract

Megathrust earthquakes are the largest on Earth, capable of causing strong ground shaking and generating tsunamis. Physical models used to understand megathrust earthquake hazard are limited by existing uncertainties about material properties and governing processes in subduction zones. A key quantity in megathrust hazard assessment is the distance between the updip and downdip rupture limits. The thermal structure of a subduction zone exerts a first-order control on the extent of rupture. We simulate temperature for profiles of the Cascadia, Nankai and Hikurangi subduction zones using a 2D coupled kinematic-dynamic thermal model. We then build reduced-order models (ROMs) for temperature using the interpolated Proper Orthogonal Decomposition (iPOD). The resulting ROMs are data-driven, model agnostic, and computationally cheap to evaluate. Using the ROMs, we can efficiently investigate the sensitivity of temperature to input parameters, physical processes, and modeling choices. We find that temperature, and by extension the potential rupture extent, is most sensitive to variability in parameters that describe shear heating on the slab interface, followed by parameters controlling the thermal structure of the incoming lithosphere and coupling between the slab and the mantle. We quantify the effect of using steady-state vs. time-dependent models, and of uncertainty in the choice of isotherm representing the downdip rupture limit. We show that variability in input parameters translates to significant differences in estimated moment magnitude. Our analysis highlights the strong effect of variability in the apparent coefficient of friction, with previously published ranges resulting in pronounced variability in estimated rupture limit depths.