ECORD Distinguished Lecture

Next September 25 it will take place at the Instituto Dom Luiz (IDL) a Distinctive Lecture of the ECORD / IODP program attributed to Portugal (more information about the event here). The lecture entitled “Unlocking the secrets of slow slip using next-generation seismic experiments and IODP drilling at the north Hikurangi subduction zone, New Zealand” will be given by Rebecca Bell, a specialist in Tectonics and Professor at Imperial College London, UK. The lecture will address a new type of earthquake, the so-called slow earthquake, based on new data recently collected on the offshore of New Zealand during two IODP expeditions (372 and 375). These expeditions drilled the north Hikurangi subduction zone in New Zealand, where well-characterized slow slip events (SSEs) occur every 1-2 years at depths of <2 -15 km below seafloor. The expedition installed two borehole observatories close to the patch of slow slip to investigate physical property changes over the slow slip cycle and collected geophysical log and core data to characterize the sediment and rock types involved in slow slip. New seismic images (made using man-made acoustic waves) collected in 2017-2018 will in the future allow to better understand the slow slip environment in 3D below and around the drill sites. In this presentation, Rebecca Bell will discuss the objectives and preliminary findings of Expedition 372/375 and the recent seismic experiments, which aim to unlock the secrets of slow slip.

This lecture is supported by ECORD Distinguished Lecturer Programme and by the FCT-IDL throughout the project UID/ GEO/50019/2019-IDL.