Kinematic Afterslip Patterns.

Non‐inertial afterslip has been inferred to occur following large earthquakes. An explanation for this slow slip phenomenon is that coseismically generated stresses induce sliding on parts of a fault surface with velocity‐strengthening frictional properties. Here we develop an alternative mesoscale heuristic explanation for afterslip based on the idea that afterslip may occur on any portion of a fault that exhibits positive residual geometric moment following an earthquake, including sections that ruptured coseismically. Following a large earthquake, this model exhibits exponential time decay of afterslip and allows for variable sensitivity to coseismic event magnitude and residual geometric moment. This model provides a partial explanation for the spatial relationship of co‐ and post‐seismic slip associated with the 2011 MW = 9 Tohoku‐oki earthquake. Plain Language Summary: Afterslip is slow slip that occurs after large earthquakes. Some geodetic inferences of afterslip suggest that regions experiencing afterslip may have also slipped coeismically. This spatially coincident behavior is poorly explained by classical stress‐driven afterslip models. Here, we develop a motion‐based model to explain this possible spatial relationship. The model predicts faster afterslip rates in regions that have an excess of accumulated slip to be released following a large earthquake. This model may be used to describe the spatial relationship of co‐ and post‐seismic slip associated with the 2011 Great Japan earthquake. Key Points: We develop a geometric moment based model for time‐dependent afterslipThe model exhibits and exponential time decay of afterslip ratesThis model provides a kinematic explanation for overlapping co‐ and post‐seismic slip proximal to the 2011 great Japan earthquake [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]