SeismicreflectionimageoftheGreatSumatra-Andaman.docVIP

Seismic evidence for broken oceanic crust in the 2004 Sumatra earthquake epicentral region Satish C. Singh1*, Hélène Carton1, Paul Tapponnier2, Nugroho D. Hananto1, Ajay P.S. Chauhan1, Djoko Hartoyo3, Martin Bayly4, Soelistijani Moeljopranoto5, Tim Bunting6, Phil Christie7, Hasbi Lubis5, James Martin8 (1) Equipe de Géosciences Marines, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, 4 place Jussieu, 75252 Paris Cedex 05, France (2) Equipe de Tectonique et Mécanique de la lithosphère, Institut de Physique du Globe de Paris, 4 place Jussieu, 75252 Paris Cedex 05, France (3) Agency for the Assessment and Application of Technology (BPPT), Jl. MH Thamrin 8, Jakarta 10340, Indonesia (4) WesternGeco ASA Region, Capital Centre, No. 256 St George Terrace, Perth, WA 6000, Australia (5) WesternGeco, Sentra Mulia Jl. H.R. Rasuna Said Kav. X-6 No.8, Jakarta 12940, Indonesia (6) WesternGeco, Rohas Perkasa No. 8 Jalan Perak, Kuala-Lumpur 50450, Malaysia (7) Schlumberger Cambridge Research, High Cross, Madingley Road, Cambridge CB3 OEL, United Kingdom (8) WesternGeco, Gatwick Airport, West Sussex RH6 0NZ, United Kingdom * Corresponding author?  The great Sumatra earthquake of 26 December 2004 was the third largest subduction event in the last 50 years. The rupture initiated at 30-40 km depth northwest of Simeulue Island1 and propagated for ~1300 km to the northern Andaman Islands2. The earthquake was caused by a sudden slip along the inter-plate boundary between the subducting Indo-Australian plate and overriding Sunda plate3-4. While detailed knowledge of the subduction interface structure is important to define potential sources of large megathrust earthquakes, available data5-8 have not provided such information so far. Here we present a high-quality seismic section of the focal region, from the abyssal plain down to 40 km depth below the fore-arc. It reveals that the subducting crust and oceanic Moho are broken and displaced by landward-dipping thrust ramps, suggesting that the megat