The highly active Sumatran Subduction Zone has produced more than four great earthquakes in the last decade. The first of these was the giant Mw 9.2 Sumatra-Andaman earthquake that ruptured on 26 December 2004. This devastating event was followed by three others – the Mw 8.6 Nias-Simeulue quake in 2005, the Mw 8.4 Bengkulu earthquakes in 2007, and the Mw 7.7 Mentawai tsunami-earthquake in 2010.
In order to understand why so many great earthquakes originate from this region, we have to measure the strength of the rocks in the earth’s lower crust and upper mantle. Our new research, published today on 8 March 2018 in Nature Communications, highlights a ground-breaking new approach to how the strength of these rocks...