[1] We present numerical models of earthquake cycles on a strike-slip fault that incorporate laboratory-derived power law rheologies with Arrhenius temperature dependence, viscous dissipation, conductive heat transfer, and far-field loading due to relative plate motion. We use these models to explore the evolution of stress, strain, and thermal regime on "geologic" timescales ($10 6 -10 7 years), as well as on timescales of the order of the earthquake recurrence ($10 2 years). Strain localization in the viscoelastic medium results from thermomechanical coupling and power law dependence of strain rate on stress. For conditions corresponding to the San Andreas fault (SAF), the predicted width of the shear zone in the lower crust is $3-5 km; this shear zone accommodates more than 50% of the far-field plate motion. Coupled thermomechanical models predict a single-layer lithosphere in case of "dry" composition of the lower crust and upper mantle, and a "jelly sandwich" lithosphere in case of "wet" composition. Deviatoric stress in the lithosphere in our models is relatively insensitive to the water content, the far-field loading rate, and the fault strength and is of the order of 10 2 MPa. Thermomechanical coupling gives rise to an inverse correlation between the fault slip rate and the ductile strength of the lithosphere. We show that our models are broadly consistent with geodetic and heat flow constrains from the SAF in Northern California. Models suggest that the regionally elevated heat flow around the SAF may be at least in part due to viscous dissipation in the ductile part of the lithosphere.Citation: Takeuchi, C. S., and Y. Fialko (2012), Dynamic models of interseismic deformation and stress transfer from plate motion to continental transform faults,

[1] We present three-dimensional (3-D) numerical models of postseismic deformation following repeated earthquakes on a vertical strike-slip fault. Our models use linear Maxwell, Burgers, and temperature-dependent power law rheology for the lower crust and upper mantle. We consider effects of viscous shear zones that result from thermomechanical coupling and investigate potential kinematic similarities between viscoelastic models incorporating shear zones and elastic models incorporating rate-strengthening friction on a deep aseismic fault root. We find that the thermally activated shear zones have little effect on postseismic relaxation. In particular, the presence of shear zones does not change the polarity of vertical displacements in cases of rheologies that are able to generate robust postseismic transients. Stronger rheologies can give rise to an opposite polarity of vertical displacements, but the amplitude of the predicted transient deformation is generally negligible. We conclude that additional (to thermomechanical coupling) mechanisms of strain localization are required for a viscoelastic model to produce a vertical deformation pattern similar to that due to afterslip on a deep extension of a fault. We also investigate the discriminating power of models incorporating Burgers and power law rheology. These rheologies were proposed to explain postseismic transients following large (M7) earthquakes in the Mojave desert, Eastern California. Numerical simulations indicate that it may be difficult to distinguish between these rheologies even with high-quality geodetic observations for observation periods less than a decade. Longer observations, however, may potentially allow discrimination between the competing models, as illustrated by the model comparisons with available GPS and interferometric synthetic aperture radar data.Citation: Takeuchi, C. S., and Y. Fialko (2013), On the effects of thermally weakened ductile shear zones on postseismic deformation,

[1] We analyze bathymetric, gravimetric, and magnetic data collected on cruise KN145L16 between 25.5°E and 35°E on the ultraslow spreading Southwest Indian Ridge, where the 750 km long Andrew Bain transform domain separates two accretionary segments to the northeast from a single segment to the southwest. Similar along-axis asymmetries in seafloor texture, rift valley curvature, magnetic anomaly amplitude, magnetization intensity, and mantle Bouguer anomaly (MBA) amplitude within all three segments suggest that a single mechanism may produce variable intrasegment lithospheric thickness and melt delivery. However, closer analysis reveals that a single mechanism is unlikely. In the northeast, MBA lows, shallow axial depths, and large abyssal hills indicate that the Marion hot spot enhances the melt supply to the segments. We argue that along-axis asthenospheric flow from the hot spot, dammed by major transform faults, produces the inferred asymmetries in lithospheric thickness and melt delivery. In the southwest, strong rift valley curvature and nonvolcanic seafloor near the Andrew Bain transform fault indicate very thick subaxial lithosphere at the end of the single segment. We suggest that cold lithosphere adjacent to the eastern end of the ridge axis cools and thickens the subaxial lithosphere, suppresses melt production, and focuses melt to the west. This limits the amount of melt emplaced at shallow levels near the transform fault. Our analysis suggests that the Andrew Bain divides a high melt supply region to the northeast from an intermediate to low melt supply region to the southwest. Thus, this transform fault represents not only a major topographic feature but also a major melt supply boundary on the Southwest Indian Ridge.