Quantitative impact of structural inheritance on present-day deformation and seismicity concentration in intraplate deformation zones

Structural inheritance (i.e. paleo-tectonic) areas, acting as weakened domains, appear to be a key element localizing the seismicity in intraplate deformation zones. However, the impact of structural inheritance on the observed present-day seismicity and strain rate concentration remains to be quantified. In this study, we quantify through 2D numerical modeling the localization and amplification factor of upper crustal strain rates induced by structural inheritance. Our 2D models are constrained by intraplate velocity boundary conditions and include rheology laws that accounts for inherited strain weakening in both the brittle and ductile layers of the lithosphere. The role of structural inheritance is investigated for different localization of the weakened domain in the lithosphere. For an average intraplate geotherm (Moho temperature ca. 500 degrees C), brittle weakening (i.e. inherited faults) alone induces a limited amplification factor of upper crustal strain rates of ca. 4. Ductile weakening can increase the amplification factor to ca. 7 when localized in the lower crust, but has no effect when localized in the lithospheric mantle. Overall, the amplification factors of upper crustal strain rates vary between 1 and 27 depending on the location of the weakened area in the lithosphere and on the different possible net driving forces, crustal strengths, amounts of weakening, and geotherms. These model amplification factors are in reasonable agreement with those derived from GPS and seismicity data over large spatial scale (several hundreds of kilometers) in North America. (C) 2019 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.