This paper presents a critique of the models proposed to explain the formation of back arc
basins: those marginal basins located behind active or inactive trench systems and whose …

Trench‐arc systems (subduction zones) can be classified into two types depending on
whether or not actively opening back‐arc basins are associated with them. This suggests …

The Kamchatka arc (Russia) is located in the northwestern Pacific Ocean and is divided into
three segments by major sub-latitudinal fault zones (crustal discontinuities). The southern …

A data set comprising 110 spreading rates, 78 transform fault azimuths, and 142 earthquake
slip vectors has been inverted to yield a new instantaneous plate motion model, designated …

The theory of plate tectonics provides a basic framework for evaluating the potential for
future great earthquakes to occur along major plate boundaries. Along most of the transform …

The seismic potential for 96 segments of simple plate boundaries around the circum-Pacific
region is presented in terms of the conditional probability for the occurrence of either large or …

Variation of interplate seismic coupling at subduction zones is a major factor controlling the
size of the largest underthrusting events. This variation also has a profound effect on the …

The Shumagin seismic gap, a segment of the plate boundary along the eastern Aleutian arc,
has not ruptured during a great earthquake since at least 1899–1903. Because at least 77 …

Residual sphere methods of imaging near‐source structure are applied to earthquakes in
the Mariana and other subduction zones of the Northwest Pacific. Between 17° and 20° N …

The mechanisms, distribution, and total moment of earthquakes within the bending oceanic
plate seaward of trenches constrain possible mechanical models of the lithosphere. The …