The Global Seismic Moment Rate of Mars after Event S1222a

The seismic activity of a planet can be described by the corner magnitude, events larger than which are extremely unlikely, and the seismic moment rate, the long-term average of annual seismic moment release. Marsquake S1222a proves large enough to be representative of the global activity of Mars and places observational constraints on the moment rate. The magnitude-frequency distribution of relevant Marsquakes indicates a b-value of 1.17, but with its uncertainty and a volcanic region bias, b=1 is still possible. The moment rate is likely between 1.5e15 Nm/a and 1.6e18 Nm/a, with a marginal distribution peaking at 4.9e16 Nm/a. Comparing this with pre-InSight estimations shows that these tended to overestimate the moment rate, and that 30 % or more of the tectonic deformation may occur silently, whereas the seismicity is probably restricted to localized centers rather than spread over the entire planet