Prolonged post-seismic deformation of the 1960 great Chile earthquake and implications for mantle rheology

[1] Contemporary crustal deformation of the southern Andean margin shows an interesting feature: While nearly all coastal GPS sites move landward, consistent with inter-seismic deformation near a locked subduction fault, sites 300–400 km landward of the rupture region of the Mw9.5 1960 Chile earthquake are moving in the opposite direction. We attribute the seaward motion of these inland sites to a prolonged crustal deformation due to mantle stress relaxation following the 1960 great earthquake. In order to reproduce the observed seaward motion using a three-dimensional finite element model we need to incorporate a mantle viscosity of about 3 1019 Pa s. The possibility that the seaward motion is caused by a silent slip event on the plate interface at large depths cannot be completely excluded, and our analysis provides a working model for future field tests. INDEX TERMS: 1206 Geodesy an