New insights into active faults revealed by a deep-learning-based earthquake catalog in central Myanmar

Abstract

Myanmar bears a high risk of destructive earthquakes, yet detailed seismicity catalogs are rare. We designed a deep-learning-based data processing pipeline and applied it to the data recorded by a large-aperture (∼400 km) seismic array in central Myanmar to produce a high-resolution earthquake catalog. We precisely located 1891 earthquakes at shallow (<50 km) depth, a 2-fold increase compared to the traditional procedures. The new catalog reveals the Kabaw Fault seismicity disappears south of ∼22.8°N, where the deeper (20–40 km) seismicity appears west of the southern Kabaw Fault. Such seismicity contrast along the strike of the Kabaw Fault possibly implies an along-strike change of deformation responses to the shortening process by the India plate oblique subduction. The middle segment of the Sagaing Fault is likely locked and prone to hosting large earthquakes according to the derived low b-value.