Dynamic rupture activation of backthrust fault branching

•We review the origin of backthrusts.•We model backthrust reactivation triggered by earthquakes along the main fault.•We provide basic understanding of the triggering process and the feedbacks.•We characterize several controlling factors during backthrust reactivation.•We provide supporting examples and apply the results to some related topics.

We perform dynamic rupture simulations to investigate the possible reactivation of backthrust branches triggered by ruptures along a main thrust fault. Simulations with slip-weakening fault friction and uniform initial stress show that fast propagation speed or long propagation distance of the main rupture promotes reactivation of backthrust over a range of branch angles. The latter condition may occur separately from the former if rupture speed is limited by an increasing slip-weakening distance towards the junction direction. The results suggest a trade-off between the amplitude and duration of the dynamic stress near the main rupture front for backthrust reactivation. Termination of the main rupture by a barrier can provide enhanced loading amplitude and duration along a backthrust rooted near the barrier, facilitating its reactivation especially with a high frictional resistance. The free surface and depth-dependent initial stress can have several additional effects. The sign of the triggered motion along the backthrust can be reversed from thrust to normal if a deeply nucleated main rupture breaks the free surface, while it is preserved as thrust if the main rupture is terminated by a barrier at depth. The numerical results are discussed in relation to several recent megathrust earthquakes in Sumatra, Chile, and Japan, and related topics such as branch feedbacks to the main fault. The dynamic view on backthrust fault branching provided by the study fills a gap not covered by quasi-static models or observations. A specific examined case of antithetic fault branching may be useful for indicating a barrier-like behavior along the main fault.