Ambient tremors in a collisional orogenic belt

Deep-seated tectonic tremors have been regarded as an observation tied to interconnected fluids at depth, which have been well documented in worldwide subduction zones and transform faults but not in a collisional mountain belt. In this study we explore the general features of collisional tremors in Taiwan and discuss the possible generation mechanism. In the 4 year data, we find 231 ambient tremor episodes with durations ranging from 5 to 30 min. In addition to a coseismic slip-induced stress change from nearby major earthquake, increased tremor rate is also highly correlated with the active, normal faulting earthquake swarms at the shallower depth. Both the tremor and earthquake swarm activities are confined in a small, area where the high attenuation, high thermal anomaly, the boundary between high and low resistivity, and localized veins on the surfaces distributed, suggesting the involvement of fluids from metamorphic dehydration within the orogen. Key Points We explore the general features of tremors in a collisional mountain belt Earthquake swarms correlate with the deep-seated tremors in time and space Metamorphic dehydration and fluid-pressure processes are the critical drivers