Which crustal deformation occurs when a subducting oceanic plate's asperities overcome resistance along the plate interface?

💡 Explanation

When asperities on a subducting plate overcome frictional resistance, episodic tremor and slip events (ETS) occur because accumulated elastic strain is rapidly released as slow-slip earthquakes accompanied by tectonic tremor. Therefore ETS occurs, rather than basin formation, transform fault generation, or crustal thinning which involve other mechanisms.

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