Seismic gap have occurred in previously-identified seismic gaps. Prior to the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, that segment of the San Andreas fault system recorded much less seismic activity than other parts of the fault. The main shock and aftershocks of the 1989 event occurred within the previous seismic gap. Immediately following the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, a seismic gap analysis of the seismic zones around the Pacific Ocean identified the Central Kuril segment of the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench subduction zone as the most likely to give rise to a major earthquake. This zone, 500 km in length, at that time had experienced no
Seismic tomography frame to compare tomographic models to for iteration. Initial models had resolution of ~3000 to 5000 km, as compared to the few hundred kilometer resolution of current models. Seismic tomographic models improve with advancements in computing and expansion of seismic networks. Recent models of global body waves used over 10 traveltimes to model 10 to 10 unknowns. Seismic tomography uses seismic records to create 2D and 3D images of subsurface anomalies by solving large inverse problems such that generate models consistent with observed data. Various methods are used to resolve anomalies in the crust and lithosphere, shallow mantle, whole mantle,