An official website of the United States government
Abstract Observations of shallow fault creep reveal increasingly complex time‐dependent slip histories that include quasi‐steady creep and triggered as well as spontaneous accelerated slip events. Here we report a recent slow slip event on the southern San Andreas fault triggered by the 2017Mw8.2 Chiapas (Mexico) earthquake that occurred 3,000 km away. Geodetic and geologic observations indicate that surface slip on the order of 10 mm occurred on a 40‐km‐long section of the southern San Andreas fault between the Mecca Hills and Bombay Beach, starting minutes after the Chiapas earthquake and continuing for more than a year. Both the magnitude and the depth extent of creep vary along strike. We derive a high‐resolution map of surface displacements by combining Sentinel‐1 Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar acquisitions from different lines of sight. Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar‐derived displacements are in good agreement with the creepmeter data and field mapping of surface offsets. Inversions of surface displacement data using dislocation models indicate that the highest amplitudes of surface slip are associated with shallow (<1 km) transient slip. We performed 2‐D simulations of shallow creep on a strike‐slip fault obeying rate‐and‐state friction to constrain frictional properties of the top few kilometers of the upper crust that can produce the observed behavior.
more »
« less
Satellite Geodesy Uncovers 15 m of Slip on a Detachment Fault Prior to the 2018 Collapse at Anak Krakatau, Indonesia
Abstract On 22 December 2018, parts of the Anak Krakatau edifice collapsed, triggering a deadly tsunami. To investigate pre‐collapse surface displacements, we analyzed Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar satellite geodetic data from 2006 to 2018, acquired from ALOS‐1 (2006–2011), COSMO‐SkyMED (2012–2018), and Sentinel‐1 (2014–2018). We identified line‐of‐sight displacements on the southwestern flank throughout the study period. Inversion of COSMO‐SkyMED data revealed a rectangular dislocation with a cumulative slip of 12 m from April 2012 to December 2018. Fixing the fault geometry, we found the optimal slip for time periods corresponding to slip rate changes, ranging from 1.2 to 3.1 m/yr. The slip estimates for ALOS‐1 and Sentinel‐1 data were 0.88 m/yr and 1.1 m/yr, respectively, over their individual time periods. Overall, the detachment fault experienced approximately 15 m of slip from 2006 to 2018 with acceleration and deceleration periods, and a notable acceleration prior to the 2018 collapse.
more »
« less
- Award ID(s):
- 1945417
- PAR ID:
- 10555352
- Publisher / Repository:
- DOI PREFIX: 10.1029
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Geophysical Research Letters
- Volume:
- 51
- Issue:
- 22
- ISSN:
- 0094-8276
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
More Like this
-
-
Abstract Imaging tectonic creep along active faults is critical for measuring strain accumulation and ultimately understanding the physical processes that guide creep and the potential for seismicity. We image tectonic deformation along the central creeping section of the San Andreas Fault at the Dry Lake Valley paleoseismic site (36.468°N, 121.055°W) using three data sets with varying spatial and temporal scales: (1) an Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR) velocity field with an ~100‐km footprint produced from Sentinel‐1 satellite imagery, (2) light detection and ranging (lidar) and structure‐from‐motion 3‐D topographic differencing that resolves a decade of deformation over a 1‐km aperture, and (3) surface fractures that formed over the 3‐ to 4‐m wide fault zone during a drought from late 2012 to 2014. The InSAR velocity map shows that shallow deformation is localized to the San Andreas Fault. We demonstrate a novel approach for differencing airborne lidar and structure‐from‐motion topography that facilitates resolving deformation along and adjacent to the San Andreas Fault. The 40‐m resolution topographic differencing resolves a 2.5 ± 0.2 cm/yr slip rate localized to the fault. The opening‐mode fractures accommodate cm/yr of fault slip. A 90% ± 30% of the 1‐km aperture deformation is accommodated over the several meter‐wide surface trace of the San Andreas Fault. The extension direction inferred from the opening‐mode fractures and topographic differencing is 40°–48° from the local trend of the San Andreas Fault. The localization of deformation likely reflects the well‐oriented and mature fault.more » « less
-
Abstract The 2021 Maduo earthquake ruptured a 150 km‐long left‐lateral fault in the northeast Tibet. We used Synthetic Aperture Radar data collected by the Sentinel‐1A/B satellites within days of the earthquake to derive a finite fault model and investigate the details of slip distribution with depth. We generated coseismic interferograms and pixel offsets from different look directions corresponding to the ascending and descending satellite orbits. At the eastern end the rupture bifurcated into two sub‐parallel strands, with larger slip on the northern strand. Inversions of coseismic displacements show maximum slip to the east of the epicenter. The averaged coseismic slip has a peak at depth of 3–4 km, similar to slip distributions of a number of shallow strike‐slip earthquakes. Postseismic observations over several weeks following the Maduo earthquake reveal surface slip with amplitude up to 0.1 m that at least partially eliminated the coseismic slip deficit in the uppermost crust.more » « less
-
Abstract Rock friction tests have made profound contributions to our understanding of earthquake processes. Most rock friction tests focused on fault strength evolution during velocity steps or at specific slip rates and the characteristics during stick‐slip events such as dynamic rupture propagation and the transition from stable sliding to instability, with little attention paid to the transient acceleration and deceleration periods. Here, we present Westerly Granite fault friction test results using a unique pneumatically powered apparatus with high acceleration of up to 50 g, focusing on the transient stages of fast fault acceleration and deceleration during both high‐speed sliding and stick‐slip events. Our data demonstrates the dominating velocity‐weakening behavior at transient stages of fault acceleration and deceleration, with a 1/V dependence for peak friction and deceleration lobe consistent with the flash‐heating model but with the acceleration lobe consistently deviating from the 1/V dependence. Our analysis of velocity‐dependent friction between dynamic rupture events, stick‐slips, and high‐speed friction tests reveals the significance of high acceleration in influencing transient fault weakening during dynamic weakening. We further demonstrate that the deviation of the friction‐velocity curve from the 1/V trend during fault acceleration is associated with the contribution of the dynamic rupturing process during the initiation of fault slip.more » « less
-
On February 6, 2023, two large earthquakes occurred near the Turkish town of Kahramanmaraş. The moment magnitude (Mw) 7.8 mainshock ruptured a 310 km-long segment of the left-lateral East Anatolian Fault, propagating through multiple releasing step-overs. The Mw 7.6 aftershock involved nearby left-lateral strike-slip faults of the East Anatolian Fault Zone, causing a 150 km-long rupture. We use remote-sensing observations to constrain the spatial distribution of coseismic slip for these two events and the February 20 Mw 6.4 aftershock near Antakya. Pixel tracking of optical and synthetic aperture radar data of the Sentinel-2 and Sentinel-1 satellites, respectively, provide near-field surface displacements. High-rate Global Navigation Satellite System data constrain each event separately. Coseismic slip extends from the surface to about 15 km depth with a shallow slip deficit. Most aftershocks cluster at major fault bends, surround the regions of high coseismic slip, or extend outward of the ruptured faults. For the mainshock, rupture propagation stopped southward at the diffuse termination of the East Anatolian fault and tapered off northward into the Pütürge segment, some 20 km south of the 2020 Mw 6.8 Elaziğ earthquake, highlighting a potential seismic gap. These events underscore the high seismic potential of immature fault systems.more » « less
