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Coseismic deformation of the destructive April 6, 2009 L'Aquila earthquake (central Italy) from GPS data
Author(s) -
Anzidei M.,
Boschi E.,
Cannelli V.,
Devoti R.,
Esposito A.,
Galvani A.,
Melini D.,
Pietrantonio G.,
Riguzzi F.,
Sepe V.,
Serpelloni E.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
geophysical research letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.007
H-Index - 273
eISSN - 1944-8007
pISSN - 0094-8276
DOI - 10.1029/2009gl039145
Subject(s) - epicenter , geology , seismology , geodesy , geodetic datum , global positioning system , seismic moment , moment magnitude scale , slip (aerodynamics) , inversion (geology) , focal mechanism , fault (geology) , geometry , tectonics , telecommunications , physics , mathematics , scaling , computer science , thermodynamics
On April 6, 2009, 01:32:39 GMT, the city of L'Aquila was struck by a Mw 6.3 earthquake that killed 307 people, causing severe destruction and ground cracks in a wide area around the epicenter. Four days before the main shock we augmented the existing permanent GPS network with five GPS stations of the Central Apennine Geodetic Network (CaGeoNet) bordering the L'Aquila basin. The maximum horizontal and vertical coseismic surface displacements detected at these stations was 10.39 ± 0.45 cm and −15.64 ± 1.55 cm, respectively. Fixing the strike direction according to focal mechanism estimates, we estimated the source geometry with a non linear inversion of the geodetic data. Our best fitting fault model is a 13 × 15.7 km 2 rectangular fault, SW‐dipping at 55.3 ± 1.8°, consistent with the position of observed surface ruptures. The estimated slip (495 ± 29 mm) corresponds to a 6.3 moment magnitude, in excellent agreement with seismological data.