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The 2010 Maule, Chile earthquake: Downdip rupture limit revealed by space geodesy
Author(s) -
Tong Xiaopeng,
Sandwell David,
Luttrell Karen,
Brooks Benjamin,
Bevis Michael,
Shimada Masanobu,
Foster James,
Smalley Robert,
Parra Hector,
Báez Soto Juan Carlos,
Blanco Mauro,
Kendrick Eric,
Genrich Jeff,
Caccamise Dana J.
Publication year - 2010
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 - 10.1029/2010gl045805
Subject(s) - geology , seismology , trench , geodesy , slip (aerodynamics) , seismic moment , earthquake rupture , interferometric synthetic aperture radar , moment magnitude scale , transition zone , geometry , geophysics , synthetic aperture radar , fault (geology) , physics , chemistry , remote sensing , mathematics , organic chemistry , layer (electronics) , scaling , thermodynamics
Radar interferometry from the ALOS satellite captured the coseismic ground deformation associated with the 2010 Mw 8.8 Maule, Chile earthquake. The ALOS interferograms reveal a sharp transition in fringe pattern at ∼150 km from the trench axis that is diagnostic of the downdip rupture limit of the Maule earthquake. An elastic dislocation model based on ascending and descending ALOS interferograms and 13 near‐field 3‐component GPS measurements reveals that the coseismic slip decreases more or less linearly from a maximum of 17 m (along‐strike average of 6.5 m) at 18 km depth to near zero at 43–48 km depth, quantitatively indicating the downdip limit of the seismogenic zone. The depth at which slip drops to near zero appears to be at the intersection of the subducting plate with the continental Moho. Our model also suggests that the depth where coseismic slip vanishes is nearly uniform along the strike direction for a rupture length of ∼600 km. The average coseismic slip vector and the interseismic velocity vector are not parallel, which can be interpreted as a deficit in strike‐slip moment release.