Open AccessCrustal deformation measured in Southern California
Author(s) -
Shen Zhengkang,
Dong Danan,
Herring Thomas,
Hudnut Kenneth,
Jackson David,
King Robert,
McClusky Simon,
Sung Liyu
Publication year - 1997
Publication title -
eos, transactions american geophysical union
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.316
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 2324-9250
pISSN - 0096-3941
DOI - 10.1029/97eo00291
Subject(s) - geology , seismology , deformation (meteorology) , geodetic datum , fault (geology) , geodesy , plate tectonics , boundary (topology) , tectonics , oceanography , mathematical analysis , mathematics
Studies at the Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC) are suggesting that postseismic deformation is significant and long lasting. This seems the case, at least, in a region whose dimension is comparable to the fault rupture length. Researchers at SCEC found strong spatial correlation between the high strain rates and the past large earthquakes at the epicentral areas of the 1952 Kern County, 1971 Imperial, and 1992 Landers earthquakes. Southern California spans a plate boundary composed of hundreds of faults, major and minor, over a region hundreds of km wide. Measuring the crustal deformation field across this broad and complex plate boundary poses a great challenge. The Crustal Deformation Working Group of the SCEC orchestrated a major effort to provide, for the first time, a unified geodetic crustal deformation field covering southern California.