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Aseismic creep along the San Andreas Fault northwest of Parkfield, CA measured by radar interferometry
Author(s) -
Rosen P.,
Werner C.,
Fielding E.,
Hensley S.,
Buckley S.,
Vincent P.
Publication year - 1998
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 - 10.1029/98gl50495
Subject(s) - san andreas fault , geology , creep , interferometry , radar , fault (geology) , seismology , discontinuity (linguistics) , interferometric synthetic aperture radar , fault trace , deformation (meteorology) , displacement (psychology) , geodesy , elastic rebound theory , synthetic aperture radar , remote sensing , optics , materials science , physics , composite material , psychology , telecommunications , mathematical analysis , oceanography , mathematics , computer science , psychotherapist
ERS‐1 radar images acquired 14 months apart studied by differential radar interferometry show the wide‐area distribution of aseismic creep along the fault segment northwest of Parkfield, California. A sharp discontinuity in the interferometric phase of less than 2 cm equivalent line‐of‐sight displacement extends over 80 km in the differential interferogram, coincident with the mapped trace of the active San Andreas fault and consistent with the expected and measured fault motion. Although patterns of strain associated with the transition from locked to creeping are not clearly identifiable, a decrease in creep displacement from northwest to southeast along the fault is visible. The observations are in agreement with a model of elastic deformation constrained by in situ data that supports a maximum expected deformation signature of 10 mm across the image.