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A Glimpse of Crustal Deformation Through Earthquake Supercycle in the Andaman Region Using GPS Measurements

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The Andaman Islands and Adjoining Offshore: Geology, Tectonics and Palaeoclimate

Abstract

Surface measurements of crustal deformation and their modelling provide insights into the subsurface earthquake processes at depth. In this article we review the available geodetic measurements of crustal deformation which spans the interseismic, coseismic and postseismic phases of earthquake cycle corresponding to the 2004 Sumatra Andaman earthquake. The GPS measurements of interseismic period (during the preceding 10 year period from the 2004 Sumatra Andaman earthquake) show evidence of strain accumulation in the Andaman region. Coseismic offsets due to the 2004 earthquake are overwhelming which reach up to whopping 7 m and imply that coseismic slip at the plate boundary interface reach up to 15–20 m. Following the earthquake, the region experienced large postseismic deformation which is continuing even now, particularly in the Nicobar and Sumatra region. Total postseismic deformation until the end of 2016 corresponds to an earthquake of Mw 8.5. Aftershocks corresponds to less than 15% of this estimate, thus majority of the deformation is aseismic.

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Acknowledgements

We acknowledge support from several colleagues contributed towards data acquisition and establishment of permanent GPS stations in the Andaman Nicobar region. The work was financially supported by the Ministry of Earth Sciences. We thank two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments. The CSIR-National Geophysical Research Institute (CSIR-NGRI) reference number of the article is NGRI/Lib/2019/Pub-76.

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Correspondence to Vineet K. Gahalaut .

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Dadhich, H., Naidu, M.S., Gahalaut, V.K., Catherine, J.K., Bansal, A.K., Rajeshwar Rao, V. (2020). A Glimpse of Crustal Deformation Through Earthquake Supercycle in the Andaman Region Using GPS Measurements. In: Ray, J., Radhakrishna, M. (eds) The Andaman Islands and Adjoining Offshore: Geology, Tectonics and Palaeoclimate. Society of Earth Scientists Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-39843-9_11

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