Coseismic Fault Slip of the September 16, 2015 Mw 8.3 Illapel, Chile Earthquake Estimated from InSAR Data

  • Yingfeng Zhang
  • Guohong Zhang
  • Eric A. Hetland
  • Xinjian Shan
  • Shaoyan Wen
  • Ronghu Zuo
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Abstract

The complete surface deformation of 2015 Mw 8.3 Illapel, Chile earthquake is obtained using SAR interferograms obtained for descending and ascending Sentinel-1 orbits. We find that the Illapel event is predominantly thrust, as expected for an earthquake on the interface between the Nazca and South America plates, with a slight right-lateral strike slip component. The maximum thrust-slip and right-lateral strike slip reach 8.3 and 1.5 m, respectively, both located at a depth of 8 km, northwest to the epicenter. The total estimated seismic moment is 3.28 × 1021 N.m, corresponding to a moment magnitude Mw 8.27. In our model, the rupture breaks all the way up to the sea-floor at the trench, which is consistent with the destructive tsunami following the earthquake. We also find the slip distribution correlates closely with previous estimates of interseismic locking distribution. We argue that positive coulomb stress changes caused by the Illapel earthquake may favor earthquakes on the extensional faults in this area. Finally, based on our inferred coseismic slip model and coulomb stress calculation, we envision that the subduction interface that last slipped in the 1922 Mw 8.4 Vallenar earthquake might be near the upper end of its seismic quiescence, and the earthquake potential in this region is urgent.

Key words

The 2015 Illapel earthquake InSAR displacement coseismic slip model faults reactivation coulomb stress change 
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Notes

Acknowledgments

This work is co-supported by grants of Chinese National Science Foundation (41474013, 41461164002) and funding from State Key Laboratory of Earthquake Dynamics, Institute of Geology, China Earthquake Administration (LED2014A01). Sentinel SAR data is from European Space Agency. The SRTM data is downloaded from: http://srtm.csi.cgiar.org. Aftershocks and focal mechanisms are from USGS. Figures are generated by Generic Mapping Tools (Wessel and Smith 1998). Coulomb 3.3 is used to calculate the coseismic coulomb stress changes. We thank two anonymous reviewers and the editor for comments on this manuscript.

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Copyright information

© Springer International Publishing AG 2017

Authors and Affiliations

  • Yingfeng Zhang
    • 1
    • 2
  • Guohong Zhang
    • 1
  • Eric A. Hetland
    • 3
  • Xinjian Shan
    • 1
  • Shaoyan Wen
    • 1
    • 4
  • Ronghu Zuo
    • 1
  1. 1.State Key Laboratory of Earthquake DynamicsInstitute of Geology, China Earthquake AdministrationBeijingChina
  2. 2.China University of Petroleum (East China)School of GeoscienceQingdaoChina
  3. 3.Earth and Environmental SciencesUniversity of MichiganAnn ArborUSA
  4. 4.Earthquake Administration of XinjiangUrumqiChina

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