Analysis of the 15 December 2017 Mw 6.5 and the 23 January 2018 Mw 5.9 Java Earthquakes

2020 ◽  
Vol 110 (6) ◽  
pp. 3050-3063
Author(s):  
Anne Meylani Magdalena Sirait ◽  
Anne S. Meltzer ◽  
Felix Waldhauser ◽  
Joshua C. Stachnik ◽  
Daryono Daryono ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The west part of Java sits at the transition from oblique subduction of the Australian plate under the Sunda block of the Eurasian plate along Sumatra to orthogonal convergence along central and eastern Java. This region has experienced several destructive earthquakes, the 17 July 2006 Mw 7.7 earthquake and tsunami off the coast of Pangandaran and the 2 September 2009 Mw 7 earthquake, located off the coast of Tasikmalaya. More recently, on 15 December 2017, an Mw 6.5 earthquake occurred off the coast near Pangandaran, and, on 23 January 2018, an Mw 5.9 earthquake occurred offshore Lebak, between Pelabuhan Ratu and Ujung Kulon. Ground shaking and damage occurred locally and in Jakarta on the northern coast of Java. In this study, we use the double-difference technique to relocate both mainshocks and 10 months of seismicity (228 events) following the earthquakes. The relocation result improved the mainshock locations and depth distribution of earthquakes. Moment tensor of the December 2017 event located the hypocenter at ∼108  km depth within the subducting slab. The best-fit relocation places the depth at 61 km, close to the slab interface. Aftershocks occur between 68 and 86 km depth and align along a steeper plane than slab geometry models. The January 2018 event is located at ∼46  km depth. Aftershocks form a near-vertical, pipe-like structure from the plate interface to ∼10  km depth. A burst of aftershocks immediately following the mainshock shows a shallowing upward trend at a rate of ∼2  km/hr, suggesting that a fluid pressure wave released from the oceanic crust is causing brittle failure in the overriding plate, followed by upward migration of fluids. Five months later, shallow (<25  km) seismicity collocates with background seismicity, suggesting the January 2018 event activated the Pelabuhan Ratu fault system close to the coast.

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raquel Felix ◽  
Judith Hubbard ◽  
Kyle Bradley ◽  
Karen Lythgoe ◽  
Linlin Li ◽  
...  

Abstract. The tsunami hazard posed by the Flores backarc thrust, which runs along the northern coast of the islands of Bali and Lombok, Indonesia, is poorly studied compared to the Sunda megathrust, situated ~250 km to the south of the islands. However, the 2018 Lombok earthquake sequence demonstrated the seismic potential of the western Flores Thrust when a fault ramp beneath the island of Lombok ruptured in two Mw 6.9 earthquakes. Although the uplift in these events mostly occurred below land, the sequence still generated 1–2.5 m-high local tsunamis along the northern coast of Lombok (Wibowo et al., 2021). Historical records show that the Flores fault system in the Lombok and Bali region has generated at least six ≥ Ms 6.5 tsunamigenic earthquakes since 1800 CE. Hence, it is important to assess the possible tsunami hazard represented by this fault system. Here, we focus on the submarine fault segment located between the islands of Lombok and Bali (below the Lombok Strait). We assess modeled tsunami patterns generated by fault slip in six earthquake scenarios (slip of 1–5 m, representing Mw 7.2–7.9+), with a focus on impacts on the capital cities of Mataram, Lombok and Denpasar, Bali, which lie on the coasts facing the strait. We use a geologically constrained earthquake model informed by the Lombok earthquake sequence (Lythgoe et al., 2021), together with a high-resolution bathymetry dataset developed by combining direct measurements from GEBCO with sounding measurements from the official nautical charts for Indonesia. Our results show that fault rupture in this region could trigger a tsunami reaching Mataram in < 8 minutes and Denpasar in ~10–15 minutes, with multiple waves. For an earthquake with 3–5 m of coseismic slip, Mataram and Denpasar experience maximum wave heights of ~1.3–3.3 m and ~0.7 to 1.5 m, respectively. Furthermore, our earthquake models indicate that both cities would experience coseismic subsidence of 20–40 cm, exacerbating their exposure to both the tsunami and other coastal hazards. Overall, Mataram city is more exposed than Denpasar to high tsunami waves arriving quickly from the fault source. To understand how a tsunami would affect Mataram, we model the associated inundation using the 5 m slip model and show that Mataram is inundated ~55–140 m inland along the northern coast and ~230 m along the southern coast, with maximum flow depths of ~2–3 m. Our study highlights that the early tsunami arrival in Mataram, Lombok gives little time for residents to evacuate. Raising their awareness about the potential for locally generated tsunamis and the need for evacuation plans is important to help them respond immediately after experiencing strong ground shaking.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karen Lythgoe ◽  
Muzi Muzli ◽  
Win Oo ◽  
Hongyu Zeng ◽  
Rahmat Triyono ◽  
...  

&lt;p&gt;Supershear earthquakes have significant implications for seismic hazard, in terms of&amp;#160; ground shaking and aftershock pattern. It has been suggested that supershear ruptures are associated with fewer aftershocks on the supershear rupture segment, however this needs to be tested using high resolution event locations. Current aftershock catalogues for the M7.5 Palu 2018 supershear rupture are not of sufficient resolution to identify any characteristic aftershock pattern. Additionally it is unclear whether the supershear rupture speed occurred from the time of earthquake initiation, or at a later time on a certain segment of the fault.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;We deployed a nodal array to record aftershocks following the main event. The array comprised of twenty short-period nodes, which can be deployed rapidly, making them ideal for post-rupture investigations in areas of sparse coverage. We expand the earthquake catalogue by applying template matching to the nodal array data. We then relocate seismicity recorded by the array using a double difference method. We also relocate seismicity that occurred before the array was active, using a relative relocation method. To do this, we calibrate the more distant permanent stations using events well-located by the nodal array. We further derive moment tensors for the largest events by waveform modelling using short-period and broadband records.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Our results show that the aftershocks cluster at the northern and southern extents of rupture. There is a relative dearth of aftershocks in the middle part of the rupture, particularly in the Palu valley, where rupture terminated to the surface. The fault here is a long and straight distinctive geomorphic feature. Many secondary faults were triggered, particularly in the southern Sapu valley fault system. An earthquake swarm was triggered 1 month after the main event on a strike-slip fault 200km away.&lt;/p&gt;


Author(s):  
Lars Ottemöller ◽  
Won-Young Kim ◽  
Felix Waldhauser ◽  
Norunn Tjåland ◽  
Winfried Dallmann

Abstract An earthquake sequence in the Storfjorden offshore area southwest of Spitsbergen in the Svalbard archipelago initiated with a 21 February 2008 magnitude Mw 6.1 event. This area had previously not produced any significant earthquakes, but between 2008 and 2020, a total of ∼2800 earthquakes were detected, with ∼16 of them being of moderate size (ML≥4.0). Applying double-difference relocation to improve relative locations reveals that the activity is linked to several subparallel faults striking southwest–northeast that extend across the entire crust. The southwest–northeast trend is also found as a possible fault plane from regional moment tensor inversion. The solutions range from oblique normal in the center of the cluster to pure strike slip farther away and are consistent with the compressional σ1 axis roughly in the east–west direction and plunging 57°, and the extensional σ3 axis subhorizontal trending north–south. The mainshock fault is steeply dipping to the southeast, but several other faults appear to be near vertical. The existence of oblique, right-lateral strike-slip motion on southwest–northeast-trending faults with a normal component and pure normal faulting events in between suggests transtensional tectonics that in and around Storfjorden result in activation of a complex fault system.


2019 ◽  
Vol 112 (2) ◽  
pp. 182-194
Author(s):  
Sven Schippkus ◽  
Helmut Hausmann ◽  
Zacharie Duputel ◽  
Götz Bokelmann ◽  
_ _

AbstractWe present our results on the fault geometry of the Alland earthquake sequence in eastern Austria (Eastern Alps) and discuss its implications for the regional stress regime and active tectonics. The series contains 71 known events with local magnitudes 0.1 ≤ ML ≤ 4.2 that occurred in between 2016 and 2017. We locate the earthquakes in a regional 3D velocity model to find absolute locations. These locations are then refined by relocating all events relative to each other using a double-difference approach, based on relative travel times measured from waveform cross-correlation and catalogue data. We also invert for the moment tensor of the ML = 4.2 mainshock by fitting synthetic waveforms to the recorded seismo-grams using a combination of the L1- and L2-norms of the waveform differences. Direct comparison of waveforms of the largest events in the sequence suggests that all of them ruptured with very similar mechanisms. We find that the sequence ruptured a reverse fault, that is dipping with ~30° towards ~north-northeast (NNE) at 6–7 km depth. This is supported by both the hypocentres and the mainshock source mechanism. The fault is most likely located in the buried basement of the Bohemian massif, the “Bohemian Spur”. This (reverse) fault has a nearly perpendicular orientation to the normal-fault structures of the Vienna Basin Transfer Fault System further east at a shallower depth, indicating a lateral stress decoupling that can also act as a vertical stress decoupling in some places. In the west, earthquakes (at a larger depth within the upper crust) show compressive stresses, whereas the Vienna Basin to the east shows extensional (normal-faulting) stress. This provides insight into the regional stress field and its spatial variation, and it helps to better understand earthquakes in the area, including the “1590 Ried am Riederberg” earthquake.


2012 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 2311-2328 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Polonia ◽  
L. Torelli ◽  
L. Gasperini ◽  
P. Mussoni

Abstract. The Calabrian Arc (CA) subduction complex is located at the toe of the Eurasian Plate in the Ionian Sea, where sediments resting on the lower plate have been scraped off and piled up in the accretionary wedge due to the African/Eurasian plate convergence and back arc extension. The CA has been struck repeatedly by destructive historical earthquakes, but knowledge of active faults and source parameters is relatively poor, particularly for seismogenic structures extending offshore. We analysed the fine structure of major tectonic features likely to have been sources of past earthquakes: (i) the NNW–SSE trending Malta STEP (Slab Transfer Edge Propagator) fault system, representing a lateral tear of the subduction system; (ii) the out-of-sequence thrusts (splay faults) at the rear of the salt-bearing Messinian accretionary wedge; and (iii) the Messina Straits fault system, part of the wide deformation zone separating the western and eastern lobes of the accretionary wedge. Our findings have implications for seismic hazard in southern Italy, as we compile an inventory of first order active faults that may have produced past seismic events such as the 1908, 1693 and 1169 earthquakes. These faults are likely to be source regions for future large magnitude events as they are long, deep and bound sectors of the margin characterized by different deformation and coupling rates on the plate interface.


Geosciences ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 28
Author(s):  
Gaetano Festa ◽  
Guido Maria Adinolfi ◽  
Alessandro Caruso ◽  
Simona Colombelli ◽  
Grazia De Landro ◽  
...  

Seismic sequences are a powerful tool to locally infer geometrical and mechanical properties of faults and fault systems. In this study, we provided detailed location and characterization of events of the 3–7 July 2020 Irpinia sequence (southern Italy) that occurred at the northern tip of the main segment that ruptured during the 1980 Irpinia earthquake. Using an autocorrelation technique, we detected more than 340 events within the sequence, with local magnitude ranging between −0.5 and 3.0. We thus provided double difference locations, source parameter estimation, and focal mechanisms determination for the largest quality events. We found that the sequence ruptured an asperity with a size of about 800 m, along a fault structure having a strike compatible with the one of the main segments of the 1980 Irpinia earthquake, and a dip of 50–55° at depth of 10.5–12 km and 60–65° at shallower depths (7.5–9 km). Low stress drop release (average of 0.64 MPa) indicates a fluid-driven initiation mechanism of the sequence. We also evaluated the performance of the earthquake early warning systems running in real-time during the sequence, retrieving a minimum size for the blind zone in the area of about 15 km.


2021 ◽  
Vol 58 ◽  
pp. 200
Author(s):  
Dimitrios Galanakis ◽  
Sotiris Sboras ◽  
Garyfalia Konstantopoulou ◽  
Markos Xenakis

On March 3, 2021, a strong (Mw6.3) earthquake occurred near the towns of Tyrnavos and Elassona. One day later (March 4), a second strong (Mw6.0) earthquake occurred just a few kilometres toward the WNW. The aftershock spatial distribution and the focal mechanisms revealed NW-SE-striking normal faulting. The focal mechanisms also revealed a NE-SW oriented extensional stress field, different from the orientation we knew so far (ca. N-S). The magnitude and location of the two strongest shocks, and the spatiotemporal evolution of the sequence, strongly suggest that two adjacent fault segments were ruptured respectively. The sequence was followed by several coseismic ground deformational phenomena, such as landslides/rockfalls, liquefaction and ruptures. The landslides and rockfalls were mostly associated with the ground shaking. The ruptures were observed west of the Titarissios River, near to the Quaternary faults found by bore-hole lignite investigation. In the same direction, a fault scarp separating the alpidic basement from the alluvial deposits of the Titarissios valley implies the occurrence of a well-developed fault system. Some of the ground ruptures were accompanied by extensive liquefaction phenomena. Others cross-cut reinforced concrete irrigation channels without changing their direction. We suggest that this fault system was partially reactivated, as a secondary surface rupture, during the sequence as a steeper splay of a deeper low-to-moderate angle normal fault.


Author(s):  
Lee M. Liberty ◽  
Zachery M. Lifton ◽  
T. Dylan Mikesell

Abstract We report on the tectonic framework, seismicity, and aftershock monitoring efforts related to the 31 March 2020 Mw 6.5 Stanley, Idaho, earthquake. The earthquake sequence has produced both strike-slip and dip-slip motion, with minimal surface displacement or damage. The earthquake occurred at the northern limits of the Sawtooth normal fault. This fault separates the Centennial tectonic belt, a zone of active seismicity within the Basin and Range Province, from the Idaho batholith to the west and Challis volcanic belt to the north and east. We show evidence for a potential kinematic link between the northeast-dipping Sawtooth fault and the southwest-dipping Lost River fault. These opposing faults have recorded four of the five M≥6 Idaho earthquakes from the past 76 yr, including 1983 Mw 6.9 Borah Peak and the 1944 M 6.1 and 1945 M 6.0 Seafoam earthquakes. Geological and geophysical data point to possible fault boundary segments driven by pre-existing geologic structures. We suggest that the limits of both the Sawtooth and Lost River faults extend north beyond their mapped extent, are influenced by the relic trans-Challis fault system, and that seismicity within this region will likely continue for the coming years. Ongoing seismic monitoring efforts will lead to an improved understanding of ground shaking potential and active fault characteristics.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seyyedmaalek Momeni

&lt;div&gt;&lt;span&gt;Seismic history of the North Tabriz fault (NTF), the main active fault of Northwestern Iran near Tabriz city, and its relation to the Sahand active Volcano (SND), the second high mountain of the NW Iran, and to the 11 August 2012 Ahar-Varzaghan earthquake doublet (Mw6.5&amp;6.3) (AVD), is investigated. I infer that before AVD seismicity of the central segment of NTF close to SND was very low compared to its neighbor segments. Magmatic activities and thermal springs near central NTF close to Bostan-Abad city and low-velocity anomalies reported beneath SND toward NTF in tomography studies suggest that the existing heat due to SND magma chamber has increased the pore-fluid pressure that overcomes the effective normal stress on the central NTF, resulting in its creep behaviour. Two peaks of cumulative scalar seismic moments of earthquakes observed on both lobes of the creeping segment, confirming the strong difference in the deformation rate between these segments. On 2012, AVD struck in the 50 km North of NTF, in the same longitude range to SND and with the same right-lateral strike-slip mechanism to NTF, as a result of partial transfer of the right-lateral deformation of NW Iran toward the North of NTF on the Ahar-Varzaghan fault system. A cumulative aseismic slip equal to an Mw6.8 event is estimated for the creeping segment of NTF, posing half of the 7mmy-1 geodetic deformation has happened in the creep mode. This event has transferred a positive Coulomb stress field of &gt;1 bar on the AVD and triggered them. Also, the western and eastern NTF segments received &gt;4 bar of positive Coulomb stresses from the creeping segment and are probable nucleation locations for future earthquakes on NTF. The observed creep may be the reason for the NTF segmentation during the 1721AD M7.6 and 1780 AD M7.4 historical earthquakes.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabien Caroir ◽  
Frank Chanier ◽  
Virginie Gaullier ◽  
Julien Bailleul ◽  
Agnès Maillard-Lenoir ◽  
...  

&lt;p&gt;The Anatolia-Aegean microplate is currently extruding toward the South and the South-West. This extrusion is classically attributed to the southward retreat of the Aegean subduction zone together with the northward displacement of the Arabian plate. The displacement of Aegean-Anatolian block relative to Eurasia is accommodated by dextral motion along the North Anatolian Fault (NAF), with current slip rates of about 20 mm/yr. The NAF is propagating westward within the North Aegean domain where it gets separated into two main branches, one of them bordering the North Aegean Trough (NAT). This particular context is responsible for dextral and normal stress regimes between the Aegean plate and the Eurasian plate. South-West of the NAT, there is no identified major faults in the continuity of the NAF major branch and the plate boundary deformation is apparently distributed within a wide domain. This area is characterised by slip rates of 20 to 25 mm/yr relative to Eurasian plate but also by clockwise rotation of about 10&amp;#176; since ca 4 Myr. It constitutes a major extensional area involving three large rift basins: the Corinth Gulf, the Almiros Basin and the Sperchios-North Evia Gulf. The latter develops in the axis of the western termination of the NAT, and is therefore a key area to understand the present-day dynamics and the evolution of deformation within this diffuse plate boundary area.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Our study is mainly based on new structural data from field analysis and from very high resolution seismic reflexion profiles (Sparker 50-300 Joules) acquired during the WATER survey in July-August 2017 onboard the R/V &amp;#8220;T&amp;#233;thys II&amp;#8221;, but also on existing data on recent to active tectonics (i.e. earthquakes distribution, focal mechanisms, GPS data, etc.). The results from our new marine data emphasize the structural organisation and the evolution of the deformation within the North Evia region, SW of the NAT.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The combination of our structural analysis (offshore and onshore data) with available data on active/recent deformation led us to define several structural domains within the North Evia region, at the western termination of the North Anatolian Fault. The North Evia Gulf shows four main fault zones, among them the Central Basin Fault Zone (CBFZ) which is obliquely cross-cutting the rift basin and represents the continuity of the onshore Kamena Vourla - Arkitsa Fault System (KVAFS). Other major fault zones, such as the Aedipsos Politika Fault System (APFS) and the Melouna Fault Zone (MFZ) played an important role in the rift initiation but evolved recently with a left-lateral strike-slip motion. Moreover, our seismic dataset allowed to identify several faults in the Skopelos Basin including a large NW-dipping fault which affects the bathymetry and shows an important total vertical offset (&gt;300m). Finally, we propose an update of the deformation pattern in the North Evia region including two lineaments with dextral motion that extend southwestward the North Anatolian Fault system into the Oreoi Channel and the Skopelos Basin. Moreover, the North Evia Gulf domain is dominated by active N-S extension and sinistral reactivation of former large normal faults.&lt;/p&gt;


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