Partitioned postseismic deformation associated with the 2009 Mw 6.3 L'Aquila earthquake surface rupture measured using a terrestrial laser scanner

Wilkinson, M.; McCaffrey, K.J.W.; Roberts, G.P.; Cowie, P.A.; Phillips, R.J.; Michetti, A.; Vittori, E.; Guerrieri, L.; Blumetti, A.M.; Bubeck, A.; Yates, A.; Sileo, G.

doi:10.1029/2010gl043099

Partitioned postseismic deformation associated with the 2009 Mw 6.3 L'Aquila earthquake surface rupture measured using a terrestrial laser scanner

Wilkinson, M.; McCaffrey, K.J.W.; Roberts, G.P.; Cowie, P.A.; Phillips, R.J.; Michetti, A.; Vittori, E.; Guerrieri, L.; Blumetti, A.M.; Bubeck, A.; Yates, A.; Sileo, G.

Authors

M. Wilkinson

Professor Kenneth Mccaffrey k.j.w.mccaffrey@durham.ac.uk
Professor

G.P. Roberts

P.A. Cowie

R.J. Phillips

A. Michetti

E. Vittori

L. Guerrieri

A.M. Blumetti

A. Bubeck

A. Yates

G. Sileo

Abstract

Using 3D terrestrial laser scan (TLS) technology, we have recorded postseismic deformation on and adjacent to the surface rupture formed during the 6th April 2009 L'Aquila normal faulting earthquake (Mw 6.3). Using surface modeling techniques and repeated surveys 8–124 days after the earthquake, we have produced a 4D dataset of postseismic deformation across a 3 × 65 m area at high horizontal spatial resolution. We detected millimetre-scale movements partitioned between discrete surface rupture slip and development of a hangingwall syncline over 10's of meters. We interpret the results as the signal of shallow afterslip in the fault zone. We find 52% of the total postseismic hangingwall vertical motion occurs as deformation within 30 m of the surface rupture. The total postseismic vertical motions are approximately 50% that of the coseismic. We highlight the importance of quantifying partitioned postseismic contributions when applying empirical slip-magnitude datasets to infer palaeoearthquake magnitudes.

Citation

Wilkinson, M., McCaffrey, K., Roberts, G., Cowie, P., Phillips, R., Michetti, A., …Sileo, G. (2010). Partitioned postseismic deformation associated with the 2009 Mw 6.3 L'Aquila earthquake surface rupture measured using a terrestrial laser scanner. Geophysical Research Letters, 37, Article L10309. https://doi.org/10.1029/2010gl043099

Journal Article Type	Article
Publication Date	May 1, 2010
Deposit Date	May 6, 2010
Publicly Available Date	Feb 8, 2012
Journal	Geophysical Research Letters
Print ISSN	0094-8276
Publisher	Wiley
Peer Reviewed	Peer Reviewed
Volume	37
Article Number	L10309
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1029/2010gl043099