SENTINEL-1 PROCESSING AND ANALYSIS TO ESTIMATE GROUND DISPLACEMENT AND IDENTIFY ACTIVATION FAULTS, CASE STUDY OF THE 2017 Mw 7.3 EARTHQUAKE, NEAR THE IRAQ-IRAN BORDER (original) (raw)
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MDPI, 2024
On 14 November 2021, a doublet earthquake, each event of which had an Mw of 6.1, struck near Fin in the Simply Folded Belt (SFB) in southern Iran. The first quake occurred at 12:07:04 UTC, followed by a second one just a minute and a half later. The SFB is known for its blind thrust faults, typically not associated with surface ruptures. These earthquakes are usually linked to the middle and lower layers of the sedimentary cover. Identifying the faults that trigger earthquakes in the region remains a significant challenge and is subject to high uncertainty. This study aims to identify and determine the fault(s) that may have caused the doublet earthquake. To achieve this goal, we utilized the DInSAR method using Sentinel-1 to detect deformation, followed by finite-fault inversion and magnetic interpretation to determine the location, geometry, and slip distribution of the fault(s). Bayesian probabilistic joint inversion was used to model the earthquake sources and derive the geometric parameters of potential fault planes. The study presents two potential fault solutions—one dipping to the north and the other to the south. Both solutions showed no significant difference in strike and fault location, suggesting a single fault. Based on the results of the seismic inversion, it appears that a north-dipping fault with a strike, dip, and rake of 257°, 74°, and 77°, respectively, is more consistent with the geological setting of the area. The fault plane has a width of roughly 3.6 km, a length of 13.4 km, and a depth of 5.6 km. Our results revealed maximum displacements along the radar line of sight reaching values of up to −360 mm in the ascending orbit, indicating an unknown fault with horizontal displacements at the surface ranging from −144 to 170 mm and maximum vertical displacements between −204 and 415 mm. Aeromagnetic data for Iran were utilized with an average flight-line spacing of 7.5 km. The middle of the data observation period was considered to apply the RTP filter, and the DRTP method was used. We calculated the gradient of the residual anomaly in the N-S direction due to the direction of the existing faults and folds. The gradient map identified the fault and potential extension of the observed anomalies related to a fault with an ENE-WSW strike, which could extend to the ~ E-W. We suggest that earthquakes occur in the sedimentary cover of the SFB where subsurface faulting is involved, with Hormuz salt acting as an important barrier to rupture. The multidisciplinary approach used in this study, including InSAR and magnetic data, underscores the importance of accurate fault characterization. These findings provide valuable insights into the seismic hazard of the area.
The Quetta Syntaxis in western Baluchistan, Pakistan, is the result of an oroclinal bend of the western mountain belt and serves as a junction for different faults. As this area also lies close to the left-lateral strike-slip Chaman fault, which marks the boundary between the Indian and Eurasian plates, the resulting seismological behavior of this regime is very complex. In the region of the Quetta Syntaxis, close to the fold and thrust belt of the Sulaiman and Kirthar Ranges, an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.4 (Mw) occurred on October 28, 2008, which was followed by a doublet on the very next day. Six more shocks associated with these major events then occurred (one foreshock and five aftershocks), with moment magnitudes greater than 4. Numerous researchers have tried to explain the source of this sequence based on seismological, GPS, and Environmental Satellite (ENVISAT)/Advanced Synthetic Aperture Radar (ASAR) data. Here, we used Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS)/Phased Array-type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR) InSAR data sets from both ascending and descending orbits that allow us to more completely detect the deformation signals around the epicentral region. The results indicated that the shock sequence can be explained by two right-lateral and two left lateral strike-slip faults that also included reverse slip. The right-lateral faults have a curved geometry. Moreover, whereas previous studies have explained the aftershock crustal deformation with a different fault source, we found that the same left-lateral segment of the conjugate fault was responsible for the aftershocks. We thus confirmed the complex surface deformation signals from the moderate-sized earthquake. Intra-plate crustal bending and shortening often seem to be accommodated as conjugate faulting, without any single preferred fault orientation. We also detected two possible landslide areas along with the crustal deformation pattern.
Terra Nova, 2020
We have reinterpreted the causative fault parameters of the 2005 Zarand earthquake in the light of a new imagery study using Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar (InSAR). By conducting a joint inversion of two InSAR datasets, we can characterize the rupture as it relates to complex local structures. At first, the mainshock ruptured a nearly pure reverse fault, dipping ~65° NNW in the basement below the southeastern area of Zarand. Two more fault segments were subsequently activated: an oblique‐normal fault segment parallel to the first segment, dipping 61° to the south, and a normal‐oblique fault segment at the eastern termination of the rupture zone. The first fault segment ruptured the surface, while slip along the other two segments was confined to the lower sedimentary strata.
Geophysical Journal International, 2006
The 1994 M w 6.0 and 2004 M w 6.5 Al Hoceima earthquakes are the largest to have occurred in Morocco for 100 yr, and give valuable insight into the poorly understood tectonics of the area. Bodywave modelling indicates the earthquakes occurred on near-vertical, strike-slip faults with the nodal planes oriented NW-SE and NE-SW. Distinguishing between the primary fault plane and auxiliary planes, using either geodetic or seismic data, is difficult due to the spatial symmetry in deformation fields and radiation pattern of moderately sized, buried, strikeslip earthquakes. Preliminary studies, using aftershock locations and surface observations, have been unable to identify the orientation of the primary fault plane for either earthquake conclusively. We use radar interferometry and aftershock relocation of the earthquake sequence to resolve the ambiguity.
Remote Sensing
We study the tectonic deformation from the February 2017 shallow earthquake sequence onshore Biga Peninsula (NW Turkey, NE Aegean region). We use InSAR interferograms (Sentinel-1 satellites) to identify the seismic fault (striking N110 • E) and seismological data (parametric data and Moment Tensor solutions from NOA and KOERI catalogues) so as to refine its geometry and kinematics using inversion techniques. Despite the moderate magnitudes of the main events of the sequence (5.0 ≤ M w ≤ 5.2), the total surface deformation is 2.2 fringes (or maximum 6.2 cm along LOS) and it is well visible with InSAR because of the shallow depth of the four main events (6-8 km) and the good coherence of the signal phase. Our geodetic inversion showed that the fault has normal-slip kinematics, dimensions of 6 by 6 km (length, width) and dips at 45 •. The InSAR data are fitted by a uniform slip of 28 cm. In addition, 429 earthquakes were relocated with the HypoDD software and the use of a 1-D velocity model. The dip-direction of the fault is not retrievable from InSAR, but a south-dipping plane is clear from seismology and the aftershocks distribution. The spatial distribution of relocated events indicates the activation of one fault with a rupture zone length of about 10 km, a result of the occurrence of off-fault aftershocks along strike the main rupture. A stress inversion using 20 focal mechanisms (M ≥ 3.6; NOA solutions) indicates that faulting accommodates a N196 • E extension. It is confirmed that moderate (5.0 ≤ M ≤ 5.2) shallow events can be traced in InSAR studies and can produce surface displacements that provide useful data in fault inversion.
Geophysical Journal International, 2006
In 1994, three shallow earthquakes of Mw∼ 6 occurred close together on blind thrusts near Sefidabeh in eastern Iran. In an earlier study of the teleseismic waveforms, the geomorphology and the faulting in the epicentral region, it was suggested that these earthquakes were associated with the growth of a ridge above a blind thrust fault system, whose activity could be detected by its effect on the surface drainage. In this study we present a SAR interferogram that precisely determines the location and amount of coseismic surface displacements, showing that the earthquakes in the Sefidabeh sequence probably occurred on en-echelon fault segments associated with three stepping ridges. We also present U/Th dates of ∼100 ka for lake deposits uplifted by the growing ridge. From the cumulative, dated uplift and knowledge of the surface displacements due to an earthquake sequence, we estimate that ∼120 such events have occurred in the past 100 ka, with an average recurrence interval of 830 yr, and an average convergence rate of 1.5 mm yr−1 on the Sefidabeh thrust; each estimate has an uncertainty of a factor of two, either way. We argue that the Sefidabeh fault originally formed by coalescence of many small fault segments, and has grown in length at about 2 cm yr−1 in the past 100 ka. Though the coseismic surface deformation observed in the SAR interferogram closely resembles folding, the overall topography does not, because of inherited topography associated with earlier geological deformation. In spite of this, the activity of the buried thrust fault can easily be detected by its effect on the surface drainage: a significant lesson when interpreting landscapes that are not entirely due to the present-day deformation.
Earthquake-Related Fault Zone Compliance by Seismic Probing of InSar Anomalies
An extensive seismic experiment using 100 three-component seismometers (40 broad-band and 60 short-period stations) were installed by researchers from USC, UCSD, and UCLA around the Calico fault in Mojave Desert in 2006 for a seismic investigation of fault-zone compliance shown by InSar anomalies (Fig. 1). All recorders were synchronized through GPS that also provide the coordinates of station locations. We successfully recorded the data from 3 shot-hole explosions and hundreds of aftershocks of the 1992 M7.4 Landers and 1999 M7.1 Hector Mine earthquakes as well as a quite bit of telemetry earthquakes (Fig. 2). The preliminary results from tomography and faultzone trapped wave modeling for the data show a 1 to 2 km wide low-velocity damage zone (LVZ) on the Calico fault, in good agreement with the InSAR-derived compliant zone [Fialko et al., 2002; Fialko, 2004]. The initial analysis also indicates along-strike variations in the degree of damage, with a wider, or perhaps more severe damage zone on the Calico fault to the northwest of the array than to the southeast [Cochran, Li et al., 2006; 2007]. These findings indicate that faults can affect rock properties at significant distances from the primary fault slip surfaces, a result with implications for the portion of energy expended during rupture to drive the cracking and yielding of rock. The data from more local and telemetry events allow us to obtain a more detailed delineation of the LVZ on the Calico fault along the strike and with depth. We thus aim to reconcile the seismic and InSAR anomalies to produce an integrated structural model of the earthquake damage zone around a major strike-slip fault in the Eastern California Shear Zone. Fig. 1 Left: Map shows locations of the square-type dense seismic array (red square) consisting of 100 PASSCAL RT130 seismometers with 40-T and L22 three-component sensors deployed at the Calico fault in Mojave Desert, Southern California in 2006. Red stars denote the 1992 M7.4 Landers earthquake and the 1999 M7.1 Hector Mine earthquake [Fialko, 2002]. 3 explosions SP1, SP2 and SP3 are detonated within and outside the fault zone. Right: Map shows InSar strain anomalies caused by the 1999 M7.1 Hector Mine Earthquake.
2021
The largest earthquake in the Zagros Mountains struck the city of Azgeleh on the Iran-Iraq border on 12 November 2017. This M w 7.3 earthquake was followed by an intense seismic sequence. Implementing the double-difference earthquake location technique, we relocate 1069 events recorded by our local seismic network, deployed after the mainshock. The spatial distribution of the epicenters indicates linear alignments of the events nucleated along at least four notable clusters. The clusters are characterized by at least one significant earthquake, such as the Tazehabad earthquake of 25 August 2018 (M w 5.9) along a dense, east-west trending cluster and the Sarpol-e Zahab earthquake of 25 November 2018 (M w 6.3) along the cluster with a northeast-southwest trend. We use two-pass differential SAR interferometry (DInSAR) and Small BAseline Subset (SBAS) methods to study the coseismic permanent displacements of the Azgeleh, Tazehabad and Sarpol-e Zahab events as well as the one-year postseismic deformation field of the 2017-2018 seismic sequence, respectively. We use non-linear and linear optimization algorithms to derive the source geometry and the slip distribution along the fault planes. The inversion is conducted by introducing also seismological constraints, leading to the definition of a listric geometry for the Azgeleh mainshock rupture that accommodates the slip area at depth of 10-16 km along a sub-horizontal plane (dipping ~3 •) and a low-angle (~16 •) ramp. The thrust and dextral movements along this NNW-striking (~345 •) fault have triggered a tear fault responsible for the Tazehabad event ruptured an east-west trending (~267 •), north-dipping (~78 •) sinistral shear fault. We present the dextral slip distribution of the Sarpol-e Zahab event along a NE-striking (~34 •) fault, as a synthetic Riedel structure for the southern segment of the Khanaqin fault, dipping 63 • to the southeast. We find the postseismic deformation field associated with the seismic sequence is not confined only to the mainshock source (the Azgeleh fault), but also develops along the Tazehabad and Sarpol-e Zahab faults. We additionally propose afterslip along a duplex, flat-ramp-flat structure down-dip and up-dip of the Azgeleh coseismic slip area. The up-dip afterslip develops onto the shallow detachment (~3 •) at depth of ~8 km and the down-dip afterslip propagate onto the mid-crustal décollement level within the Pan-African basement. The Azgeleh, Tazehabad, Sarpol-e Zahab and Khanaqin faults mark the Lurestan Arc-Kirkuk Embayment sharp margin in the Northwest Zagros and play a key role in the lateral escape of the Lurestan Salient and vertical strain partitioning in the Zagros front.