9:15 AM - 9:40 AM
[SSS07-02] Towards a unified and worldwide database of surface ruptures (SURE) for Fault Displacement Hazard Analyses
★Invited papers
Keywords: earthquake-related hazard, surface faulting, worldwide & unified database
Correlation of pre- and post-seismic optical images is one of the interesting techniques to complete the deformation fields. This technique has been successfully applied to “historical” cases in California (1992 Landers and 1999 Hector Mine events), demonstrating that a considerable part of coseismic deformation was distributed off the major fault. Applied with high resolution images, we could map in detail the surface deformation associated with the 2016 M7.8 Kaikoura earthquake (NZ), using the sub-pixel correlator MicMac which provides reliable results especially in near-fault area. We use pairs of ortho-images to measure the horizontal coseismic displacement field. Optical satellite images from different satellites are processed (Sentinel-2A, Landsat8, etc.) to present a dense map of the surface ruptures and to analyze high density slip distribution along all major ruptures. Displacement field from optical correlation will be combined to other co-seismic measurements to figure out the 3D displacement.
Dealing with the new parameters in the database, two of them will be included first: fault geometry and segmentation, and geological nature of surficial layers. Recently, the 2010 M7.2 El Mayor-Cucapah (Mexico) studies have shown that the number of slip planes, their dip and the rupture zone thickness have been strongly influenced by them. For the Kaikoura earthquake, those aspects could be treated later, once this huge rupture will have been investigated in the field.
To date, the database, which includes the “earthquake table”, “fault portion table” and obviously “observation point table”, merges the existing databases. However, the objective is to incorporate well-known earthquake cases described in literature and to explore the post-2000 M6+ inland earthquakes that could potentially provide relevant data. A first search in the USGS earthquake database provided a catalog of 130 shallow M6+ onshore epicenters since 2000, most having occurred in Asia (China, Iran, Japan, Russia, Pakistan, Turkey, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Myanmar) and very few having reported surface rupture information. There is consequently a need for regional geologists’ participation: this will be one major task of the SURE working group in the next years and, in this perspective, the JpGU-AGU joint meeting in Japan is a unique opportunity to go ahead in gathering Asian geologists.