FastFind »   Lastname: doi:10.1029/ Year: | Advanced Search  

AGU: Geophysical Research Letters

 

Keywords

  • L'Aquila earthquake
  • InSAR
  • seismic hazard

Index Terms

  • Seismology: Earthquake source observations
  • Geodesy and Gravity: Tectonic deformation
  • Radio Science: Interferometry
  • Tectonophysics: Continental tectonics: extensional
  • Structural Geology: Remote sensing

Abstract

The 2009 L'Aquila earthquake (central Italy): A source mechanism and implications for seismic hazard

R. J. Walters

COMET, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

J. R. Elliott

COMET, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

N. D'Agostino

Centro Nazionale Terremoti, Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanogia, Rome, Italy

P. C. England

COMET, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

I. Hunstad

Centro Nazionale Terremoti, Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanogia, Rome, Italy

J. A. Jackson

COMET, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

B. Parsons

COMET, Department of Earth Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

R. J. Phillips

School of GeoSciences, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK

G. Roberts

Research School of Earth Sciences, University College London, London, UK

We use InSAR and body-wave seismology to determine independent source parameters for the 6th April 2009 Mw 6.3 L'Aquila earthquake and confirm that the earthquake ruptured a SW-dipping normal fault with ∼0.6–0.8 m slip. The causative Paganica fault had been neglected relative to other nearby range-frontal faults, partly because it has a subdued geomorphological expression in comparison with these faults. The L'Aquila earthquake occurred in an area with a marked seismic deficit relative to geodetically determined strain accumulation. We use our source model to calculate stress changes on nearby faults produced by the L'Aquila earthquake and we find that several of these faults have been brought closer to failure.

Received 26 May 2009; accepted 7 August 2009; published 5 September 2009.

Citation: Walters, R. J., J. R. Elliott, N. D'Agostino, P. C. England, I. Hunstad, J. A. Jackson, B. Parsons, R. J. Phillips, and G. Roberts (2009), The 2009 L'Aquila earthquake (central Italy): A source mechanism and implications for seismic hazard, Geophys. Res. Lett., 36, L17312, doi:10.1029/2009GL039337.

Cited By

Please wait one moment ...