Source parameters of the 2016-2017 Central Italy earthquake sequence from the Sentinel-1, ALOS-2 and GPS data

Abstract

In this study, joint inversions of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) and Global Position System (GPS) measurements are used to investigate the source parameters of four Mw > 5 events of the 2016-2017 Central Italy earthquake sequence. The results show that the four events are all associated with a normal fault striking northwest-southeast and dipping southwest. The observations, in all cases, are consistent with slip on a rupture plane, with strike in the range of 157° to 164° and dip in the range of 39° to 44° that penetrates the uppermost crust to a depth of 0 to 8 km. The primary characteristics of these four events are that the 24 August 2016 Mw 6.2 Amatrice earthquake had pronounced heterogeneity of the slip distribution marked by two main slip patches, the 26 October 2016 Mw 6.1 Visso earthquake had a concentrated slip at 3-6 km, and the predominant slip of the 30 October 2016 Mw 6.6 Norcia earthquake occurred on the fault with a peak magnitude of 2.5 m at a depth of 0-6 km, suggesting that the rupture may have reached the surface, and the 18 January 2017 Mw 5.7 Campotosto earthquake had a large area of sliding at depth 3-9 km. The positive static stress changes on the fault planes of the latter three events demonstrate that the 24 August 2016 Amatrice earthquake may have triggered a cascading failure of earthquakes along the complex normal fault system in Central Italy.