The 2011MW 6.8 Burma earthquake: Fault constraints provided by multiple SAR techniques

Abstract

We used two tracks of ALOS PALSAR images to investigate the focal mechanism and slip distribution of the 2011 March 24, MW 6.8 Burma strike-slip earthquake. Three different SAR techniques, namely conventional interferometry, SAR pixel offsets (SPO) and multipleaperture InSAR (MAI), were employed to obtain the coseismic surface deformation fields along the ~30 km length of the fault rupture. Along-track measurements from SPO and MAI techniques show a high correlation, and were subsequently used to precisely determine the location and extent of the surface fault trace. The best-fitting fault model geometry derived from an iterative inversion technique suggests that the rupture occurred on a near-vertical sinistral strike-slip fault west of the Nam Ma fault with a strike of 70°. A maximum slip of 4.2m occurs at a depth of 2.5 km, with significant slip constrained only to the upper 10 km of the crust. © The Authors 2013 Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Royal Astronomical Society.