Teleseismic inversion for rupture process of the 27 February 2010 Chile (Mw 8.8) earthquake

Abstract

The 27 February 2010 Chile (Mw 8.8) earthquake is the fifth largest earthquake to strike during the age of seismological instrumentation. The faulting geometry, slip distribution, seismic moment, and moment-rate function are estimated from broadband teleseismic P, SH, and Rayleigh wave signals. We explore some of the trade-offs in the rupture-process estimation due to model parameterizations, limited teleseismic sampling of seismic phase velocities, and uncertainty in fault geometry. The average slip over the ∼81,500 km2 rupture area is about 5 m, with slip concentrations down-dip, up-dip and southwest, and up-dip and north of the hypocenter. Relatively little slip occurred up-dip/offshore of the hypocenter. The average rupture velocity is ∼2.0-2.5 km/s. © 2010 by the American Geophysical Union.