Assessment of the Maximum Magnitude of Strike-Slip Faults in Myanmar

Abstract

We estimate the maximum magnitude scaling relationships for strike-slip earthquakes in Myanmar based on the well-investigated coseismic fault rupture of two earthquake events in Myanmar: the 2011 Tarlay and 2012 Thabeikkyin earthquakes. We compare the relationship between the model parameters of the two earthquakes, namely the fault rupture areas (A), length (L), and slip rate (S), calculated using empirical scaling laws models with the estimated earthquake magnitude. The different maximum magnitudes resulting from the empirical scaling models suggest that using a proper scaling relationship is very important for estimating the maximum magnitude for strike-slip faults in Myanmar. This study demonstrates that earthquake magnitude from strike-slip faults in Myanmar is controlled by the fault rupture length and slip rate.