Coseismic and post-seismic characteristics of the 2021 Ganaveh earthquake along the Zagros foredeep fault based on InSAR data

Abstract

SUMMARY The Ganaveh earthquake on 2021 April 18 (Mw 5.8) occurred in the southwest of the Dezful embayment of the Zagros Mountain belt, Iran, as a mainly compressive event. The InSAR coseismic displacement maps reveal a maximum of 17 cm of surface displacement in the satellite line of sight direction. InSAR inversion indicates a low-angle NE-dipping causative fault plane with a maximum slip of 95 cm at ∼6 km depth. It highlights the occurrence of the Ganaveh earthquake within the competent layers of the Zagros sedimentary cover, beneath the Gachsaran formation. A slight sinistral slip component (2.9 cm) is retrieved which is compatible with the USGS focal mechanism. Time-series analysis of SAR images after the main shock until the end of 2021 indicates a maximum of 7 cm of post-seismic surface displacement with a similar strike and pattern as the coseismic phase. This similarity and the distribution of aftershocks suggest an afterslip mechanism for the post-seismic phase. The inversion of post-seismic cumulative displacement evaluates a maximum of 30 cm slip at a depth of ∼5 km along the coseismic causative fault. A regional compressional stress regime (N041°E for the direction of the σ1 stress axis) is constrained by using the focal mechanisms of 39 earthquakes occurring between 1968 and 2021, including the Ganaveh main shock and its five larger aftershocks. Applying this direction of compression on the Ganaveh fault plane also results in a minor sinistral movement, consistent with the geodetic results. The relocated main shock and aftershocks as well as our InSAR coseismic displacement situations on the hanging wall of the Zagros Foredeep fault highlight it as the causative fault of the Ganaveh earthquake. To fit the geometry of the Ganaveh rupture plane with the Zagros Foredeep fault, we modelled a listric fault plane and its slip distribution using the available geological data. The retrieved slip variation on the listric plane is in close agreement with the slip pattern on the modelled planar geometry. The low dip angle of the rupture plane combined with a listric geometry highlights the thin-skin characteristics of the Zagros Foredeep fault as the causative fault of the Ganaveh earthquake. The occurrence of this moderate magnitude earthquake on the Zagros Foredeep fault underlines its role as the western structural boundary for the recurrence of Mb > 5 events in the Dezful embayment.