COSEISMIC DEFORMATION FIELD AND FAULT SLIP DISTRIBUTION OF THE 2015 CHILE Mw8.3 EARTHQUAKE

Abstract

Abstract. On September 16, 2015, a magnitude 8.3 earthquake struck west of Illapel, Chile. We analyzed Sentinel-1A/IW InSAR data on the descending track acquired before and after the Chile Mw8.3 earthquake of 16 September 2015. We found that the coseismic deformation field of this event consists of many semi circular fringes protruding to east in an approximately 300km long and 190km wide region. The maximum coseismic displacement is about 1.33m in LOS direction corresponding to subsidence or westward shift of the ground. We inverted the coseismic fault slip based on a small-dip single plane fault model in a homogeneous elastic half space. The inverted coseismic slip mainly concentrates at shallow depth above the hypocenter with a symmetry shape. The rupture length along strike is about 340 km with maximum slip of about 8.16m near the trench. The estimated moment is 3.126×1021 N.m (Mw8.27)，the maximum depth of coseismic slip near zero appears to 50km. We also analyzed the postseismic deformation fields using four interferograms with different time intervals. The results show that postseismic deformation occurred in a narrow area of approximately 65km wide with maximum slip 11cm, and its predominant motion changes from uplift to subsidence with time. that is to say, at first, the postseismic deformation direction is opposite to that of coseismic deformation, then it tends to be consistent with coseismic deformation.It maybe indicates the differences and changes in the velocity between the Nazca oceanic plate and the South American continental plate.