Geodetic evidence for conjugate faulting during the 1988 Tennant Creek, Australia earthquake sequence

Abstract

SUMMARY Repeat levelling measurements and detailed topographic profiles from the epicentral area of the 1988 January 22 Tennant Creek, Australia earthquakes are used to constrain the geometry of faulting associated with three M 6+ earthquakes. The observed elevation changes are modelled assuming elastic deformation and uniform slip on several faults. The vertical deformation data are poorly fit by a single-fault model, and require at least three distinct faults. In the preferred model, two faults on either end of the zone of surface rupture have similar orientations, but the central fault has an orientation conjugate to the flanking faults. This interpretation is consistent with the identification of the fault planes with well-defined, dipping zones of aftershock hypocentres determined with data from portable seismograph arrays. It is also consistent with the sense of surficial deformation documented by 75 topographic profiles across the scarps. However, a fourth fault associated with possible conjugate faulting in the central fault segment at the time of the second main shock is not required by the levelling data.