Surface deformation during the Mw 6.4 (8 June 2008) Movri Mountain earthquake in the Peloponnese, and its implications for the seismotectonics of western Greece

Abstract

The Movri Mountain earthquake (Mw 6.4), western Greece, was likely caused by dextral‐slip along a blind high‐angle fault, and generated a complex pattern of co‐seismic surface ruptures southwest of the Gulf of Corinth. The mapped Nisi, Michoi, and Vithoulkas rupture segments have similar lengths (5–6 km) and vertical offset on the order of 25, 10, and 5 cm, respectively. They are commonly expressed as straight or jagged linear traces with secondary cracks radiating from the main segments. Horizontal slip vector analysis indicates extensional faulting processes for all rupture segments. Although these faults exert some control on the fluvial drainage pattern and at least one of them was ruptured during past events, their escarpments are poorly preserved. The indistinct topographic expression of the studied faults and their complex rupture patterns can be attributed to the distribution of the deformation over a blind fault.