Abstract
ALTHOUGH the 1992 Landers, California, earthquake sequence occurred in an area well sampled by geodetic networks1–3, the postseismic deformation in the months following the earthquake has been measured at only 15 geodetic stations4. Another shortcoming in the geodetic coverage occurs west of the primary rupture, where the existing geodetic observations suggest, but cannot resolve, sympathetic slip on secondary faults1. Such measurements, which are needed to place the Landers earthquake sequence in the context of a recurring seismic cycle in California, can be obtained with the dense spatial coverage provided by satellite radar interferometry5–9. Here we present radar maps of the surface deformation field which reveal features that would otherwise have been poorly sampled, particularly if the earthquake had occurred in a less accessible area. We see triggered slip at the level of several centimetres as far as 100 km from the primary rupture, and can resolve the geodetic signal of at least one small (magnitude ˜5) aftershock. The amount of surface slip following the main shock is less than a decimetre, and is consistent with an exponential decay time of several months for the postseismic deformation.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Murray, M. H., Savage, J. C., Lisowski, M. & Gross, W. K. Geophys. Res. Lett. 20, 623–626 (1993).
Blewitt, G. et al. Nature 361, 340–342 (1993).
Bock, Y. et al. Nature 361, 337–340 (1993).
Shen, Z., Jackson, D., Feng, Y., Kim, M. & Cline, M. Bull. seism. Soc. Am. (in the press).
Massonnet, D. Etude de Principe d'une Détection de Mouvements Tectoniques par Radar (Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales, Toulouse, 1985).
Gabriel, A. K., Goldstein, R. M. & Zebker, H. A. J. geophys. Res. 94, 9183–9191 (1989).
Massonnet, D et al. Nature 364, 138–142 (1993).
Goldstein, R. M., Engelhardt, H., Kamb, B. & Frolich, R. M. Science 262, 1525–1530 (1993).
Zebker, H. A., Rosen, P., Goldstein, R. M., Gabriel, A. & Werner, C. L. J. geophys. Res. (submitted).
Sieh, K. et al. Science 260, 171–176 (1993).
Cohee, B. P. & Beroza, G. C. Bull. seism. Soc. Am. (in the press).
Freymueller, J., King, N. E. & Segall, P. Bull. seism. Soc. Am. (in the press).
Hudnut, K. W. et al. Bull. seism. Soc. Am. (in the press).
Wald, D. J. & Heaton, T. H. Bull. seism. Soc. Am. (in the press).
Hauksson, E., Jones, L. M., Hutton, K. & Eberhart-Phillips, D. J. geophys. Res. 98, 19835–19858 (1993).
Peltzer, G., Feigl, K. L. & Massonnet, D. EOS (suppl., Oct. 26) 74, 60 (1993).
US Geological Survey Digital Elevations Models: Data Users Guide Vol. 5 1–34 (US Govt Print. Off., Washington DC, 1993).
Massonnet, D. & Rabaute, T. IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sensing 31, 455–464 (1993).
US Geological Survey Staff EOS (suppl. Oct. 27) 73, 357–358 (1992).
Padgett, D. & Rockwell, T. EOS (suppl. Oct. 26) 74, 68 (1993).
Harris, R. A. & Simpson, R. W. Nature 360, 251–254 (1992).
Jaumé, S. C. & Sykes, L. R. Science 258, 1325–1328 (1992).
Stein, R. S., King, G. C. P. & Lin, J. Science 258, 1328–1332 (1992).
Okada, Y. Bull. seism. Soc. Am. 75, 1135–1154 (1985).
Feigl, K. L. et al. J. geophys. Res. 98, 21677–21712 (1993).
California Division Mines and Geology. Preliminary Fault Activity Map of California (Calif. Dept. of Conservation, Sacramento, 1992).
Zebker, H. A. & Villasenor, J. IEEE Trans. Geosci. Remote Sensing 30, 950–959 (1992).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Massonnet, D., Feigl, K., Rossi, M. et al. Radar interferometric mapping of deformation in the year after the Landers earthquake. Nature 369, 227–230 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1038/369227a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/369227a0
This article is cited by
-
Monitoring and Analysis of Surface Deformation in Songyuan City, Jilin Province Based on Time Series InSAR
Journal of the Indian Society of Remote Sensing (2023)
-
Volcano geodesy using InSAR in 2020: the past and next decades
Bulletin of Volcanology (2022)
-
Time series SAR interferometry approach for landslide identification in mountainous areas of Western Ghats, India
Journal of Earth System Science (2022)
-
November 08, 2019 Turkmanchay earthquake (Mw: 5.9) in NW Iran: an assessment of the earthquake using DInSAR time-series and field evidence
Natural Hazards (2021)
-
DPIM-Based InSAR Phase Unwrapping Model and a 3D Mining-Induced Surface Deformation Extracting Method: A Case of Huainan Mining Area
KSCE Journal of Civil Engineering (2021)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.