Egu2007 A 04866

Geophysical Research Abstracts, Vol.
9, 04866, 2007
SRef-ID: 1607-7962/gra/EGU2007-A-04866
© European Geosciences Union 2007
Refined fault model for the Mw =6.3, June 15, 1995

Aigion EQ (Greece) derived from InSAR data and
implications for extensional tectonics of the western
Corinth rift
D. O. Nitti (1), F. Bovenga (1), A. Ganas (2), R. Nutricato (1), A. Refice (3), M.T.
Chiaradia (1)
(1) Dipartimento Interateneo di Fisica, Via Amendola 173, Bari (Italy), Tel. +39 0805442396,
Fax: +39 0805443144, (2) Institute of Geodynamics, National Observatory of Athens, 11810
Athens, Greece, aganas@gein.noa.gr (3) ISSIA-CNR, Via Amendola 122/d, Bari (Italy), Tel.
+39 0805929432, +39 0805929460
On June 15th , 1995, a Mw = 6.3 earthquake struck the western part of the Gulf of
Corinth with mainshock epicentre 16 km NNE from Aigion city. The present study
presents the application of SAR interferometry (InSAR) techniques for obtaining the
co-seismic deformation pattern and inferring the fault model parameters for this seis-
mic event. A second objective is test the Rigo et al., (1996) model for active tectonics
of the western Gulf. Both ascending (Track 279, Frame 2835) and descending (Track
415, Frame 765) ERS-1/2 SAR acquisitions were initially selected within 2 years from
the mainshock, with the aim of investigating the area affected by the earthquake under
different observation directions, different atmospheric conditions and during differ-
ent seismic activity phases. Standard DInSAR processing was performed in order to
produce a stack of differential interferograms. A SRTM DEM of the area was used
to remove the topographic component from the interferometric phase. The data time
distribution appears suitable for investigating possible pre- and post-seismic activ-
ity; however, both pre-shock and after-shock interferograms do not show evidence of
any deformation pattern, as the dominant differential phase component seems princi-
pally due to atmospheric signal. An in-depth investigation of the co-seismic activity
has been instead possible thanks to several suitable interferograms obtained by using
both descending and ascending data. In both cases a co-seismic deformation pattern
is clearly visible around Cape Psaromita. The spatial distribution of fringes seems in
good agreement with that reported in the study of Bernard et al., 1997. However, at-
mospheric artefacts are recognizable, especially for daytime acquisitions. Therefore,
a stacking procedure has been performed in order to filter out the atmospheric signal
and to obtain a more reliable deformation pattern. Six complex descending differential
interferograms were selected, generated from seven acquisitions acquired between 19
August 1993 and 23 June 1996. After phase offsets correction, a weighted average
of the unwrapped interferograms was performed. The resulting differential interfero-
gram contains mainly the temporally correlated displacement signal, while the tem-
porally uncorrelated atmospheric components have been mostly filtered out. By using
this refined interferometric pattern of the deformation field, measured along the Line
Of Sight (LOS) of the ERS spacecrafts, forward and inversion procedures were per-
formed in order to obtain a new reliable fault model for the Aigion EQ. This single
fault plane solution represents a significant improvement of the Okada-like fault mod-
els proposed in Bernard et al., (1997), because the effect of the crustal layering of
the western Gulf of Corinth was included in the fault model formulation and because
of the smaller RMSe between measured and synthetic deformation pattern. Our main
findings include: a) the 1995 earthquake did not occur along the onshore Aigion Fault
b) the 1995 earthquake occurred along a low angle fault probably with increasing
dip towards the surface c) the 1995 earthquake did not rupture the surface and d) the
high-angle, antithetic faults of McNeil et al., (2005) terminate against the low angle
fault.

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Geophysical Research Abstracts, Vol.

Refined fault model for the Mw =6.3, June 15, 1995

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