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Geodetic estimate of coseismic slip during the 1989 Loma Prieta, California, Earthquake

August 1, 1990

Offsets in the relative positions of geodetic stations resulting from the Loma Prieta earthquake can be explained with a dislocation model that includes buried oblique slip on a rupture surface extending 37 km along the strike of the San Andreas fault, dipping 70° to the SW, and extending from a depth of about 5 to 17.5 km. Assuming uniform slip on a rectangular surface, the mean values for a range of reasonable fault geometries are 1.6 ± 0.3 m right-lateral strike slip and 1.2 ±0.3 m reverse slip. Slip on an adjacent extension of the rupture to the southeast, recorded in the aftershock sequence, is not well constrained by the geodetic data. The geodetic data clearly preclude rupture extending near the surface.

Publication Year 1990
Title Geodetic estimate of coseismic slip during the 1989 Loma Prieta, California, Earthquake
DOI 10.1029/GL017i009p01437
Authors Michael Lisowski, W. H. Prescott, J. C. Savage, M.J. Johnston
Publication Type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Series Title Geophysical Research Letters
Index ID 70242607
Record Source USGS Publications Warehouse