Near-field deformation from the El Mayor-Cucapah earthquake revealed by differential LIDAR.
Large [moment magnitude (M(w)) ≥ 7] continental earthquakes often generate complex, multifault ruptures linked by enigmatic zones of distributed deformation. Here, we report the collection and results of a high-resolution (≥nine returns per square meter) airborne light detection and ranging (LIDAR) topographic survey of the 2010 M(w) 7.2 El Mayor-Cucapah earthquake that produced a 120-kilometer-long multifault rupture through northernmost Baja California, Mexico. This differential LIDAR survey completely captures an earthquake surface rupture in a sparsely vegetated region with pre-earthquake lower-resolution (5-meter-pixel) LIDAR data. The postevent survey reveals numerous surface ruptures, including previously undocumented blind faults within thick sediments of the Colorado River delta. Differential elevation changes show distributed, kilometer-scale bending strains as large as ~10(3) microstrains in response to slip along discontinuous faults cutting crystalline bedrock of the Sierra Cucapah.
Department of Geology, University of California, Davis, 1 Shields Avenue, Davis, CA 95618, USA. meoskin@ucdavis.edu
Michael E
ME
Oskin
J Ramon
JR
Arrowsmith
Alejandro
A
Hinojosa Corona
Austin J
AJ
Elliott
John M
JM
Fletcher
Eric J
EJ
Fielding
Peter O
PO
Gold
J Javier
JJ
Gonzalez Garcia
Ken W
KW
Hudnut
Jing
J
Liu-Zeng
Orlando J
OJ
Teran