Inverting for slip on three-dimensional fault surfaces using angular dislocations" Bulletin Of The Seismological Society Of America 95.5 (2005): 1654-1665.
1654Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, Vol. 95, No. 5, pp. 1654-1665, October 2005, doi: 10.1785 Most common methods of inversion use rectangular dislocation segments to model fault ruptures and therefore oversimplify fault geometries. These geometric simplifications can lead to inconsistencies when inverting for slip on earthquake faults, and they preclude a more complete understanding of the role of fault geometry in the earthquake process.We have developed a new three-dimensional slip-inversion method based on the analytical solution for an angular dislocation in a linear-elastic, homogeneous, isotropic, half-space. The approach uses the boundary element code Poly3D that employs a set of planar triangular elements of constant displacement discontinuity to model fault surfaces. The use of triangulated surfaces as discontinuities permits one to construct fault models that better approximate curved three-dimensional surfaces bounded by curved tiplines: shapes that commonly are imaged by three-dimensional reflection seismic data and inferred from relocated aftershock data.We demonstrate the method's ability to model three-dimensional rupture geometries by inverting for slip associated with the 1999 Hector Mine earthquake. The resulting model avoids displacement anomalies associated with the overlapping rectangular dislocations used in previous models, improving the fit to the geodetic data by 32%, and honors the observed surface ruptures, thereby allowing more direct comparisons between geologic and geodetic data on slip distributions.
Reverse-drag folds are often used to infer subsurface fault geometry in extended terrains, yet details of how these folds form in association with slip on normal fault systems are poorly understood. Detailed structural mapping and global positioning system (GPS) surveying of the Frog Fault and Lone Mountain Monocline in the western Grand Canyon demonstrate a systematic relationship between elements of the normal fault system and fold geometry. The Lone Mountain Monocline, which parallels the Frog Fault, is made up of two half-monoclinal fl exures: a hanging-wall fold in which dips gradually increase toward the fault over ~1.5 km reaching a maximum dip of 25° and a footwall fold in which dips decrease away from the fault over ~0.5 km from a maximum of 12°. The highest dips associated with folding are found where throw on the Frog Fault and a synthetic fault are at a maximum. Lower dips are found where there is less throw on the Frog Fault and antithetic faults are present. This relationship between fault and fold geometry suggests that the folding is associated with Basin and Range extension rather than Laramide contraction. Mechanical models of normal faultrelated deformation predict similar patterns of folding over planar faults of fi nite extent and corroborate the important role of subsidiary fault geometry in the overall pattern of deformation. Application of these models in an inverse sense yields ~1 km estimates of down-dip extent, a result that may indicate fault confi nement within the sedimentary section or weakening effects associated with folding layered strata. A general analysis illustrates that reverse-drag folds of moderate dip are expected to form in association with slip on planar faults of fi nite extent-a result that has the potential to impact our estimates of hydrocarbon volumes, crustal extension, and earthquake hazards associated with continental normal faults.
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