Co-seismic vertical displacements from a single post-seismic lidar DEM: example from the 2010 El Mayor-Cucapah earthquake

Journal article

A method is outlined by means of which it is possible to estimate high-resolution vertical displacements due to an earthquake even in the case where high-resolution topography is lacking before the earthquake. This result can be achieved by combining a highly accurate, post-event digital elevation model (DEM), for example lidar, with archived satellite imagery. The method is illustrated by calculating vertical displacements for the 2010 El Mayor-Cucapah earthquake. For this earthquake, there are both pre- and post-event lidar DEMs from which vertical displacements may also be estimated after correcting for the lateral advection of topography due to horizontal displacements. A comparison between the two means of deriving vertical displacements shows generally good agreement, with the displacements obtained using satellite imagery performing better in high relief areas. As a result of this property, we are able to trace the vertical offsets due to the El Mayor-Cucapah earthquake as the rupture jumped from the Pescadores fault to the Borrego fault in propagating through the high relief of the Sierra Cucapah.

Authors: Barisin, I; Hinojosa-Corona, A; Parsons, B

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Journal: Geophysical Journal International
• Volume: 202
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 328-346
• Publication date: 2015-04-30
• Acceptance date: 2015-03-23
• DOI: 10.1093/gji/ggv139
• EISSN: 1365-246X
• ISSN: 0956-540X
• Keywords: SBTMR; space geodetic surveys; North America; continental tectonics: strike-slip and transform; image processing