Coulomb stress changes in the South Iceland Seismic Zone due to two large earthquakes in June 2000

Thóra Árnadóttir; Sigurjón Jónsson; Rikke Pedersen; Gunnar B. Gudmundsson

doi:10.1029/2002GL016495

Coulomb stress changes in the South Iceland Seismic Zone due to two large earthquakes in June 2000

Thóra Árnadóttir^*, Sigurjón Jónsson, Rikke Pedersen, Gunnar B. Gudmundsson

^*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

49 Scopus citations

Abstract

The South Iceland Seismic Zone experienced the largest earthquakes for 88 years in June 2000, with a M_S = 6.6 event on June 17, followed by another M_S = 6.6 earthquake on June 21. These events occured on two parallel N-S striking, right-lateral strike slip faults, separated by about 17 km. We calculate the static Coulomb stress change for the June 17 and 21 earthquakes using a distributed slip model derived from joint inversion of InSAR and GPS data. We find that the static stress change caused by the June 17 event is about 0.1 MPa at the location of the June 21 hypocenter, promoting failure on the second fault. Locations of aftershocks agree well with areas of increased Coulomb failure stress. Our calculations indicate that positive stress changes due to the two earthquakes make the area west of the June 21 rupture the most likely site of the next large earthquake in South Iceland.

Original language	English (US)
Pages (from-to)	9-1 - 9-4
Journal	Geophysical Research Letters
Volume	30
Issue number	5
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1029/2002GL016495
State	Published - Mar 1 2003
Externally published	Yes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Geophysics
General Earth and Planetary Sciences

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10.1029/2002GL016495

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title = "Coulomb stress changes in the South Iceland Seismic Zone due to two large earthquakes in June 2000",

abstract = "The South Iceland Seismic Zone experienced the largest earthquakes for 88 years in June 2000, with a MS = 6.6 event on June 17, followed by another MS = 6.6 earthquake on June 21. These events occured on two parallel N-S striking, right-lateral strike slip faults, separated by about 17 km. We calculate the static Coulomb stress change for the June 17 and 21 earthquakes using a distributed slip model derived from joint inversion of InSAR and GPS data. We find that the static stress change caused by the June 17 event is about 0.1 MPa at the location of the June 21 hypocenter, promoting failure on the second fault. Locations of aftershocks agree well with areas of increased Coulomb failure stress. Our calculations indicate that positive stress changes due to the two earthquakes make the area west of the June 21 rupture the most likely site of the next large earthquake in South Iceland.",

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AU - Árnadóttir, Thóra

AU - Jónsson, Sigurjón

AU - Pedersen, Rikke

AU - Gudmundsson, Gunnar B.

PY - 2003/3/1

Y1 - 2003/3/1

N2 - The South Iceland Seismic Zone experienced the largest earthquakes for 88 years in June 2000, with a MS = 6.6 event on June 17, followed by another MS = 6.6 earthquake on June 21. These events occured on two parallel N-S striking, right-lateral strike slip faults, separated by about 17 km. We calculate the static Coulomb stress change for the June 17 and 21 earthquakes using a distributed slip model derived from joint inversion of InSAR and GPS data. We find that the static stress change caused by the June 17 event is about 0.1 MPa at the location of the June 21 hypocenter, promoting failure on the second fault. Locations of aftershocks agree well with areas of increased Coulomb failure stress. Our calculations indicate that positive stress changes due to the two earthquakes make the area west of the June 21 rupture the most likely site of the next large earthquake in South Iceland.

AB - The South Iceland Seismic Zone experienced the largest earthquakes for 88 years in June 2000, with a MS = 6.6 event on June 17, followed by another MS = 6.6 earthquake on June 21. These events occured on two parallel N-S striking, right-lateral strike slip faults, separated by about 17 km. We calculate the static Coulomb stress change for the June 17 and 21 earthquakes using a distributed slip model derived from joint inversion of InSAR and GPS data. We find that the static stress change caused by the June 17 event is about 0.1 MPa at the location of the June 21 hypocenter, promoting failure on the second fault. Locations of aftershocks agree well with areas of increased Coulomb failure stress. Our calculations indicate that positive stress changes due to the two earthquakes make the area west of the June 21 rupture the most likely site of the next large earthquake in South Iceland.

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Coulomb stress changes in the South Iceland Seismic Zone due to two large earthquakes in June 2000

Abstract

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