Surface rupture during the 2010 Mw 7.1 darfield(canterbury) earthquake: Implications for fault rupture dynamics and seismic-hazard analysis

Abstract

The September 2010 Mw 7.1 Darfield (Canterbury) earthquake in New Zealand is one of the best-recorded earthquakes of this magnitude. The earthquake occurred on a previously unidentified fault system and generated a 29.5 ± 0.5-km-long surface rupture across a lowrelief agricultural landscape. High-accuracy measurements of coseismic displacements were obtained at over 100 localities along the Greendale fault. Maximum net displacement (Dmax) (5.3 ± 0.5 m) and average net displacement (Davg) (2.5 ± 0.1 m) are anomalously large for an earthquake of this Mw. Dmax / surface rupture length (SRL) and Davg/SRL ratios are among the largest ever recorded for a continental strike-slip earthquake. "Geolog..