Rupture Characteristics and Bedrock Structural Control of the 2016 M-w 6.0 Intraplate Earthquake in the Petermann Ranges, Australia

Januka Attanayake; Tamarah R King; Mark C Quigley; Gary Gibson; Dan Clark; Abraham Jones; Sarah L Brennand; Mike Sandiford

Journal article

Rupture Characteristics and Bedrock Structural Control of the 2016 M-w 6.0 Intraplate Earthquake in the Petermann Ranges, Australia

Januka Attanayake, Tamarah R King, Mark C Quigley, Gary Gibson, Dan Clark, Abraham Jones, Sarah L Brennand, Mike Sandiford

Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America | Seismological Society of America | Published : 2020

DOI: 10.1785/0120190266

Abstract

The 20 May 2016 surface-rupturing intraplate earthquake in the Petermann Ranges is the largest onshore earthquake to occur in the Australian continent in 19 yr. We use in situ and Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar surface observations, aftershock distribution, and the fitting of P-wave source spectra to determine source properties of the Petermann earthquake. Surface observations reveal a 21-km-long surface rupture trace (strike=294°±29°) with heterogeneous vertical displacements (<0.1–0.96 m). Aftershock arrays suggest a triangular-shaped rupture plane (dip ≈ 30°) that intersects the subsurface projection of the major geophysical structure (Woodroffe thrust [WT]) proximal to th..

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University of Melbourne Researchers

Mark Quigley Author

Mike Sandiford Author

Related Projects (1)

Origins and distributions of intraplate earthquakes

This project aims to investigate the behaviour and origin of intraplate earthquakes in Australia by developing a multi-million-year record o..

Grants

Awarded by Australian Research Council

Funding Acknowledgements

The University of Melbourne's (UoM) temporary seismic array was funded by AuScope's Australian Geophysical Observing System (AGOS) Subsurface Observatory through an Education Investment Fund (EIF) grant. Geoscience Australia contributed data from four additional seismographs to the study. In addition, Geological Survey of South Australia (GSSA) contributed some equipment to the UoM temporary array. Mark C. Quigley is supported by the Australian Research Council through Discovery Grant Number DP170103350, and Tamarah R. King is supported through the Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship. Dan Clark and Sarah L. Brennand publish with the permission of the CEO of Geoscience Australia. This article underwent two cycles of revision, during which Associate Editors Cezar Trifu and Mark Stirling along with three anonymous reviewers provided constructive comments.