GPS observations of coseismic deformation following the 2016, August 24, Mw 6 Amatrice earthquake (central Italy): data, analysis and preliminary fault model

Abstract

We used continuous Global Positioning System (GPS) measurements to infer the fault geometry and the amount of coseismic slip associated to the August 24, 2016 Mw 6 Amatrice earthquake. We realized a three dimensional coseismic displacement field by combining different geodetic solutions generated by three independent analyses of the raw GPS observations. The coseismic deformation field described in this work aims at representing a consensus solution that minimizes the systematic biases potentially present in the individual geodetic solutions. Because of the limited number of stations available we modeled the measured coseismic displacements using a uniform slip model, deriving the geometry and kinematics of the causative fault, finding good agreement between our geodetically derived fault plane and other seismological and geological observations.

Keywords

• Amatrice earthquake
• Central Apennines
• Global Positioning System
• Coseismic deformation
• Normal faults