The September 26, 1997 Colfiorito, Italy, earthquakes: Modeled coseismic surface displacement from SAR interferometry and GPS

Abstract

The largest events of the 1997 Umbria‐Marche seismic sequence were the two September 26 earthquakes of Mw = 5.7 (00:33 GMT) and Mw = 6.0 (09:40 GMT), which caused severe damage and ground cracks in a wide area around the epicenters. We created an ERS‐SAR differential interferogram, where nine fringes are visible in and around the Colfiorito basin, corresponding to 25 cm of coseismic surface displacement. GPS data show a maximum horizontal displacement of (14±1.8) cm and a maximum subsidence of (24±3) cm. We used these geodetic data and the seismological parameters to estimate geometry and slip distribution on the fault planes. Modeled fault depths and maximum slip amplitudes are 6.5 km and 47 cm for the first event and 7 km and 72 cm for the second one, in good agreement with those derived from the seismological data.