A non-uniform dip slip formula to calculate the coseismic deformation: Case study of Tohoku Mw9.0 Earthquake

Abstract

Abstract The distribution of slip faults along the fault plane plays a special role in the kinetic pattern of tectonic deformation. To better understand the coseismic deformation and geodynamics of the earthquake, this paper applied the pile-up theory and derived an analytical formula to describe the non-uniform slip distribution along the fault width. To validate the new formula, it was tested with the coseismic displacements at the global positioning system (GPS) stations for the Tohoku earthquake in 11 March, 2011. Then, the computed horizontal and vertical displacements calculated using NDSM were compared to back-slip model (BSM) using GPS data obtained from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Finally, the theoretical analysis revealed that the analytical formulas derived here can be perceived as the expansion and perfection of the uniform dislocation model. Meanwhile, our results showed that the characteristics of the spatial distribution deformation from NDSM are similar to those derived by GPS measurements. Furthermore, the near-field RMS errors indicated that the horizontal displacements estimated using NDSM is 27.5%, and 35.6% for the vertical components. Our new formulas and findings could assist better portray the crustal deformation in some region and geodynamics in specific earthquake.