loading page

The 2017 Kos Sequence: Aftershocks Relocation and Coseismic Rupture Process Constrained from Joint Inversion of Seismological and Geodetic Observations
  • +4
  • Vassilis G. Karakostas,
  • Maya Ilieva,
  • Anastasios Kostoglou,
  • Damian Tondaś,
  • Eleftheria E. Papadimitriou,
  • Maria Mesimeri,
  • Begum Koca
Vassilis G. Karakostas
Geophysics Department, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

Author Profile
Maya Ilieva
Wrocław University of Environmental Life and Sciences
Author Profile
Anastasios Kostoglou
Geophysics Department, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Author Profile
Damian Tondaś
Institute of Geodesy and Geoinformatics
Author Profile
Eleftheria E. Papadimitriou
Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
Author Profile
Maria Mesimeri
Department of Earth Sciences
Author Profile
Begum Koca
Department of Geophysical Engineering
Author Profile

Abstract

On 20 July 2017, an Mw6.6 earthquake occurred offshore Kos Island, the largest to occur in the affected area in the instrumental era, and in the past 60 years in the southeastern Aegean Sea. We estimated the aftershocks relative locations by applying the double-difference technique using both differential times from phase-picked data and waveform cross-correlation. The relocated aftershocks are clustered at least in three distinctive patches, creating a zone getting a total length of about 40 km, elongated in a nearly east-west direction, mainly concentrated at depths 8–15 km, with the mainshock hypocenter placed at ~13 km, implying a seismogenic layer of 7 km thickness, indicative for normal faulting earthquakes with Mmax~6.5. The aftershock fault plane solutions are predominantly suggestive of normal faulting in response to the north-south extension of the back-arc Aegean area. We further applied the satellite radar interferometry (InSAR) technique to define the coseismic surface displacements. This field of deformation along with the available vectors of displacement measured by the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) technique was combined with the seismological data to determine the rupture geometry and process, with the coseismic slip ranging between 0.5 and 2.3 m. The peak moment release occurred in the depth interval of 9–11 km, consistent with the depth distribution of seismicity in the study area. We used the variable slip model to calculate Coulomb stress changes and investigate possible triggering due to stress transfer to the nearby fault segments.
Jun 2022Published in Tectonophysics volume 833 on pages 229352. 10.1016/j.tecto.2022.229352