Last Updated : April 28, 2010

Southern Qinghai, China Earthquake in 2010: Crustal deformation detected by ALOS/PALSAR data

Crustal Deformation Observed by Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)

Released: Apr. 28, 2010, Japanese version of this page

Crustal Deformation by InSAR and Fault Model

A M=6.9 (USGS) earthquake occurred in Qinghai, China on April 13, 2010 (UTC). An interferometric analysis of the data acquired by the Phased Array type L-band Synthetic Aperture Radar (PALSAR) onboard the Advanced Land Observation Satellite (ALOS) allows us to clarify spatial distribution of surface deformation associated with the earthquake.
  • An intensive deformation zone extends 65 km-long from the city of Yushu.
  • Displacement > 40 cm is located 10-20 km west-southwest from the city of Yushu.
  • Surface ruptures (displacement discontinuity on the interferogram) are identified ~30 km-long west-southwest from the city of Yushu.
  • A preliminary fault model which consists of three rectangular faults with a uniform slip in an elastic half-space shows 1) a total fault length of ~65 km, 2) a left-lateral motion, 3) a nearly vertical fault, 4) a maximum slip amount of ~1.2 m, and 5) a moment magnitude of 6.8.

Interferogram and Fault Model

YUSHU, QINGHAI, CHINA Earthquake

Date-Time April 14, 2010 07:49 (Local Time), April 14, 2010 08:49 (JST)
April 13, 2010 23:49 (UTC)
Hypocenter Location 33.224°N, 96.666°E Depth:17 km (USGS, as of April 26, 2010)
Magnitude 6.9 (USGS, as of April 26, 2010)
Death Toll  2220 (as of April 26, 2010)

Satellite and Sensor

PALSAR sensor onboard "Daichi" (ALOS) satellite launched by Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency on January 24, 2006

Paper, Report, Presentation

Tobita, M., T. Nishimura, T. Kobayashi, K.X. Hao, and Y. Shindo (2011), Estimation of coseismic deformation and a fault model of the 2010 Yushu earthquake using PALSAR interferometry data, Earth Planet. Sci. Lett., 307, 430-438, doi:10.1016/j.epsl.2011.05.017
Mikio, Tobita, Takuya Nishimura, and Tomokazu Kobayashi, Coseismic Deformation of the 2010 Yushu Earthquake from PALSAR interferometry (2010 Fall Meeting of the Seismological Society of Japan). (in Japanese)
Mikio, Tobita, Takuya Nishimura, and Tomokazu Kobayashi, Coseismic Deformation of the 2010 Yushu Earthquake from PALSAR interferometry (8th Joint Meeting of UJNR Panel on Earthquake Research).

Contact

TOBITA Mikio : Director of Crustal Deformation Research Division
NISHIMURA Takuya : Chief Researcher
KOBAYASHI Tomokazu : Researcher

Contact