TY - JOUR

AU - Yoshida, Yasuhiro
AU - Abe, Katsuyuki
TI - Source mechanism of the Luzon, Philippines Earthquake of July 16, 1990
JO - Geophysical Research Letters
JA - Geophys. Res. Lett.
VL - 19
IS - 6
SN - 0094-8276
UR - https://doi.org/10.1029/91GL02467
DO - doi:10.1029/91GL02467
SP - 545
EP - 548
PY - 2012
AB - The Luzon, Philippines earthquake of July 16, 1990, with Ms=7.8 was generated
by left-lateral faulting in the central Luzon Island. Ground breakage was observed
along a linear trace extending 110 km. The maximum horizontal offset as measured on
the fault was as much as 6 m. A fault area of 120 ? 20 km2 was inferred from a
field study and aftershock data. This event is one of the largest strike-slip
earthquakes ever recorded in the world. For long-period surface waveform analysis,
we used very broadband records from 14 stations of the GDSN, GEOSCOPE, IRIS and
ERIOS networks. The Centroid Moment Tensor (CMT) solution from surface waves
represents almost pure left-lateral strike-slip faulting on a steep fault with
strike = 155°, dip = 88° and rake = ?7°. The seismic moment is 3.9 ? 1020 Nm (?
1027 dyn.cm), which gives Mw=7.7. The average dislocation on the fault is 5.4 m and
the stress drop is 5.2 MPa (52 bars). Teleseismic P and SH waves from 14 stations
are used to model the spatiotemporal distribution of subevents. Five subevents are
detected in an interval of 44 sec. Their sequence indicates a bilateral rupture.
The mean velocity of rupture toward the north is 2.7 km/sec. The total seismic
moment of the subevents is 3.6 ? 1020 Nm. The largest aftershock (Ms=6.6) occurred
on July 17 near the recognized northern end of the main fault. The CMT solution for
the aftershock represents a reverse faulting with moment of 6.4 ? 1019 Nm (Mw=6.5).
This aftershock was probably caused by compression produced by block motion of the
eastern block of the main fault.
ER -