Document Type
Article
Department or Administrative Unit
Geological Sciences
Publication Date
9-4-2015
Abstract
Detailed geodetic imaging of earthquake ruptures enhances our understanding of earthquake physics and associated ground shaking. The 25 April 2015 moment magnitude 7.8 earthquake in Gorkha, Nepal was the first large continental megathrust rupture to have occurred beneath a high-rate (5-hertz) Global Positioning System (GPS) network. We used GPS and interferometric synthetic aperture radar data to model the earthquake rupture as a slip pulse ~20 kilometers in width, ~6 seconds in duration, and with a peak sliding velocity of 1.1 meters per second, which propagated toward the Kathmandu basin at ~3.3 kilometers per second over ~140 kilometers. The smooth slip onset, indicating a large (~5-meter) slip-weakening distance, caused moderate ground shaking at high frequencies (>1 hertz; peak ground acceleration, ~16% of Earth’s gravity) and minimized damage to vernacular dwellings. Whole-basin resonance at a period of 4 to 5 seconds caused the collapse of tall structures, including cultural artifacts.
Recommended Citation
Galetzka, John and Szeliga, Walter, "Slip pulse and resonance of the Kathmandu basin during the 2015 Gorkha earthquake, Nepal" (2015). All Faculty Scholarship for the College of the Sciences. 151.
https://digitalcommons.cwu.edu/cotsfac/151
Rights
Copyright © 2015, American Association for the Advancement of Science
Comments
This is the author’s version of the work. It is posted here by permission of the AAAS for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Science Vol 349, Issue 6252 04 September 2015, DOI: 10.1126/science.aac638.
The full-text article from the publisher can be found here.