Coseismic gravity changes of the 2010 earthquake in Central Chile from satellite gravimetry

Fault dislocations modify gravity fields by deforming layer boundaries with density contrasts (e.g. surface uplift and subsidence) and by changing density of rocks due to volume strain (coseismic dilatation and compression). Coseismic changes in gravity have been first mapped using the data from GRACE satellite for the 2004 Sumatra-Andaman (SA) Earthquake (Han et al., 2006). No earthquakes after that event left gravity signatures detectable with GRACE including the 2005 Nias Earthquake, Indonesia. The 2010 February 27 Chile Earthquake (Mw=8.8), the largest event after the 2004 SA Earthquake, ruptured the boundary between the Nazca and the South American Plates known as the Constitución-Concepción seismic gap. Here we present the coseismic gravity changes of the 2010 Chile Earthquake. A monthly GRACE data set (Level-2, RL04, Center for Space Research, Univ. Texas) consists of the coefficients of spherical harmonics with degree and order complete to 60. We replaced the Earth’s oblateness values with those from SLR, and applied a fan filter with averaging radius of 300 km to reduce short wavelength noises. We also reduced longitudinal stripes by using polynomials of degree 3 for coefficients with orders 15 or higher. In order to correct for changes in soil moisture, snow and canopy water, we used the GLDAS hydrological models. After expanding the equivalent water depth data to spherical harmonics, we applied the same fan filter and converted them to gravity changes. They showed negative jump at the back-arc side of the faults with the largest drop of ~5 microgal 200-300 km to the east of the epicenter. In order to calculate predicted gravity changes, we assumed fault parameters composed of two rectangular faults inferred from coseismic displacements of GPS stations. We used Sun et al. (2009) to calculate gravity changes caused by their slips in a spherical, layered earth. Because the original program assumed dry earth (i.e. surface uplift anywhere is interpreted as the replacement of air with crustal rock), we modified it so that a smaller density contrast (between crustal rock and sea water) is assumed for vertical deformation of sea floor. After applying the same fan filter, the calculated gravity changes was quite similar to those observed by GRACE. The 2004 SA Earthquake showed distinct postseismic gravity changes (with a time constant of ~0.6 year) characterized by slow increase above the focal area. Past interpretations include the flow of supercritical water around the down-dip end of the fault, Burgers rheology of the low viscosity material in shallow mantle, and afterslip in the down-dip and up-dip extension of the main rupture. Postseismic crustal deformations have been observed with GPS numerous times. In contrast, postseismic gravity changes have been observed just once for the 2004 SA event, and its mechanism has not been well understood. We still have only a few months of GRACE data after the earthquake, too short to separate postseismic and hydrological gravity changes. It is important and interesting to keep investigating slow gravity changes in Central Chile over a long term.