Earthquake ground deformation using DInSAR analysis and instrumental seismicity: The 2019 M 6.0 Mesetas Earthquake, Meta, Colombian Andes

Deformación del terreno usando análisis DInSAR y sismicidad instrumental: El sismo M 6.0 de Mesetas en 2019, Meta, Andes Colombianos

Santiago Noriega-Londoño^1,*, Mauricio A. Bermúdez², Sergio Andrés Restrepo-Moreno^3,4,

María Isabel Marín-Cerón¹, Helbert García-Delgado⁵

¹ Universidad EAFIT, Departamento de Ciencias de la Tierra, Carrera 49 N° 7 Sur-50, 050021, Medellín, Colombia.

² Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia, Escuela de Ingeniería Geológica, Avenida Central del Norte 39-115, 150003, Tunja, Colombia.

³ Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Departamento de Geociencias y Medio Ambiente, Carrera 80 No 65-223, 050034, Medellín, Colombia.

⁴ University of Florida, Department of Geological Sciences, Gainesville-Florida, 32611,Florida, United States of America.

⁵ Servicio Geológico Colombiano, Diagonal 53 No. 34 – 53, Bogotá, Colombia.

* Corresponding author: (Noriega-Londoño) This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

How to cite this article:

Noriega-Londoño,S.,Bermúdez,M.A., Restrepo-Moreno,S.A.,Marín-Cerón,M. I., García-Delgado, H., 2021, Earthquake ground deformation using DInSAR analysis and instrumental seismicity: The 2019 M 6.0 Mesetas Earthquake, Meta, Colombian Andes: Boletín de la Sociedad Geológica Mexicana, 73 (2), A090221. http://dx.doi.org/10.18268/BSGM2021v73n2a090221

ABSTRACT

In this contribution, DInSAR analysis, seismic/brittle strain rates, and seismic uplift estimations were used to evaluate ground deformation patterns of the 24 December 2019 M_w 5.8 Mesetas Earthquake that occurred in the Mesetas municipality (Meta, Colombia), on the eastern foothills of Colombian’s Eastern Cordillera, near the Serranía de la Macarena. According to the focal mechanisms computed for this earthquake, the right-lateral Algeciras Fault System was responsible for the rupture event. Primary and secondary SAR images from December 18/2019 and 30/2019, respectively, were used to calculate coseismic ground deformation of the study area. Geocoded line-of-sight (LOS) displacement image suggests that major ground deformation was on the order of 0.2 m for the 24 December discrete seismic event, while the accumulated seismic contribution to surface uplift during 1993 to 2020 reached values of ca. 0.14 m/yr. In contrast, seismic/brittle strain rates and seismic uplift estimations show that this part of South America is currently experiencing deformation at a rate of 4.1×10^-16 ± 1.7×10^-17s^-1 and uplift at a rate of 81.5 ± 3.4 m/Ma during 2018-2020, whereas the deformation was 0.1×10^-16 ± 0.2 ×10^-17s^-1 at a rate of 2.2 ± 0.5 m/Ma between 1993-2018.

Keywords: Interferometry, LOS displacement, seismic strain rate, surface and seismic uplift, Eastern Cordillera, Colombian Andes.