The 2017 Kos Sequence: Aftershocks Relocation and Coseismic Rupture
Process Constrained from Joint Inversion of Seismological and Geodetic
Observations
Abstract
On 20 July 2017, an Mw6.6 earthquake occurred offshore
Kos Island, the largest to occur in the affected area in the
instrumental era, and in the past 60 years in the southeastern Aegean
Sea. We estimated the aftershocks relative locations by applying the
double-difference technique using both differential times from
phase-picked data and waveform cross-correlation. The relocated
aftershocks are clustered at least in three distinctive patches,
creating a zone getting a total length of about 40 km, elongated in a
nearly east-west direction, mainly concentrated at depths 8–15 km, with
the mainshock hypocenter placed at ~13 km, implying a
seismogenic layer of 7 km thickness, indicative for normal faulting
earthquakes with Mmax~6.5. The
aftershock fault plane solutions are predominantly suggestive of normal
faulting in response to the north-south extension of the back-arc Aegean
area. We further applied the satellite radar interferometry (InSAR)
technique to define the coseismic surface displacements. This field of
deformation along with the available vectors of displacement measured by
the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) technique was combined
with the seismological data to determine the rupture geometry and
process, with the coseismic slip ranging between 0.5 and 2.3 m. The peak
moment release occurred in the depth interval of 9–11 km, consistent
with the depth distribution of seismicity in the study area. We used the
variable slip model to calculate Coulomb stress changes and investigate
possible triggering due to stress transfer to the nearby fault segments.