Pre-earthquake displacement and triggered displacement on the Imperial fault associated with the Superstition Hills earthquake of 24 November 1987

Abstract

Two right-lateral slip events, about 3 weeks apart in November 1987, broke the surface discontinuously along probably similar, nearly 20 km lengths of the northern Imperial fault. The first displacement, at about the beginning of November, was accompanied by a surface tilt representing deep vertical motion or distributed strain. This movement may have been part of a more regional event that also involved the southern San Andreas fault, although the evidence there is questionable. The later surface offset was triggered, probably by the second main shock of the 24 November earthquakes located in the Superstition Hills, about 37 km northwest of the Imperial fault. The maximum observed displacement was less than 4 cm on both occasions; for the triggered movement the maximum slip occurred on a branch strand near the northern extremity of the fault.