Differential Interferogram of the September 16 2018 Mw 5.3 earthquake Lake Muir, Perth, Australia

A moderate earthquake of Mw 5.3 (ML 5.7) occured on September 16 2018 near the Lake Muir region, Perth, SW Australia. Despite Australia being in a mostly stable continental interior, moderate or strong shallow crustral earthquakes occured the past years. Due to shallow faulting and low relief/semi-arid conditions in most regions of Australia, even moderate events lead to surficial deformation in form of mapped surface ruptures or deformation identified by radar satellites (InSAR).

The Sep.16 earthquake produced a distinctive surficial deformation pattern, identified in an interferometric pair of Sentinel-1 Copernicus radar images (Descending orbit, September 14 - September 26).  Sentinel-1 TOPS Interferogram and Line-of-Sight (LOS) displacement were produced using SNAP and DIAPASON tools in the Geohazards Exploitation Platform. Color fringes on interferogram represent each a ~2.8cm displacement. Displacement (unwrapped) grid files are also provided.

InSAR analysis show co-seismic rupture along a NNE-SSW reverse fault plane, consistent with published moment tensors (USGS). LOS profiles show a 5-15cm displacement across a fault rupture that propagated to the surface. Hundreds of metres of fractures and surface ruptures were reported by local farmers' accounts and photographs to the ABC South West Australia news agency.