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April 25, 2015 M7.8 earthquake in Nepal
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Quick Links
The April 25, 2015 M 7.8 Nepal earthquake occurred as the result of thrust faulting on or near the main frontal thrust between the subducting India plate and the overriding Eurasia plate to the north. This page is meant to be a collection of preliminary information, results & visualizations for the seismology research community.
Event parameters (from USGS)
Please check the USGS page for the latest official information.
| Magnitude | 7.8 |
|---|---|
| UTC Time | Saturday, April 25, 2015 at 06:11:26 UTC |
| Location | 28.147°N, 84.708°W |
| Depth | 15km (9 miles) |
| Region | ESE of Lamjung, Nepal |
| Distances | 34km (21mi) ESE of Lamjung, Nepal 58km (36mi) NNE of Bharatpur, Nepal 73km (45mi) E of Pokhara, Nepal 76km (47mi) NW of Kirtipur, Nepal 77km (48mi) NW of Kathmandu, Nepal |
USGS summary page ¶
Background & some preliminary figures ¶
- BSSA & SRL related articles
- Nice summary paper on Himalayan seismic hazard by R Bilham et al.
- other background information on Himalayan earthquakes by R Bilham
- some preliminary figures relating 2015 event to historical events on twitter feed of Susan Hough, USGS
- first delineation of the deep geometry of the Main Himalayan thrust from focal mechanism (Ni and Barazangi, 1984).
- first INDEPTH paper linking the shallow decollment and its roots in a deep reflection profile (Zhao et al, 1993).
- first HI-CLIMB paper which reported a receiver function profile right through the hypo central area (Nabelek et al, 2009).
- Earth Observatory of Singapore page on Nepal event
IRIS EPO Teachable Moments ¶
Additional Media & Photo Links ¶
- Google person finder
- CSEM EMSC page with photos
- CNN
- Youtube video of shaking in Kathmandu
- Youtube video showing building collapse
IRIS Data Products ¶
- Aftershocks- figures & animation
- Fully automated backprojection results
- Event Plots with maps, record sections & P-wave envelope stacks
- Earthquake energy magnitude & rupture duration (collaboration w Georgia Tech).
- R1 source-time functions
- Ground Motion Visualization (GMV) across USArray
Finite Fault Models & Related ¶
- USGS finite fault model
- Preliminary model from Jascha Polet (version 2, includes GPS). and predicted surface displacement
Fault parameter solution:
Epicenter (lat) 28.147°
Epicenter (lon) 84.708°
NE fault corner from epicenter X = 121±9 km
Y = -25±1 km
Strike -75°±1 km
Dip 1.9°±0.5 km
Depth (bottom) 9±0.3 km
Width (up dip) 35±0.3 km
Length 130±9 km
Strike-slip (r.l.) -7±4 cm
Dip-slip (thrust) 531±.2 cm
Andrea Donnellan (JPL)
Landslide & Related ¶
- Landslide blogpost on AGU site
- Blogpsost from University of Canterbury on landslide susceptibilty
- Digital Elevation Map:
Download the DEM
Aftershocks & related ¶
- Beamformed traces from Norway showing prolific aftershock sequence (S Gibbons, NORSAR).
- Early aftershocks figure with background seismicity & moment tensors (J Polet, Cal Poly Pomona).
- Animation of 3D ground motion (John Leeman, PSU).
Additional backprojections ¶
Additional IRIS backprojection movie made using a virtual array centered around Japan. (Alex Hutko, IRIS DMC)
One can see coherent energy extending out to ~170km to the east at around 70 s, though the rupture that late is likely very weak. Between about 20-45 s, one can see rapid movement of the energy being imaged. This is consistent with an overall average rupture velocity of ~2km/s with some portions being significantly faster where significant moment was released. See the other IRIS backprojections here
NSF SAGE Facility Event Page
The NSF SAGE Facility event page for this event contains links to additional tools and data.
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