The colored circles on the large map indicate the complex spatial rupture pattern as a function of time during the Sumatra earthquake in April 2012. The white star indicates the epicenter of the magnitude-8.6 mainshock. The area shaded in darker red in the inset indicates the location of the area of study. [Credit: Caltech/Meng et al.]
A team, including Seismo Lab assistant professor of seismology Jean-Paul Ampuero and graduate student Lingsen Meng (first author of the paper), used ground-motion recordings gathered by networks of sensors in Europe and Japan, and an advanced source-imaging technique developed in Caltech's Seismological Laboratory as well as the Tectonics Observatory to piece together a picture of the 2012 Mw 8.6 Sumatra Earthquake's complex rupture process. Their research appears in the July 19 issue of Science Express, an online publication ahead of print for Science Magazine.