Fault Location and Slip Distribution of the 22 February 2011 M_w 6.2 Christchurch, New Zealand, Earthquake from Geodetic Data

The 22 February (local time) M_W ∼6.2 Christchurch earthquake occurred within the aftershock region of the 4 September 2010 M_W 7.1 Darfield (Canterbury) earthquake (Gledhill et al. 2011). Both the Darfield and Christchurch earthquakes occurred on previously unknown faults in a region of historically low seismicity, but within the zone of plate boundary deformation between the Pacific and Australian plates. The Darfield earthquake caused surface rupture up to 5 m (Quigley et al.2010, forthcoming), but none has been observed associated with the Christchurch earthquake. Geodetic data indicate that strain has been slowly accumulating...