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A fault plane solution for the Carlisle earthquake, 26 December 1979

Abstract

Deformation at plate boundaries is well determined from the fault parameters of large earthquakes but within plates relatively little is known. Although other methods of measuring in situ stress are available only intra-plate earthquakes provide information about stresses at depths of several kilometres1. Accurate location and the determination of fault parameters for intra-plate earthquakes is difficult because such earthquakes are rare and generally too small to be widely recorded. This problem has been overcome in parts of the eastern USA by installing permanent dense seismometer networks, and brief aftershock studies of the type described here. Our aftershock study has provided an accurate location of a significant UK earthquake, and a reliable measure of compression direction in a region of Europe distant from the influence of Alpine motion.

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King, G. A fault plane solution for the Carlisle earthquake, 26 December 1979. Nature 286, 142–143 (1980). https://doi.org/10.1038/286142a0

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