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A detailed active fault study in Tarutung-Sarulla-Sipirok-Padangsidempuan was conducted based on their tectonic-morphological features using SRTM-30, 3D-visualization, and LIDAR data, combined with field and shallow geophysical surveys using the GPR method. Sumatran Fault Zone is bifurcated from the single major Sianok fault segment into two major branches: Angkola and Barumun-Toru Faults that run (sub) parallel to each other. In the studied area, they are merged gradually to become the Renun Fault. The total slip rates from Sianok to Renun segments are constant at about ~ 14 mm/year (13.8 ± 0.3 mm/yr on Renun and 13.7 ± 1.6 mm/yr on Sianok segments). In the bifurcation zone, it is partitioned into 9.3 ± 1.8 mm/yr slip on Toru, and about 4 - 5 mm/yr on Angkola segments. Based on field evidence supported by the seismicity and historical record, the Toru Fault appears to move continuously (creeping). This is crucial for understanding tectonics and its significance to hazard mitigations. Further investigations on Angkola and Toru Faults are crucial for mega installations of Sarulla Geothermal Power Plant, which is located in between Angkola and Toru Fault zones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the 2000-km-long Sumatran fault is one of Earth's longest and historically most active strike-slip faults, previous large historical ruptures have gone unmapped, although some have been inferred from felt reports or from modeling of sparse geodetic data. Through field observation, we documented twin-surface ruptures associated with two M > 6 earthquakes in March 2007. The first rupture broke a 22 km part of the 60-km long Sumani segment southeast from a releasing stepover; the second rupture occurred on a 22.5 km part of the 90-km-long Sianok segment northwest from the stepover. Dextral displacements on the two segments averaged 51 and 36 cm. The earlier earthquake doublet in 1926 also straddled this stepover but also did not seem to have ruptured the entire fault segments. Thus, using fault lengths between large stepovers to estimate earthquake magnitude will overestimate what is likely to occur. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Records of relative sea-level change extracted from corals of the Mentawai islands, Sumatra, imply that this 700-kilometer-long section of the Sunda megathrust has generated broadly similar sequences of great earthquakes about every two centuries for at least the past 700 years. The moment magnitude 8.4 earthquake of September 2007 represents the first in a series of large partial failures of the Mentawai section that will probably be completed within the next several decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Sumatra–Andaman earthquake of 26 December 2004 is the first giant earthquake (moment magnitude Mw > 9.0) to have occurred since the advent of modern space-based geodesy and broadband seismology. It therefore provides an unprecedented opportunity to investigate the characteristics of one of these enormous and rare events. Here we report estimates of the ground displacement associated with this event, using near-field Global Positioning System (GPS) surveys in northwestern Sumatra combined with in situ and remote observations of the vertical motion of coral reefs. These data show that the earthquake was generated by rupture of the Sunda subduction megathrust over a distance of >1,500 kilometres and a width of <150 kilometres. Megathrust slip exceeded 20 metres offshore northern Sumatra, mostly at depths shallower than 30 kilometres. Comparison of the geodetically and seismically inferred slip distribution indicates that ∼30 per cent additional fault slip accrued in the 1.5 months following the 500-second-long seismic rupture. Both seismic and aseismic slip before our re-occupation of GPS sites occurred on the shallow portion of the megathrust, where the large Aceh tsunami originated. Slip tapers off abruptly along strike beneath Simeulue Island at the southeastern edge of the rupture, where the earthquake nucleated and where an Mw = 7.2 earthquake occurred in late 2002. This edge also abuts the northern limit of slip in the 28 March 2005 Mw = 8.7 Nias–Simeulue earthquake. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The Sumatran margin suffered three great earthquakes in recent years (Aceh-Andaman 26 December 2004 Mw=9.1, Nias 28 March 2005 Mw=8.7, Bengkulu 12 September 2007 Mw=8.5). Here we present local earthquake data from a dense, amphibious local seismic network covering a segment of the Sumatran margin that last ruptured in 1797. The occurrence of forearc islands along this part of the Sumatran margin allows the deployment of seismic land-stations above the shallow part of the thrust fault. In combination with ocean bottom seismometers this station geometry provides high quality hypocentre location for the updip end of the seismogenic zone in an area where geodetic data are also available. In this region, the Investigator Fracture Zone (IFZ), which consists of 4 sub-ridges, is subducted below the Sunda plate. This topography appears to influence seismicity at all depth intervals. A well-defined linear streak of seismicity extending from 80 to 200 km depth lies along the prolongation of closely spaced IFZ sub-ridges. More intermediate depth seismicity is located to the southeast of this string of seismicity and is related to subducted rough oceanic seafloor. The plate interface beneath Siberut Island which ruptured last in 1797 is characterised by almost complete absence of seismicity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Continuously recording Global Positioning System stations near the 28 March 2005 rupture of the Sunda megathrust [moment magnitude (Mw) 8.7] show that the earthquake triggered aseismic frictional afterslip on the subduction megathrust, with a major fraction of this slip in the up-dip direction from the main rupture. Eleven months after the main shock, afterslip continues at rates several times the average interseismic rate, resulting in deformation equivalent to at least a Mw 8.2 earthquake. In general, along-strike variations in frictional behavior appear to persist over multiple earthquake cycles. Aftershocks cluster along the boundary between the region of coseismic slip and the up-dip creeping zone. We observe that the cumulative number of aftershocks increases linearly with postseismic displacements; this finding suggests that the temporal evolution of aftershocks is governed by afterslip. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seismic rupture produced spectacular tectonic deformation above a 400-kilometer strip of the Sunda megathrust, offshore northern Sumatra, in March 2005. Measurements from coral microatolls and Global Positioning System stations reveal trench-parallel belts of uplift up to 3 meters high on the outer-arc islands above the rupture and a 1-meter-deep subsidence trough farther from the trench. Surface deformation reflects more than 11 meters of fault slip under the islands and a pronounced lessening of slip trenchward. A saddle in megathrust slip separates the northwestern edge of the 2005 rupture from the great 2004 Sumatra-Andaman rupture. The southeastern edge abuts a predominantly aseismic section of the megathrust near the equator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]