Gondwana Research (Gondwana Newsletter Section) V. 8, No. 4, pp. 585-588.

585
© 2005 International Association for Gondwana Research, Japan. GNL

CORRESPONDENCE

Aftershock Propagation Characteristics During the First Three

Hours Following the 26 December 2004 Sumatra-Andaman
Earthquake
Sujit Dasgupta, Basab Mukhopadhyay and A. Acharyya
Geological Survey of India, Kolkata - 700 016, India, E-mail: basabmukhopadhyay@yahoo.com

(Manuscript received May 1, 2005; accepted June 30, 2005)

Abstract
Within three hours of the mainshock rupture of the 26 December 2004 Sumatra-Andaman earthquake, 45 aftershocks
occurred that are distributed all along the mega-thrust fault plane and also along the West Andaman fault. Seven of
these aftershocks struck sequentially and unilaterally from the mainshock in the south towards north within 2h 9m
50.76s indicating an overall rate of aftershock propagation to the tune of 167 meters/sec. Seismic moment calculated
from fault parameters gives a value of 1.2 × 1030 dyne cm. Three separate fault segments are identified from distribution
of aftershocks with propagation rates 330, 250 and 85 meters/sec in the southern, central and northern segments.
These 7 unilaterally propagating shocks along the mega-thrust are probably not aftershocks of the mainshock rather
these are sequentially triggered shocks each rupturing a small segment of the fault. Location of the mainshock and
several aftershocks are guided by several lithospheric hinge faults identified previously.
Key words: Sumatra-Andaman earthquake, aftershock propagation, triggered shock, fault segment, rupture velocity.

Introduction December 2004 scenario we had demonstrated (see

A natural disaster strikes when the previous incidence is
almost forgotten and strangely it hits where it is least expected.
Notwithstanding a few soft claims in the media on the
forecast of this major earthquake that created havoc via
the tsunami all along the Indian Ocean rim countries, the
event could not have been predicted within a reasonable
space, time and size window with the present knowledge
of earthquake physics, statistics and tectonics. In spite of
a host of organizations in India involved in the study of
seismology, with around a hundred odd seismograph stations
both old and new, our shyness in prompt and online data
dissemination continues and this indecision is perhaps one
of the several reasons why information on the tsunami wave
that struck the Great and Car Nicobar by 7 am (IST) did
not percolate the Indian mainland where it took two more
hours to travel and was destined for devastation. Basic
seismological data on which our understanding of this
mega-event is derived even after six-months, is largely
provided by the USGS website. From the study of NEIC
earthquake catalogue both in the pre- and post-26th
http//: www.gsi.gov.in/suma_eq.htm) spatio-temporal
variation of seismicity pattern; between 1st January and
26th November 2004 there are records of 260 events from
the region, while in the period since 27th November till
the great earthquake of 26th December there was a clear
seismic quiescence of one month. We had further shown
that all aftershocks that struck on 26th December 2004
(193 as listed on 08.02.2005) form three distinct linear
clusters along the subduction mega-thrust and two more
clusters along the West Andaman fault. We have revisited
the NEIC catalogue (as on 08.06.2005) to find that 283
aftershocks are recorded on 26th December itself and in
this note we analyze the spatio-temporal behavior of the
aftershocks that occurred within the first three hours of
the mainshock.
Analysis
A chronological listing (Table 1) of 45 aftershocks that
struck within three hours of the mainshock indicate that
7 such events (in bold Roman, Table 1) occur within and

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Table 1. Chronological listing of aftershocks up to 3 hours following the 26 December 2004 Sumatra-Andaman Earthquake

SL_NO YEAR MO DA HR_MN_SEC LAT LONG DEPTH MAGNITUDE Remarks

mb Ms Mw Mo
0 2004 12 26 00 58 53.45 3.30 95.98 30 8.9 8.9 9.0 3.95E+29 Main shock
1 2004 12 26 01 17 10.33 4.94 94.27 30 5.5 1st aftershock along the plate
interface
2 2004 12 26 01 21 20.66 6.34 93.36 30 6.1 2nd aftershock along the plate
interface
3 2004 12 26 01 22 25.59 7.42 93.99 30 6.0 1st aftershock along the west
Andaman Fault
4 2004 12 26 01 25 48.76 5.50 94.21 30 6.1
5 2004 12 26 01 30 15.74 8.83 93.71 30 5.5 2nd aftershock along the West Andaman
Fault
6 2004 12 26 01 33 22.38 7.76 93.71 25 5.5
7 2004 12 26 01 40 7.13 5.84 93.15 30 5.3
8 2004 12 26 01 48 52.07 5.43 94.46 51 5.7
9 2004 12 26 01 52 43 10.38 92.12 12 5.2 3rd aftershock along the plate interface
in the direction of rupture propagation

10 2004 12 26 01 59 13.99 8.39 92.45 30 5.3

11 2004 12 26 02 04 0.03 6.85 94.67 30 6.0
12 2004 12 26 02 15 23.57 6.17 93.47 30 5.6

13 2004 12 26 02 15 49.5 12.26 92.28 20 5.3 4th aftershock along the plate interface
in the direction of rupture propagation
14 2004 12 26 02 15 59.78 12.32 92.50 26 5.7 5th aftershock along the plate interface
in the direction of rupture propagation
15 2004 12 26 02 22 1.84 8.87 92.47 15 5.7
16 2004 12 26 02 30 28.94 6.72 93.08 15 5.1
17 2004 12 26 02 34 52.15 3.99 94.14 30 5.7
18 2004 12 26 02 36 10.09 12.18 92.94 38 5.8
19 2004 12 26 02 38 9.35 8.49 92.35 33 5.6
20 2004 12 26 02 40 59.85 7.48 92.43 30 5.4
21 2004 12 26 02 43 5.26 9.22 94.00 30 4.9
22 2004 12 26 02 45 17.65 8.46 92.61 30 5.2
23 2004 12 26 02 46 20.74 4.24 93.61 30 5.7
24 2004 12 26 02 52 1.83 12.50 92.60 30 5.8 6th aftershock along the plate
interface in the direction of rupture
propagation
25 2004 12 26 02 53 13.04 0.06 97.04 30 5.4
26 2004 12 26 02 56 40.37 8.61 92.29 30 4.9
27 2004 12 26 02 59 14.39 3.18 94.38 30 5.7
28 2004 12 26 03 23 8.08 8.61 92.33 30 5.5
29 2004 12 26 03 61 3.05 8.19 92.46 27 5.1
30 2004 12 26 03 84 4.21 13.74 93.01 30 5.9 7th aftershock along the plate interface
in the direction of rupture propagation
31 2004 12 26 03 93 4.08 4.05 93.53 30 5.4
32 2004 12 26 03 14 13.84 7.44 94.26 30 5.4
33 2004 12 26 03 17 52.38 7.21 92.92 30 5.6
34 2004 12 26 03 19 13.05 3.55 94.29 30 5.5
35 2004 12 26 03 22 57.48 5.82 95.09 20 5.4
36 2004 12 26 03 24 54.94 4.47 94.07 26 5.8
37 2004 12 26 03 26 45.79 4.91 96.40 30 5.3
38 2004 12 26 03 30 1.38 4.64 94.00 25 5.2
39 2004 12 26 03 40 15.64 5.53 94.33 30 5.6
40 2004 12 26 03 44 8.34 13.47 92.74 22 5.2
41 2004 12 26 03 46 42.04 6.72 93.33 46 5.0
42 2004 12 26 03 50 22.18 5.51 94.25 48 5.30
43 2004 12 26 03 51 12.36 5.05 94.77 30 5.7
44 2004 12 26 03 54 44.77 6.48 92.89 30 5.1
45 2004 12 26 04 04 2.83 4.76 93.79 16 5.2

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define the entire mega-thrust rupture from the mainshock
in the south to aftershock (No. 30) in the north. Usually
aftershocks strike via residual stress to break small asperities
left by the main rupture, but in the present case it appears
Fig. 1. Tectonic map of Sumatra-Andaman region (after Curray, 2005)
with 45 aftershocks (solid circle: focal depth ≤40 km; solid
triangle >40 km) that occurred within three hours of the
mainshock (star) of 26 December 2004. The red line is the 40
km contour on top of the subducting Indian lithosphere Benioff
Zone (after Dasgupta et al., 2003). Red solid circles are the
seven aftershocks that occurred sequentially from south to north
along the mega-thrust. The two green circles are sequential
aftershocks along the West Andaman fault. The green region
between the trench and 40 km contour is the total fault rupture
area. I, II and III are fault segments along the plate interface
(see Table 2) and IA denotes fault segment along WAF
(see Table 3). Red star: volcano; N–Narcondam, B–Barren;
ASR–Andaman spreading ridge; MPF–Mae Ping Fault;
TPF–Three Pagodas Fault; SSF–Shan Scrap Fault; WAF–West
Andaman Fault; RF–Ranong Fault; KMF–Khlong Marui Fault.
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587
different, with the mainshock triggering aftershocks
1 followed by 2, 9, 13, 14, 24 and 30 each triggering the
next along the fault azimuth. These seven aftershocks
occurred in temporal succession along the unilateral
direction of rupture propagation and are shown as red
solid circles (Fig. 1) on a tectonic map (Curray, 2005)
superimposed with 40 km contour (red line in Fig. 1) on
top of the Benioff Zone from Dasgupta et al. (2003).
It took 2h 9m 50.76s to break up to the northern-most
point of the mega-thrust since the mainshock, traversing
a total of about 1300 km fault length with an average
rate of about 167 m/sec. The actual fault length measured
along the trench (Fig. 1) is however 1440 km. The down-
dip width of fault rupture varies between 90 and 173 km
and the total rupture area is around 2.0 × 105 sq km.
With an average slip of 15 metre [and rigidity (µ) as
4 × 1011 dyne/cm2], seismic moment (Mo) calculates to
the order of 1.2 × 1030 dyne cm, a value very close to that
given by Stein and Okal (2005).
The mainshock along with aftershocks 1 and 2 define
fault segment I that is 444 km-long and trends N40W.
Average aftershock propagation rate is around 330 m/sec
(Table 2), 6 to 7.5 times less than the modeled unilateral
rupture velocity of 2.0 to 2.5 km/sec in the mainshock
rupture segment (Yagi, 2005; Chen Ji, 2005; Yamanaki,
2005). The afterslip (or triggered slip) rate in the southern
sector of fault segment I, between the mainshock and
aftershock 1 (265 km), is around 242 m/sec while it is
faster in the northern part (183 km) of 730 m/sec from
shocks 1 to 2. Eight more aftershocks occurred in segment
I close to and south of aftershock 1, and two more locate
near aftershock 2 that broke smaller asperities
intermittently during the first three hours. Segment II of
the fault trends N17W and is around 469 km-long, defined
by aftershock numbers 2 and 9 that locate on the southern
and northern tip of the fault, respectively. It may be noted
that except shock 7 that occurred near the junction of
fault segments I and II, the other five aftershocks in between
(2 and 9) locate along the West Andaman Fault. The
aftershock propagation rate in fault segment II is of the
order of 250 m/sec (Table 2), slower than that of segment
I. Twelve aftershocks are recorded from this segment
between Great and Car Nicobar that kept rocking the
islands intermittently. Fault segment III is 386 km-long,
trends N15E between aftershocks 9 and 30, and propagate
unilaterally through shocks 13, 14 and 24. Average
aftershock propagation velocity has further slowed down
in this segment, which is of the order of 85m/sec
(Table 2). Rate in the southern sector of fault segment III,
between shocks 9 and 14, is about 158 m/sec and in the
northern sector, between 24 and 30 is 147 m/sec, while it
was very slow of 11 m/sec to break the 300 m patch
between shocks 13 and 24.
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Table 2. Aftershock propagation rate along the megathrust.

Aftershock No Time after Fault segment Length (km) Time (sec) for Aftershock
(see figure 1 mainshock of the fault propagation propagation
and table 1) segment of aftershock rate (m/sec)
1 18 m 16.88 s(1096.88 s) I (between mainshock
3 22 m 27.21s(1347.21s) and aftershock 2) 444 1347 330
9 53 m 49.55s(3229.55s) II (between aftershocks
2 and 9) 469 1882 250
13 1h 16 m 56.05 s (4616.05 s)
14 1h 17 m 06.33 s (4626.33 s) III (between aftershocks
24 1h 53 m 08.38 s (6788.38 s) 9 and 30) 386 4561 85
30 2h 09 m 50.76 s (7790.76 s)

Table 3. Aftershock propagation rate along the West Andaman Fault.

Aftershock No Time after Fault segment Length (km) Time (sec) for Aftershock
(see figure 1 mainshock of the fault propagation propagation
and table 1) segment of aftershock rate (m/sec)
1 18 m 16.88 s(1096.88 s)
2 23 m 32.14 s(1412.14 s) IA (between aftershocks 1 and 5) 440 1785 246
5 31 m 22.29 s(1882.29 s)

The main earthquake of 26th December has loaded the
entire fault system in the region both in the subducting
and overriding plates and transferred stress particularly
to the West Andaman fault. Several large aftershocks
locate along this fault system but rarely occur north of
10° latitude. Aftershock 1 from the mega-thrust is
unilaterally followed northwards to shock 5 through
aftershock 3 (green dots). This N-S segment (IA) is about
440 km long with an afterslip propagation rate of around
246 m/sec (Table 3).
Conclusion
From the present analysis and our previous studies
(Dasgupta et al., 2003; Mukhopadhyay et al., 2005)
we make the following conclusions:
(1) The fault rupture propagated unilaterally
northwards from the mainshock epicentre in three distinct
segments of 444, 469 and 386 km-length defined by seven
aftershocks.
(2) If distribution of aftershocks defines the fault
rupture area then sequential and unilateral aftershock
propagation rate should approximate the rate of rupture
propagation.
(3) This rate is much slower than the modeled rupture
velocity of 2.0 to 2.5 km/sec and varies from 330 in
segment I, 250 in segment II to 85 m/sec in segment III.
(4) These seven unilaterally propagating shocks along
the mega-thrust are probably not aftershocks (sensu stricto)
of the mainshock, rather these are sequentially triggered
shocks each rupturing a small segment of the fault.
(5) The main earthquake on the mega-thrust has
loaded the West Andaman Fault wherein the aftershock
propagation rate is around 246 m/sec.
(6) Previous studies (Dasgupta et al., 2003) from the
region indicate that the location of the mainshock and
several aftershocks are guided by the presence of a number
of lithospheric hinge faults (see Fig. 4 of Dasgupta et al.,
2003). The epicentre of the earthquake of 26th December,
2004 locates close to the hinge of lithospheric fault f16.
A cluster of aftershocks that locate SSW of Car Nicobar in
fault segment II is traversed by the fault f12. The junction
of fault segments II and III (shock 9) is marked by a similar
hinge fault f11 in the subducting lithospheric slab.
The very slow propagation rate (11 m/sec) across the
300 m patch between shocks 14 and 24 may be attributed
to the barrier caused by the fault f10.
References
Curray, J.R. (2005) Tectonics and history of the Andaman Sea
region. J. Asian Earth Sci. (in press).
Dasgupta, S., Mukhopadhyay, M., Bhattacharya, A. and Jana,
T.K. (2003) The geometry of the Burmese-Andaman
subducting lithosphere. J. Seismol., v. 7, pp. 155-174.
Chen, J. (2005) http://www.gps.caltech.edu/~jichen/
Earthquake/2004/aceh/aceh.html
Mukhopadhyay, B., Dasgupta, S. and Acharyya, A. (2005)
Aftershock investigation of 26th December, 2004 earthquake.
http://www.gsi.gov.in/suma_eq.htm
Stein, S. and Okal, E.A. (2005) Speed and size of the Sumatra
earthquake. Nature, v. 434, pp. 581-582.
Yagi,Y. (2005), http://iisee.kenken.go.jp/staff/yagi/eq/
Sumatra2004/Sumatra2004.html
Yamanaki, Y. (2005) http://www.eri.u-tokyo.ac.jp/sanchu/
Seismo_Note/2004/EIC161e.html

Gondwana Research, V. 8, No. 4, 2005