Triggered fault slip on June 17, 2000 on the Reykjanes Peninsula, SW-Iceland captured by radar interferometry

Dynamically triggered seismicity followed shortly after a M_s 6.6 earthquake in Iceland on June 17, 2000. Smaller earthquakes occurred on the Reykjanes Peninsula up to 100 km from the mainshock rupture. Using interferometric analysis of Synthetic Aperture Radar images (InSAR), we measure crustal deformation associated with three triggered deformation events. The largest of these occurred at Lake Kleifarvatn, 85 km west of the mainshock epicenter. Modeling of the InSAR data reveals strikeslip on a north-striking fault, with a geodetic moment of 6.2 × 10¹⁷ Nm, equivalent to magnitude M_w 5.8 earthquake. A seismological estimate of the moment is not yet available, because the seismic signature of this event is partly hidden by the mainshock waveform. The paucity of aftershocks on the triggered rupture plane suggests some aseismic slip there, compatible with a thin seismogenic crust, high heat-flow, hydrothermal alteration and the presence of fluids in the area.