Geodetic Source Modeling of the Destructive 2022 Mw 6.2 Afghanistan Earthquake: A Shallow, Moderate-Dipping, Pure Strike-Slip Event with a Relatively High Stress Drop

Abstract A deadly Mw 6.2 earthquake struck central-eastern Afghanistan on 21 June 2022, causing more than 1000 casualties. Although it occurred in a region with low-quality buildings, the event caused disproportionally serious damages, given its moderate magnitude. Here, we map the coseismic surface deformations and investigate the source properties of the 2022 Afghanistan earthquake using Interferometric Synthetic Aperture Radar data. The optimal source model shows pure strike-slip components concentrated at a shallow depth range of ∼0–6 km with a maximum amplitude of ∼3.0 m. The moderately dipping geometry of ∼69° strengthened the surface deformations at one side with a considerably high population density. Moreover, the compact fault-slip distribution indicates a relatively high static stress drop of ∼12 MPa, 1–2 times larger than the global average. We believe that the shallow source depth, moderately dipping geometry and relatively high static stress drop likely contribute together to the eventual serious surface damage.