Earthquake Source Investigation of the Kanallaki, March 2020 Sequence (North-Western Greece) Based on Seismic and Geodetic Data

The active collision of the Apulian continental lithosphere with the Eurasian plate charac-
terizes the tectonics of the Epirus region in northwestern Greece, invoking crustal shortening. Epirus
has not experienced any strong earthquakes during the instrumental era and thus there is no detailed
knowledge of the way the active deformation is being expressed. In March 2020, a moderate size
(Mw 5.8) earthquake sequence occurred close to the Kanallaki village in Epirus. The mainshock and
major aftershock focal mechanisms are compatible with reverse faulting, on NNW-ESE trending
nodal planes. We measure the coseismic surface deformation using radar interferometry and investi-
gate the possible fault geometries based on seismic waveforms and InSAR data. Slip distribution
models provide good fits to both nodal planes and cannot resolve the fault plane ambiguity. The
results indicate two slip episodes for a 337 ◦ N plane dipping 37 ◦ to the east and a single slip patch
for a 137 ◦ N plane dipping 43 ◦ to 55 ◦ to the west. Even though the area of the sequence is very close
to the triple junction of western Greece, the Kanallaki 2020 activity itself seems to be distinct from it,
in terms of the acting stresses.