Magnetotellurics (MT) and Gravity Study of a Possible Active Fault in Southern Garut, West Java, Indonesia

Abstract

In recent years, dozen low-intensity earthquakes occurred in southern Garut, West Java Indonesia; two of them were reported destructive. However, those shallow earthquake clusters are hardly associated with well-known active faults in the area. Hence, we conducted 3D gravity combined with 2D magnetotellurics (MT) inversions to study the subsurface. Gravity and MT modeling confirm a basin with around 5 km depth consisting of two subbasins separated by a NE-SW trending local-high ridge. The local high coincides with the magmatic intrusion in geothermal fields and aligns with a series of volcanic bodies’ lineament observed on the surface. We interpret this structural high as a preexisting fault that serves as a magma pathway in the tectonomagmatic interaction. Shallow low-magnitude seismicity in the southern Garut area tends to occur in the resistive bodies. We interpret that heat from the cooling magmatic intrusion may decrease the effective fault-normal stress of the rocks, leading to a decrease in fault failure resistance and may initiate rupture. The resistivity structure around the initial rupture may affect whether or not the nucleation will end up as a large-magnitude earthquake. Furthermore, the unconsolidated young volcanic cover in this area could amplify ground shaking when earthquake occurs that might lead to more extensive damage.