A High-Resolution Seismic Catalog for the Initial 2019 Ridgecrest Earthquake Sequence

I use template matching and precise relative relocation techniques to develop a high-resolution earthquake catalog for the initial portion of the 2019 Ridgecrest earthquake sequence, from July 4-16, encompassing the foreshock sequence and the first 10+ days of aftershocks following the Mw 7.1 mainshock. Using 13,525 routinely cataloged events as waveform templates, I detect and precisely locate a total of 34,091 events. Precisely located earthquakes reveal numerous cross-cutting fault structures with dominantly perpendicular SW- and NW-strikes. Foreshocks of the Mw 6.4 event appear to align on a NW-striking fault. Aftershocks of the Mw 6.4 event suggest that it further ruptured this NW-striking fault, as well as the SW-striking fault where surface rupture was observed. Finally, aftershocks of the Mw 7.1 show a highly complex distribution, illuminating a primary NW-striking fault zone consistent with surface rupture, but also numerous cross-cutting SW-striking faults. Aftershock relocations suggest that the Mw 7.1 event ruptured adjacent to the previous NW-striking rupture of the Mw 6.4, perhaps activating a subparallel structure southwest of the earlier rupture. Both the NW and SE rupture termini of the Mw 7.1 rupture exhibited multiple-fault branching, with particularly high rates of aftershocks and multiple fault orientations in the dilatational quadrant NE of the NW rupture terminus.