Spatiotemporal Evolution of Surface Lineaments and Seismic b-Values Associated with Large Strike-Slip Earthquakes
Abstract
Satellite-derived lineament variations may provide information on evolving crustal deformation, but their relationship with independent seismological indicators remains poorly constrained. This study investigates the spatiotemporal correspondence between surface lineament dynamics and seismicity-derived b-values for the 2010 Mw 7.2 El Mayor–Cucapah and 2019 Mw 7.1 Ridgecrest earthquakes. Lineaments extracted from Landsat imagery using ADALGEO were evaluated for density and orientation and compared with spatial b-value distributions. El Mayor–Cucapah maintained high normalized lineament responses from −63 to −15 days (100–87.69%), followed by a sharp decrease to 10.77% at +33 days and 0% at +97 days. Ridgecrest increased from 0% at −165 days to 100% at −5 days, remained elevated at +11 days (92.31%), and subsequently declined. Spatial-block analysis showed no statistically robust association for El Mayor–Cucapah (ρs = 0.112, 95% CI: −0.024–0.240; p = 0.129), whereas Ridgecrest exhibited a significant inverse relationship (ρs = −0.522, 95% CI: −0.632 to −0.393; p = 0.0001). These contrasting responses demonstrate event-dependent surface–seismological coupling and indicate that lineament variability is most informative when evaluated jointly with independent seismicity and structural constraints.