The rise, collapse, and compaction of Mt. Mantap from the 3 September 2017 North Korean nuclear test

Wang, Teng; Shi, Qibin; Nikkhoo, Mehdi; Wei, Shengji; Barbot, Sylvain; Dreger, Douglas; Bürgmann, Roland; Motagh, Mahdi; Chen, Qi-Fu

doi:10.1126/science.aar7230

Title: The rise, collapse, and compaction of Mt. Mantap from the 3 September 2017 North Korean nuclear test

Journal Article · Thu May 10 00:00:00 UTC 2018 · Science

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.aar7230 · OSTI ID:1479425

^[1]; Shi, Qibin ^[2];

^[3];

^[2]; Barbot, Sylvain ^[2];

^[4];

^[5];

^[6]

Nanyang Technological Univ. (Singapore). Earth Observatory of Singapore
Nanyang Technological Univ. (Singapore). Earth Observatory of Singapore. Asian School of Environment
GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam (Germany)
Univ. of California, Berkeley, CA (United States)
GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, Potsdam (Germany); Leibniz Univ. of Hanover (Germany). Inst. for Photogrammetry and GeoInformation
Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing (China). Key Lab. of Earth and Planetary Physics. Inst. of Geology and Geophysics

Surveillance of clandestine nuclear tests relies on a global seismic network, but the potential of spaceborne monitoring has been underexploited. Here we used satellite radar imagery to determine the complete surface displacement field of up to 3.5 meters of divergent horizontal motion with 0.5 meters of subsidence associated with North Korea’s largest underground nuclear test. Combining insight from geodetic and seismological remote sensing, we found that the aftermath of the initial explosive deformation involved subsidence associated with subsurface collapse and aseismic compaction of the damaged rocks of the test site. The explosive yield from the nuclear detonation with best-fitting source parameters for 450-meter depth was 191 kilotonnes of TNT equivalent. Finally, our results demonstrate the capability of spaceborne remote sensing to help characterize large underground nuclear tests.

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Research Organization:: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Sponsoring Organization:: European Research Council (ERC); National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC); National Research Foundation (NRF) of Singapore; Singapore Ministry of Education; US Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR); USDOE

Grant/Contract Number:: AC02-05CH11231

OSTI ID:: 1479425

Journal Information:: Science, Journal Name: Science Journal Issue: 6398 Vol. 361; ISSN 0036-8075

Publisher:: AAASCopyright Statement

Country of Publication:: United States

Language:: English

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