Compound Supershear Rupture During the 2026 Venezuela Earthquake Doublet

Ryo Yamaguchi , Naohiro Inoue , Takeshi Saito, Hayato Tanaka, Nozomi Ishida, Bogdan Dumitru Enescu, Tuncay Taymaz, Ryo Okuwaki , Yuji Yagi

The 24 June 2026 Venezuela earthquake doublet occurred along a complex transform-fault system. Teleseismic P waves encompassing both cataloged events were analyzed using potency density tensor inversion with seven structure models. All models indicate predominantly eastward rupture over approximately 220 km, including several stages of supershear propagation. Three apparent rupture stalls coincided with changes in the inferred fault orientation, suggesting that fault bends or transitions between fault segments may have influenced rupture propagation. A high-slip-rate subevent occurred about 90 km behind the apparent rupture front 37 s after the origin time of the first event.Whether this subevent reflects back-propagating rupture or a relatively independent rupture episode remains unresolved, but rapid eastward rupture appears to have initiated or resumed afterward. This compound rupture process raises the possibility that parts of the source region experienced repeated strong shaking.