Analysis of the unusual earthquake of 13 August 2006 in Michoacán, México

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Miniatura

Fecha

2015-12

Autores

Ramírez-Gaytán, Alejandro
Bandy, William Lee
Jaimes, Miguel Angel
Salido-Ruiz, Ricardo
Preciado, Adolfo
Huérfano, Victor
Cárdenas-Monroy, Caridad

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Editor

Pleiades Publishing

Resumen

Descripción

The moderate earthquake of 13 August 2006 which occurred in the coastal area of Michoacán, México, offered the first opportunity to study an earthquake that has a focal mechanism oriented practically perpendicular to the vast majority of the earthquakes occurring along the subduction zone of the Mexican Pacific continental margin. The location and focal mechanism estimated in this study are in close agreement with those estimated by the Global Centroid Moment Tensor (CMT) project and the US Geological Survey, National Earthquake Information Center (NEIC) and place the earthquake in a complex tectonic region where 3 lithospheric plates converge. Our review shows that for the most severe historical earthquakes in the area the seismic recurrence period has expired, consequently the seismic hazard of this region is high and the analysis of the unusual event must be considered important. The main purposes of this study are (i) re-esti- mate the location and focal mechanism of the unusual event by using available seismic records close to the source, (ii) conduct a tectonic analysis of the area in relation with the previous fault plane estimated, (iii) evaluate the peak ground accelerations generated for this particular thrust event relative to those occurring during the more common events and (iv) generate the isoseismal map. The analysis of the intensities of this event together with a tectonic analysis of the area where this event occurred, attest to an unexpected behavior of this event in this region.

Palabras clave

Earthquakes, Focal Mechanism, Complex Tectonic Regions

Citación

Ramírez-Gaytán, A., Bandy, W. L., Jaimes, M. A., Salido-Ruiz, R. A., Preciado, A., Huérfano, V. and Cárdenas-Monroy, C. (2015). “Analysis of the unusual earthquake of 13 August 2006 in Michoacán, México”. Journal of Volcanology and Seismology, 9(6): pp. 412-428.