Seismic history of the Middle America subduction zone along El Salvador, Guatemala, and Chiapas, Mexico: 1526–2000

White, Randall A.; Ligorría, Juan Pablo; Cifuentes, Inés

doi:10.1130/0-8137-2375-2.379

Cited by 20 publications

(32 citation statements)

References 26 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…In contrast to the above studies, White et al (2004) estimate a higher degree of seismic coupling from their compilation of regional historical records of earthquake damage dating back to 1526. Based on their approximation of the moment magnitudes of the largest historical earthquakes since 1690, they estimate that the cumulative slip for large offshore earthquakes has equalled 60 ± 10 per cent of the total plate convergence beneath western El Salvador (open red arrow in Fig.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 76%

“…1) and ∼10–15 mm yr −1 of northwestward trench‐parallel motion of areas outboard from the volcanic arc (White 1991; DeMets 2001; Dewey et al 2004; Turner et al 2007). Associated with these processes, destructive volcanic arc earthquakes in El Salvador and Nicaragua have occurred every several years over the past century (White 1991; White & Harlow 1993) and every ∼70 yr offshore along or close to the Cocos Plate subduction interface (Satake 1994; Bommer et al 2002; Benito et al 2004; White et al 2004). These earthquakes have caused nearly 20 000 fatalities in the past century (White & Harlow 1993), underscoring the importance of better understanding their sources and causes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Open arrows show seismic slip rates (GG06) from Guzman‐Speziale & Gomez‐Gonzalez (2006) and a seismic slip rate for western El Salvador (Wh04) converted from historic cumulative seismic slip shown in fig. 7 of White et al (2004). Green solid lines approximate volcanic arc fault locations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

GPS-derived coupling estimates for the Central America subduction zone and volcanic arc faults: El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua

Correa-Mora¹,

DeMets²,

Alvarado³

et al. 2009

Geophysical Journal International

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

S U M M A R YWe invert GPS velocities from 32 sites in El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua to estimate the rate of long-term forearc motion and distributions of interseismic coupling across the Middle America subduction zone offshore from these countries and faults in the Salvadoran and Nicaraguan volcanic arcs. A 3-D finite element model is used to approximate the geometries of the subduction interface and strike-slip faults in the volcanic arc and determine the elastic response to coupling across these faults. The GPS velocities are best fit by a model in which the forearc moves 14-16 mm yr −1 and has coupling of 85-100 per cent across faults in the volcanic arc, in agreement with the high level of historic and recent earthquake activity in the volcanic arc. Our velocity inversion indicates that coupling across the potentially seismogenic areas of the subduction interface is remarkably weak, averaging no more than 3 per cent of the plate convergence rate and with only two poorly resolved patches where coupling might be higher along the 550-km-long segment we modelled. Our geodetic evidence for weak subduction coupling disagrees with a seismically derived coupling estimate of 60 ± 10 per cent from a published analysis of earthquake damage back to 1690, but agrees with three other seismologic studies that infer weak subduction coupling from 20th century earthquakes. Most large historical earthquakes offshore from El Salvador and western Nicaragua may therefore have been intraslab normal faulting events similar to the M w 7.3 1982 and M w 7.7 2001 earthquakes offshore from El Salvador. Alternatively, the degree of coupling might vary with time. The evidence for weak coupling indirectly supports a recently published hypothesis that much of the Middle American forearc is escaping to the west or northwest away from the Cocos Ridge collision zone in Costa Rica. Such a hypothesis is particularly attractive for El Salvador, where there is little or no convergence obliquity to drive the observed trench-parallel forearc motion.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 76%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

GPS-derived coupling estimates for the Central America subduction zone and volcanic arc faults: El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua

Correa-Mora¹,

DeMets²,

Alvarado³

et al. 2009

Geophysical Journal International

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…8) from Chiapas to Guatemala and El Salvador (Song & Simons 2003). However, the historical seismicity, although poorly documented (White et al 2004), does not reveal any clear lateral variations of the seismic behaviour along the subduction zone. Several M 7.5–8.1 subduction earthquakes are reported, that seem to release less than 50 per cent of the accumulated slip (White et al 2004).…”

Section: Conclusion and Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Fault kinematics in northern Central America and coupling along the subduction interface of the Cocos Plate, from GPS data in Chiapas (Mexico), Guatemala and El Salvador

Franco¹,

Lasserre²,

Lyon‐Caen³

et al. 2012

Geophysical Journal International

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

International audienceNew GPS measurements in Chiapas (Mexico), Guatemala and El Salvador are used to constrain the fault kinematics in the North America (NA), Caribbean (CA) and Cocos (CO) plates triple junction area. The regional GPS velocity field is first analysed in terms of strain partitioning across the major volcano-tectonic structures, using elastic half-space modelling, then inverted through a block model. We show the dominant role of the Motagua Fault with respect to the Polochic Fault in the accommodation of the present-day deformation associated with the NA and CA relative motion. The NA/CA motion decreases from 18-22 mm yr−1 in eastern Guatemala to 14-20 mm yr−1 in central Guatemala (assuming a uniform locking depth of 14-28 km), down to a few millimetres per year in western Guatemala. As a consequence, the western tip of the CA Plate deforms internally, with ≃9 mm yr−1 of east-west extension (≃5 mm yr−1 across the Guatemala city graben alone). Up to 15 mm yr−1 of dextral motion can be accommodated across the volcanic arc in El Salvador and southeastern Guatemala. The arc seems to mark the northern boundary of an independent forearc sliver (AR), pinned to the NA plate. The inversion of the velocity field shows that a four-block (NA, CA, CO and AR) model, that combines relative block rotations with elastic deformation at the block boundaries, can account for most of the GPS observations and constrain the overall kinematics of the active structures. This regional modelling also evidences lateral variations of coupling at the CO subduction interface, with a fairly high-coupling (≃0.6) offshore Chiapas and low-coupling (≃0.25) offshore Guatemala and El Salvador

show abstract

“…It generated several earthquakes of M s [ 7 during the twentieth century. These subduction-zone earthquakes reach Modified Mercalli Intensities (MMIs) of VIII along the volcanic arc (White et al 2004), but nevertheless have caused fewer casualties than the less powerful, but much shallower upper-crustal earthquakes occurring within the volcanic arc (White and Harlow 1993;Fig. 2b).…”

Section: Study Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

The recording of floods and earthquakes in Lake Chichój, Guatemala during the twentieth century

et al. 2014

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Laguna Chichój (Lake Chichój) is the only deep permanent lake in the central highlands of Guatemala. The lake is located in the boundary zone between the North American and Caribbean plates. The lake has been struck by devastating earthquakes and tropical cyclones in historical times. We investigated the imprint of twentieth century extreme events on the sedimentary record of this tropical lake using a bathymetric survey of the lake, coring the lake floor, and providing a chronology of sediment accumulation. The lake occupies a series of circular depressions likely formed by the rapid dissolution of a buried body of gypsum. 210 Pb and 137 Cs inventories and varve counting indicate high rates of sedimentation (1-2 cm year -1 ). The annually layered sediment is interrupted by turbidites of two types: a darker-colored turbidite, enriched in lake-derived biogenic constituents, and interpreted as a seismite, and a lightercolored type, enriched in catchment-derived constituents, interpreted as a flood layer. Comparison of our 137 Cs-determined layer ages with a catalog of twentieth century earthquakes shows that an earthquake on the Motagua fault in 1976 generated a conspicuous darker-colored turbidite and slumped deposits in separate parts of the lake. The entire earthquake inventory further reveals that mass movements in the lake are triggered at Modified Mercalli Intensities higher than V. Tropical cyclonic depressions known to have affected the lake area had limited effect on the lake, including Hurricane Mitch in 1998. One storm however produced a significantly thicker flood layer in the 1940s. This storm is reportedly the only event to Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (have generated widespread slope failures in the lake catchment. It is thus inferred that abundant landsliding provided large amounts of concentrated sediment to the lake, through hyperpycnal flows.

show abstract

Seismic history of the Middle America subduction zone along El Salvador, Guatemala, and Chiapas, Mexico: 1526–2000

Cited by 20 publications

References 26 publications

GPS-derived coupling estimates for the Central America subduction zone and volcanic arc faults: El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua

GPS-derived coupling estimates for the Central America subduction zone and volcanic arc faults: El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua

Fault kinematics in northern Central America and coupling along the subduction interface of the Cocos Plate, from GPS data in Chiapas (Mexico), Guatemala and El Salvador

The recording of floods and earthquakes in Lake Chichój, Guatemala during the twentieth century

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About