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Source study of three moderate size recent earthquakes in the Guerrero seismic gap

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Abstract

We study three recent earthquakes of different types in the Guerrero seismic gap zone with M ≥ 6.5: the 15 July 1996 Guerrero near-coast interplate earthquake (M w = 6.6), the 18 April 2002 Guerrero near-trench interplate earthquake (M w = 6.7), and the 11 December 2011 Guerrero normal-faulting inslab earthquake (M w = 6.5). We compute the slip distributions, estimate source parameters, and model strong ground motions with the finite-fault stochastic method. We use different methods to estimate source parameters in order to observe differences in stress drop and radiated seismic energy among these events. The similarity in seismic magnitude gives us the opportunity to compare our results for the three different types of earthquake and interpret them in terms of the tectonic environments and seismic hazard. We analyze the peak ground accelerations and their relation with the stress drop. We simulated ground motions with the stochastic method. The model parameters are validated against recordings and a stress drop of 3, 15, and 70 MPa is estimated for the near-trench interplate, near-coast interplate, and normal-faulting inslab events, respectively. The near-trench interplate event has the lowest radiated seismic energy and the lowest rupture velocity. This is reflected in the energy to moment ratio of 2.17 × 10−6, 4.52 × 10−6, and 3.96 × 10−6 for the near-trench interplate, near-coast interplate, and normal-faulting inslab events, respectively. We define asperities using two different criteria: (1) based on average displacement and (2) maximum displacement. The asperity area for the near-coast and near-trench interplate events represents about 23 and 24–25 % of the total rupture area, which in the case of the normal-faulting inslab event, it is only 19 and 23 % based on average and maximum displacement, respectively.

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded by the Mexican National Council for Science and Technology (CONACYT) (PhD scholarship QRP/195478/2010). We would like to thank the Mexican Seismological Service (SSN) at UNAM for providing the data of the broadband seismometer network. Strong ground motion records were obtained from the Mexican strong ground motion database from stations operated by CENAPRED; Instituto de Geofísica, UNAM; and Instituto de Ingeniería, UNAM, Mexico. Teleseismic data were obtained from the Global Seismic Network operated by Incorporated Research Institutions for Seismology (IRIS). The authors thank the comments of two anonymous reviewers, which have helped to improve the manuscript.

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  1. Q. Rodríguez-Pérez

    Present address: Instituto de Geofísica, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Del. Coyoacán, C.P. 04510, Mexico City, Mexico

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  1. Department of Earth Science, University of Bergen, Allégaten 41, 5007, Bergen, Norway

    Q. Rodríguez-Pérez, L. Ottemöller & M. Raeesi

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  1. Q. Rodríguez-Pérez
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Rodríguez-Pérez, Q., Ottemöller, L. & Raeesi, M. Source study of three moderate size recent earthquakes in the Guerrero seismic gap. J Seismol 19, 753–780 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10950-015-9493-0

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