The Tsunami Threat on the Mexican West Coast: A Historical Analysis and Recommendations for Hazard Mitigation

Farreras, Salvador F.; Sánchez, Antonio Jabaloy

doi:10.1007/978-94-011-3362-3_14

Cited by 14 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…The 18 June event (M w 7.8) produced a tsunami that flooded the city of Cuyutlán. This tsunami, as in the other cases reported in Mexico, was of limited extent along the coast and invaded land for only a few hundreds of meters (Farreras and Sánchez, 1990).…”

Section: The Presence Of a Large Tsunamimentioning

confidence: 60%

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Evidence for Great Tsunamigenic Earthquakes (M 8.6) along the Mexican Subduction Zone

Suárez¹,

Albini²

2009

Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America

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A very large earthquake took place on 28 March 1787 along the Mexican subduction zone. A unique characteristic of the 1787 event is the large tsunami reported at various coastal locations in southern Mexico. The segment of the coast affected by the strong tsunami coincides with locations where high felt intensities (modified Mercalli intensity [MMI] > VIII) were reported. Assuming, as is generally the case for large and great earthquakes in Mexico, that the fault rupture of the 1787 earthquake encompasses the areas where intensities greater than VIII were reported and where a strong tsunami invaded land, the estimated length of the rupture is approximately 450 km long. This fault length would correspond to an earthquake of approximately M w 8.6. In the instrumental record there is no evidence of earthquakes of this magnitude in the Middle American subduction zone. This evidence indicates that the rupture area of the 1787 earthquake was at least three times longer that those normally observed for earthquakes that take place in the Mexican subduction zone. The 1787 earthquake appears to have ruptured a long fault segment that more recently broke in earthquakes of more moderate magnitude (M w 7-8) and relatively short recurrence times of about 30 to 40 yr. Examples of this mode of variable rupture length where great but infrequent earthquakes rupture the fault areas of relatively smaller and more frequent earthquakes have been observed in the Sumatra-Andaman and Colombia-Ecuador plate boundaries, among others.

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Section: The Presence Of a Large Tsunamimentioning

confidence: 60%

“…Other Mexican subduction earthquakes have produced tsunamis. These tsunamis, however, have been of local and limited extent (Farreras and Sánchez, 1990). In Mexico, the largest and most damaging tsunami in the instrumental period took place on 18 June 1932.…”

Section: The Presence Of a Large Tsunamimentioning

confidence: 99%

Evidence for Great Tsunamigenic Earthquakes (M 8.6) along the Mexican Subduction Zone

Suárez¹,

Albini²

2009

Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America

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“…Similarly (though occurring prior to the portion of the catalog analyzed in this study), a M w = 7.9 mainshock on June 3, 1932 in central Mexico produced two tsunamigenic aftershocks ( M w = 7.8, M s = 6.9) within 20 days. The second aftershock generated a much larger local tsunami (most likely from a concomitant landslide) than either the mainshock or the first tsunamigenic aftershock [ Farreras and Sanchez , 1991]. Therefore, there is a significant amount of complexity among triggered earthquakes in terms of the causative mechanism and the size of the tsunamis they generate.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Distribution of tsunami interevent times

Geist

Parsons

2008

Geophysical Research Letters

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[1] The distribution of tsunami interevent times is analyzed using global and site-specific (Hilo, Hawaii) tsunami catalogs. An empirical probability density distribution is determined by binning the observed interevent times during a period in which the observation rate is approximately constant. The empirical distributions for both catalogs exhibit non-Poissonian behavior in which there is an abundance of short interevent times compared to an exponential distribution. Two types of statistical distributions are used to model this clustering behavior: (1) long-term clustering described by a universal scaling law, and (2) Omori law decay of aftershocks and triggered sources. The empirical and theoretical distributions all imply an increased hazard rate after a tsunami, followed by a gradual decrease with time approaching a constant hazard rate. Examination of tsunami sources suggests that many of the short interevent times are caused by triggered earthquakes, though the triggered events are not necessarily on the same fault.

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“…Mexico had experienced destructive tsunamis in the past from thrust fault earthquakes in the Middle American Trench (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration https://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/hazard/tsu_db.shtml). In 1985, a great interplate earthquake ( M w 8.0) generated a large tsunami up to 3 m along the coast of Michoacan (Farreras & Sanchez, ; Lander et al, ; Mendoza & Hartzell, ). Another tsunamigenic interplate earthquake ( M w 8.0) occurred on the coast of Colima and Jalisco states in 1995 and generated up to 11 m tsunami (Courboulex et al, ; Lander et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Optimum Sea Surface Displacement and Fault Slip Distribution of the 2017 Tehuantepec Earthquake (M_w 8.2) in Mexico Estimated From Tsunami Waveforms

Gusman

Mulia

Satake

2018

Geophysical Research Letters

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The 2017 Tehuantepec earthquake (Mw 8.2) was the first great normal fault event ever instrumentally recorded to occur in the Middle America Trench. The earthquake generated a tsunami with an amplitude of 1.8 m (height = 3.5 m) in Puerto Chiapas, Mexico. Tsunami waveforms recorded at coastal tide gauges and offshore buoy stations were used to estimate the optimum sea surface displacement without assuming any fault. Our optimum sea surface displacement model indicated that the maximum uplift of 0.5 m is located near the trench and the maximum subsidence of 0.8 m on the coastal side near the epicenter. We then estimated the fault slip distribution that can best explain the optimum sea surface displacement assuming 10 different fault geometries. The best model suggests that a compact region of large slip (3–6 m) extends from a depth of 30 km to 90 km, centered at a depth of 60 km.

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The Tsunami Threat on the Mexican West Coast: A Historical Analysis and Recommendations for Hazard Mitigation

Cited by 14 publications

References 4 publications

Evidence for Great Tsunamigenic Earthquakes (M 8.6) along the Mexican Subduction Zone

Evidence for Great Tsunamigenic Earthquakes (M 8.6) along the Mexican Subduction Zone

Distribution of tsunami interevent times

Optimum Sea Surface Displacement and Fault Slip Distribution of the 2017 Tehuantepec Earthquake (M_w 8.2) in Mexico Estimated From Tsunami Waveforms

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The Tsunami Threat on the Mexican West Coast: A Historical Analysis and Recommendations for Hazard Mitigation

Cited by 14 publications

References 4 publications

Evidence for Great Tsunamigenic Earthquakes (M 8.6) along the Mexican Subduction Zone

Evidence for Great Tsunamigenic Earthquakes (M 8.6) along the Mexican Subduction Zone

Distribution of tsunami interevent times

Optimum Sea Surface Displacement and Fault Slip Distribution of the 2017 Tehuantepec Earthquake (Mw 8.2) in Mexico Estimated From Tsunami Waveforms

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About

Optimum Sea Surface Displacement and Fault Slip Distribution of the 2017 Tehuantepec Earthquake (M_w 8.2) in Mexico Estimated From Tsunami Waveforms