Abstract

Either the triggering of large earthquakes on a fault hosting aseismic slip or the triggering of slow slip events (SSE) by passing seismic waves involve seismological questions with important hazard implications. Just a few observations plausibly suggest that such interactions actually happen in nature. In this study we show that three recent devastating earthquakes in Mexico are likely related to SSEs, describing a cascade of events interacting with each other on a regional scale via quasi-static and/or dynamic perturbations across the states of Guerrero and Oaxaca. Such interaction seems to be conditioned by the transient memory of Earth materials subject to the “traumatic” stress produced by seismic waves of the great 2017 (Mw8.2) Tehuantepec earthquake, which strongly disturbed the SSE cycles over a 650 km long segment of the subduction plate interface. Our results imply that seismic hazard in large populated areas is a short-term evolving function of seismotectonic processes that are often observable.

This study shows how seismic and aseismic events are related in Mexico between 2017 and 2019. Based on a series of observations and models, the study suggests that the Mw 8.2 intraslab earthquake of 8 September 2017 severely altered the mechanical properties of the plate interface, facilitating the interaction between the events and disrupting the slow slip cycles at a regional scale.

Details

Title
Short-term interaction between silent and devastating earthquakes in Mexico
Author
Cruz-Atienza, V M 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Tago, J 2 ; Villafuerte, C 3   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Wei, M 4 ; Garza-Girón, R 5 ; Dominguez, L A 6   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Kostoglodov, V 1 ; Nishimura, T 7   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Franco, S I 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Real, J 1 ; Santoyo, M A 1 ; Ito, Y 7 ; Kazachkina, E 3 

 Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Instituto de Geofísica, Mexico City, Mexico (GRID:grid.9486.3) (ISNI:0000 0001 2159 0001) 
 Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Facultad de Ingeniería, Mexico City, Mexico (GRID:grid.9486.3) (ISNI:0000 0001 2159 0001) 
 Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Posgrado en Ciencias de la Tierra, Mexico City, Mexico (GRID:grid.9486.3) (ISNI:0000 0001 2159 0001) 
 University of Rhode Island, Graduate School of Oceanography, Narragansett, USA (GRID:grid.20431.34) (ISNI:0000 0004 0416 2242) 
 University of California, Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences, Santa Cruz, USA (GRID:grid.205975.c) (ISNI:0000 0001 0740 6917) 
 Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Escuela Nacional de Estudios Superiores, Morelia, Mexico (GRID:grid.9486.3) (ISNI:0000 0001 2159 0001) 
 Kyoto University, Disaster Prevention Research Institute, Kyoto, Japan (GRID:grid.258799.8) (ISNI:0000 0004 0372 2033) 
Publication year
2021
Publication date
2021
Publisher
Nature Publishing Group
e-ISSN
20411723
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2511566680
Copyright
© The Author(s) 2021. This work is published under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (the “License”). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.