Some large landslide deposits are recognized within and around the Mitla archaeological site, which is located in a very seismically active region cut by the Tehuacan‐Oaxaca fault system. Previous studies have shown that this fault system has produced coseismic ruptures and associated earthquakes in the past. Our work on the Mitla landslide deposits clearly demonstrates that their morphology and nature are typical of dry‐rock avalanches. Thus, collapses of rock already weakened by alteration and/or weathering, and unstably mobilized by intense rainfall, are discarded as possible triggers of the avalanche events. We instead propose that the landslides were triggered by earthquake activity. Moreover, our data indicate that part of the original Mitla settlement lies buried under a large rock‐avalanche deposit produced sometime during the post‐Classic period (900–1520 AD). At that time, the city of Mitla was inhabited by over 10,000 people as estimated from archaeological reconstructions. This devastating landslide almost entirely obliterated Mitla, which at the time of the Spanish arrival still existed as a city, but much reduced in area and populations.

中文翻译：

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滑坡对瓦哈卡州米特拉考古遗址的影响

在米特拉考古遗址内和周围发现了一些大型滑坡沉积物，该遗址位于特瓦坎-瓦哈卡断层系统切割的地震活跃地区。先前的研究表明，该断层系统过去曾引起同震破裂和相关的地震。我们对米特拉滑坡沉积物的研究清楚地表明，它们的形态和性质是干岩雪崩的典型特征。因此，已经被改变和/或风化作用减弱并且由于强降雨而不稳定移动的岩石坍塌被丢弃，作为雪崩事件的可能触发因素。相反，我们建议滑坡是由地震活动触发的。此外，我们的数据表明，原始米特拉（Mitla）居民区的一部分埋在后经典时期（公元900-1520年）某个时候生产的大型岩石雪崩矿藏之下。当时，据考古重建估计，米特拉（Mitla）市居住着10,000多人。毁灭性的滑坡几乎完全摧毁了米特拉（Mitla），在西班牙人抵达时，它仍然是一座城市，但面积和人口却大大减少了。