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Large earthquakes in the Tehuantepec subduction zone: evidence of a locked plate interface and large-scale deformation of the slab

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Abstract

The Tehuantepec subduction zone was identified as a seismic gap by several authors. The presence of three large earthquakes at the turn of the twentieth century, in temporal and spatial proximity, poses questions on the extent of the seismic gap and on the type of tectonic deformation in this region. On 19 April 1902, a large earthquake occurred in Guatemala. The macroseismic data and recent relocations suggest that it is not a subduction event but an intraplate earthquake within the subducted Cocos plate. The recent relocations and the macroseismic data of the 23 September 1902 earthquake, which is frequently interpreted as an interplate subduction event, show that it is an intermediate-depth earthquake located inland in central Mexico. The 14 January 1903 earthquake, located in the Gulf of Tehuantepec, may be interpreted as an intraplate event, similar to the 8 September 2017 earthquake (Mw 8.2) or a subduction earthquake. Thus, there is no clear evidence of large subduction earthquakes (Mw > 7) in Tehuantepec at least in the last 250 years. Geodetic data suggest that the subduction zone is highly coupled and, therefore, a considerable amount of plate motion has not been released. The length of the presumed seismic gap is equivalent to a Mw ~ 8.5 earthquake. In contrast, the September 1902 (Mw 7.8), 1903 (Mw 7.4), 1931 (Mw 7.8), 1999 (Mw 7.5) and the great 8 September 2017 events (Mw 8.2) are all down-dip tensional earthquakes in the slab, reflecting a complex state of stress in the downgoing Cocos plate. These frequent and large tensional earthquakes may reflect a large-scale deformation of the slab that locked at the plate interface is under tensional stress under its own gravitational weight. As a result, seismic hazard in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec stems from both subduction and intraplate earthquakes.

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Data availability

The data from the Servicio Sismológico Nacional of Mexico (National Seismological Service) comes from http://www2.ssn.unam.mx:8080/catalogo/ (last consulted on 13 October 2020). The information from the International Seismological Centre is from the ISC online bulletin, https://doi.org/10.31905/D808B830 (last consulted on 13 October 2020). The macroseismic information of the 23 September 1902 earthquake may be consulted in http://sismoshistoricos.org/ (last consulted on 13 October 2020). Maps were drawn with GeoMapApp (https://www.geomapapp.org) last consulted on 13 October 2020.

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Acknowledgments

This work was done thanks to the support of the Instituto de Geofísica at the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. I thank C. Villafuerte for digitized contours of the subducted Cocos plate. The comments and suggestions made by L. Quintanar and A. Husker on an early version helped to broaden the scope of the manuscript. The comments and suggestions made by the Associate Editor Mariano García Fernández and an anonymous reviewer substantially improved the manuscript.

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  1. Instituto de Geofísica, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, Cd. Universitaria, 04510, Mexico City, Mexico

    Gerardo Suárez

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  1. Gerardo Suárez
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Correspondence to Gerardo Suárez.

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The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest. The data is available from the published articles and seismological catalogs listed.

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Highlights

• Large subduction earthquakes have not occurred in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec in the last 250 years.

• All recent large earthquakes in the Isthmus of Tehuantepec are tensional events within the downgoing Cocos plate.

• Seismic and tsunami hazards in Tehuantepec stem from both subduction and tensional earthquakes in the slab.

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Suárez, G. Large earthquakes in the Tehuantepec subduction zone: evidence of a locked plate interface and large-scale deformation of the slab. J Seismol 25, 449–460 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10950-020-09969-6

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