I don’t always have the time to write a proper Earthquake Report. However, I prepare interpretive posters for these events.
Because of this, I present Earthquake Report Lite. (but it is more than just water, like the adult beverage that claims otherwise). I will try to describe the figures included in the poster, but sometimes I will simply post the poster here.
Last afternoon (my time) there was an M 7.0 earthquake near Acapulco, Mexico. This event generated a tsunami, landslides, building damage, casualties (one fatality as I write this), and many emotions.
https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/us7000f93v/executive
I present my interpretive poster and a few figures. Read more about the tectonics of this region here, in a report for an M 7.4 earthquake in 2020.
Below is my interpretive poster for this earthquake
- I plot the seismicity from the past month, with diameter representing magnitude (see legend). I include earthquake epicenters from 1921-2021 with magnitudes M ≥ 7.0 in one version.
- I plot the USGS fault plane solutions (moment tensors in blue and focal mechanisms in orange), possibly in addition to some relevant historic earthquakes.
- A review of the basic base map variations and data that I use for the interpretive posters can be found on the Earthquake Reports page. I have improved these posters over time and some of this background information applies to the older posters.
- Some basic fundamentals of earthquake geology and plate tectonics can be found on the Earthquake Plate Tectonic Fundamentals page.
- In the upper left corner is a small scale map showing the major plate boundaries.
- Below the plate tectonic map is a plot showing the tide gage data from Acapulco, Mexico. Note the clear tsunami signal.
- To the right of the plate tectonic map is a large scale map showing aftershocks in the region of the M 7.1 mainshock. Note that these aftershocks are from the Servicio Sismológico Nacional (SSN) Catálogo de sismos and that there are two mainshock locations (USGS M 7.0 and SSN M 7.1).
- In the lower right corner is a map that shows a comparison of earthquake intensity between the USGS models and the Did You Feel It observations.
- Above the intensity comparison map is a plot showing these same data, intensity is on the vertical axis an distance from the earthquake [Hypocenter] is on the horizontal axis.
- In the upper right corner is a map that shows the results of an earthquake induced liquefaction model. Read more about this model here.
I include some inset figures.
Tide Gage Data – Acapulco
- Here is a plot of the tide gage data from Acapulco, Mexico. Compare these data with the tsunami from the 23 June ’20 M 7.4 earthquake.
Earthquake Intensity
- Below is a comparison of earthquake shaking intensity between the USGS Model results and the Did You Feel It observations.
- 2021.09.08 M 7.0 Mexico
- 2020.06.23 M 7.4 Mexico
- 2019.02.01 M 6.6 Guatemala & Mexico
- 2018.02.16 M 7.2 Oaxaca, Mexico
- 2018.01.19 M 6.3 Gulf of California
- 2017.09.19 M 7.1 Puebla, Mexico
- 2017.09.19 M 7.1 Puebla, Mexico Update #1
- 2017.09.08 M 8.1 Chiapas, Mexico
- 2017.09.08 M 8.1 Chiapas, Mexico Update #1
- 2017.09.23 M 8.1 Chiapas, Mexico Update #2
- 2017.06.22 M 6.8 Guatemala
- 2017.06.14 M 6.9 Guatemala
- 2017.05.12 M 6.2 El Salvador
- 2017.03.29 M 5.7 Gulf of California
- 2016.11.24 M 7.0 El Salvador
- 2016.04.29 M 6.6 East Pacific Rise / MAT
- 2016.01.21 M 6.6 Mexico
- 2015.09.13 M 6.6 Gulf California
- 2015.09.13 M 6.6 Gulf California Update #1
- 2015.01.07 M 6.6 Panama
- 2015.01.31 M 5.5 Panama Update #1
- 2014.05.13 M 6.5 Panama
- 2014.05.13 M 6.5 Panama Update #1
- 2014.10.14 M 7.3 El Salvador
- 2013.10.20 M 6.4 Gulf California
Mexico | Central America
General Overview
Earthquake Reports
- Frisch, W., Meschede, M., Blakey, R., 2011. Plate Tectonics, Springer-Verlag, London, 213 pp.
- Hayes, G., 2018, Slab2 – A Comprehensive Subduction Zone Geometry Model: U.S. Geological Survey data release, https://doi.org/10.5066/F7PV6JNV.
- Holt, W. E., C. Kreemer, A. J. Haines, L. Estey, C. Meertens, G. Blewitt, and D. Lavallee (2005), Project helps constrain continental dynamics and seismic hazards, Eos Trans. AGU, 86(41), 383–387, , https://doi.org/10.1029/2005EO410002. /li>
- Jessee, M.A.N., Hamburger, M. W., Allstadt, K., Wald, D. J., Robeson, S. M., Tanyas, H., et al. (2018). A global empirical model for near-real-time assessment of seismically induced landslides. Journal of Geophysical Research: Earth Surface, 123, 1835–1859. https://doi.org/10.1029/2017JF004494
- Kreemer, C., J. Haines, W. Holt, G. Blewitt, and D. Lavallee (2000), On the determination of a global strain rate model, Geophys. J. Int., 52(10), 765–770.
- Kreemer, C., W. E. Holt, and A. J. Haines (2003), An integrated global model of present-day plate motions and plate boundary deformation, Geophys. J. Int., 154(1), 8–34, , https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-246X.2003.01917.x.
- Kreemer, C., G. Blewitt, E.C. Klein, 2014. A geodetic plate motion and Global Strain Rate Model in Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, v. 15, p. 3849-3889, https://doi.org/10.1002/2014GC005407.
- Meyer, B., Saltus, R., Chulliat, a., 2017. EMAG2: Earth Magnetic Anomaly Grid (2-arc-minute resolution) Version 3. National Centers for Environmental Information, NOAA. Model. https://doi.org/10.7289/V5H70CVX
- Müller, R.D., Sdrolias, M., Gaina, C. and Roest, W.R., 2008, Age spreading rates and spreading asymmetry of the world’s ocean crust in Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 9, Q04006, https://doi.org/10.1029/2007GC001743
- Pagani,M. , J. Garcia-Pelaez, R. Gee, K. Johnson, V. Poggi, R. Styron, G. Weatherill, M. Simionato, D. Viganò, L. Danciu, D. Monelli (2018). Global Earthquake Model (GEM) Seismic Hazard Map (version 2018.1 – December 2018), DOI: 10.13117/GEM-GLOBAL-SEISMIC-HAZARD-MAP-2018.1
- Silva, V ., D Amo-Oduro, A Calderon, J Dabbeek, V Despotaki, L Martins, A Rao, M Simionato, D Viganò, C Yepes, A Acevedo, N Horspool, H Crowley, K Jaiswal, M Journeay, M Pittore, 2018. Global Earthquake Model (GEM) Seismic Risk Map (version 2018.1). https://doi.org/10.13117/GEM-GLOBAL-SEISMIC-RISK-MAP-2018.1
- Zhu, J., Baise, L. G., Thompson, E. M., 2017, An Updated Geospatial Liquefaction Model for Global Application, Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 107, p 1365-1385, https://doi.org/0.1785/0120160198
References:
Basic & General References
Specific References
Return to the Earthquake Reports page.
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