The 21 May 1960 M-w 8.1 Concepción Earthquake: A Deep Megathrust Foreshock That Started the 1960 Central-South Chilean Seismic Sequence
Artículo

Open/Download
Access note
Acceso Abierto
Publication date
2020Metadata
Show full item record
Cómo citar
Ojeda Vargas, Javier
Cómo citar
The 21 May 1960 M-w 8.1 Concepción Earthquake: A Deep Megathrust Foreshock That Started the 1960 Central-South Chilean Seismic Sequence
Abstract
One of the most notable seismic sequences in modern times was recorded in May 1960 along the southern Chilean subduction zone. The sequence started on 21 May with the M-w 8.1 Concepcion earthquake; 33 hr later the M-w 9.5 Valdivia megathrust earthquake occurred, the largest ever recorded in the instrumental period. These events changed the geomorphology of the coast along more than 1000 km, generated extensive structural damage in the main cities of central-south Chile, and triggered a Trans-Pacific tsunami. Observed land-level changes due to both earthquakes were reported in 1970. These observations were ascribed to both events but have been used to study only the general source properties of the 22 May Valdivia mainshock. Here, we separate these data to constrain for the first time the slip distribution of the 21 May Concepcion earthquake, applying a Bayesian approach that considers uncertainties in the data. Our results show that the M-w 8.1 Concepcion earthquake ruptured a deep segment of the megathrust, concentrated in a compact zone below the Arauco peninsula between depths of 20 and 50 km. Tsunami generation from this deep source agrees well with the tsunami arrival times and small amplitudes recorded by tide gauges along the Chilean coast. Our study highlights the importance of the 21 May 1960 Concepcion earthquake in the context of large historical Chilean earthquakes.
Patrocinador
Comisión Nacional de Investigación Cientifica y Tecnológica/Fondo Nacional de Desarrollo Científico y Tecnológico (CONICYT/FONDECYT) 1170430
Programa de Riesgo Sísmico (Actividades de Interés Nacional [AIN], Universidad de Chile)
CONICYT Programa de Investigación Asociativa (PIA)/Anillo de Investigación en Ciencia y Tecnología ACT172002
Iniciativa Cientifica Milenio (ICM) NC160025
Comisión Nacional de Investigación Cientifica y Tecnológica (CONICYT) CONICYT FONDECYT
1190258
Doctoral program of Geological Sciences of the Universidad de Concepción
Indexation
Artículo de publicación ISI Artículo de publicación SCOPUS
Quote Item
Seismological Research Letters (2020) 91 (3): 1617–1627
Collections
The following license files are associated with this item: