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Título del libro: Extreme Events: Observations, Modeling, And Economics
Título del capítulo: A Review of Great Magnitude Earthquakes and Associated Tsunamis along the Guerrero, Mexico Pacific Coast: A Multiproxy Approach

Autores UNAM:
MARIA TERESA RAMIREZ HERRERA; GERARDO SUAREZ REYNOSO;
Autores externos:

Idioma:

Año de publicación:
2016
Palabras clave:

CENTRAL-AMERICAN EARTHQUAKES; INDIAN-OCEAN TSUNAMI; SUBDUCTION ZONE; SOUTHERN MEXICO; STORM DEPOSITS; NEW-ZEALAND; UPLIFT; SEISMICITY; PETATLAN; SUMATRA


Resumen:

The recent occurrence of great earthquakes and their associated tsunamis in the Pacific and Indian oceans have raised awareness on the need of historical and geological data to expand our knowledge of extreme events beyond the short instrumental record and to reduce the hazard to coastal communities. The coast of Guerrero parallels the active Mexican subduction zone, where some of the largest earthquakes are known to have triggered tsunamis. The occurrence of historical earthquakes and their tsunamis in this region is relatively well documented since the 16th century. Nevertheless, information about geological evidence of earthquakes and their associated tsunamis is scarcely documented. This study reviews data from published sources with two objectives: first, to highlight the usefulness of a multiproxy approach on the tropical Guerrero coast, where the probability of preservation of the geological evidence is lower due to the intrinsic characteristic of the tropics; and second, to outline our current understanding of prehistorical and historical earthquakes and their tsunamis in this area. The multiproxy approach adopted (including geological, microfossils, magnetic properties, geochemical, historical, ethnographical, theoretical modeling analyses, and instrumental data) shows that the coast of Guerrero has been exposed to destructive great earthquakes and tsunamis for the past 3500 BP years: the AD 1979 and AD 1985 events, and a great event occurring in 3400 BP. Geological evidence for the great event of 3400 BP indicates that this tsunami reached 5 km inland on the Guerrero coast. This study shows the need to investigate further the geological record of the tropical coast parallel to the Mexican subduction zone to assess the hazard in this region to create resilient coastal communities.


Entidades citadas de la UNAM: