HR: 09:20h
AN: U51B-06 [Abstracts]
TI: What do Great Subduction Earthquakes tell us About Continental Deformation of the Upper Plate in the Central Andes Forearc? Insights From Seismotectonics, Continental Deformation
and Coulomb Modelisation Along Southern Peru Margin
AU: * AUDIN, L
EM: laurence.audin@ird.fr
AF: Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement, Casilla 18-1209
, Lima, 18 , Peru
AU: Perfettini, H
EM: perfetti@lmtg.obs-mip.fr
AF: Institut de Recherche pour le Developpement, Casilla 18-1209
, Lima, 18 , Peru
AU: Tavera, H
EM: hjtavera@geo.igp.gob.pe
AF: Instituto Geofisico del Peru, Calle Bajadoz 169
IV Etapa Mayorazgo
Ate Vitarte, Lima, Peru
AB:
Subduction of the Nazca plate beneath the Peruvian margin has produced numerous megathrust earthquakes
during the last century and still constitutes mature seismic gaps in some places such as in between Ilo (Peru)
and Arica (Chile). The rupture zones of the 1604, 1784 and 1868 southern Peru events were partially reactivated
by the Arequipa 2001 (Mw = 8.5) seismic event, whose rupture zone was about 350km-long and stopped its
propagation towards the south on Ilo Peninsula. Just after the occurrence of 2001 event, some reactivation of
continental fault systems are identified and monitored thanks to the Peruvian seismic network and describe
continental deformation processes occurring perpendicularly to the trench or parallel to the trench, traducing the
continental plate response to major subduction earthquakes and some partitioning of the deformation.
The Chololo and associated ( perpendicular to the trench) fault systems define some 80-km-long margin crustal
blocks and the major one coincides with the 2001 earthquake southern limit of the rupture zone as it propagated
to the south. These blocks are made from Late Jurassic and Cretaceous plutonic rocks from the Coastal
Batholith; these are outcropping in some places and are evidenced by the aeromagnetic mapping elsewhere
around the area. Northward along the subduction zone, another boundary between two rupture zones of major
subduction earthquake was reactivated recently, perpendicularly to the trench, by the seismic crisis of October
2006, M=6.4, near Lima, right at the southern end of the rupture zone of the 1974 event (Mw=8.1).Those
boundaries corresponding to discontinuities (lithospheric fault systems) in the upper plate, trending nearly
perpendicular to the trench, act as earthquake barriers during rupture of large seismic events.
Additionally occurred on 20 of November 2006 another seismic event (Mw=5.6 Neic, Ml=5.3) in Tacna region,
showing a reverse focal mechanism compatible with the trend of the Sama Calientes Fault system (parallel to the
trench) and a crustal depth of about 20km. Such a magnitud and crustal depth in the area correlates perfectly
with the Quaternary geomorphic evidences of tectonic activity along the Sama-Calientes thrust fault in the forearc
in Southern Peru. Some questions are raised by the occurrence of such continental seismicity, just after a major
subduction event, as none has been registered in the area since more than 40 years.
Continental fault systems constitute a key to the understanding of the forearc deformation in the Arica Elbow,
where the Andes obliquity with respect to the Nazca plate convergence direction. Also these results suggest that
continental deformation should give us clues to define the pattern of segmentation of the subduction zone by
studying seismotectonics and its relation to the segmentation of the upper continental plate.
DE: 7205 Continental crust (1219)
DE: 7209 Earthquake dynamics (1242)
DE: 8104 Continental margins: convergent
DE: 8123 Dynamics: seismotectonics
SC: Union [U]
MN: 2007 Joint Assembly