Person:
López Sánchez, Carolina

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First Name
Carolina
Last Name
López Sánchez
URI
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14352/75115
Affiliation
Universidad Complutense de Madrid
Faculty / Institute
Ciencias Físicas
Department
Física de la Tierra y Astrofísica
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2022 - 20233
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    Intermediate-depth earthquakes in southern Spain and Alboran Sea
    (Tectonophysics, 2022) López Sánchez, Carolina; Buforn Peiró, Elisa; Cesca, Simone; Lozano, Lucía; Sanz de Galdeano, Carlos; Mattesini, Maurizio; Udías Vallina, Agustín; Cantavella, Juan Vicente
    A striking feature of the seismicity in the Ibero-Maghrebian region is a narrow band of intermediate-depth earthquakes (50 < h < 100 km) beneath the western part of the Alboran Sea, with epicenters following a NNE-SSW alignment. The origin and characteristics of this seismicity are debated, and an accurate analysis of this seismic scenario is provided despite the low to moderate magnitude of these earthquakes. In this study, we collect 20 years of seismic data from permanent and temporary installations and reprocess these data with the aid of advanced seismological techniques, including non-linear probabilistic relocation with a 3D-Earth velocity model and a probabilistic moment tensor inversion scheme, to shed new light on intermediate-depth seismicity in Southern Spain and the Alboran Sea. We relocated 238 intermediate-depth earthquakes (M >= 3) using a nonlinear probabilistic approach and a recent regional 3D tomography lithospheric velocity model for the Alboran-Betic Rif Zone. Maximum likelihood hypocenters confirm the NNE-SSW distribution in a depth range between 50 and 100 km, depicting three clusters of epicenters with a seismic gap that may be correlate to the boundary between the sunken slabs of the Iberian and African plates around Gibraltar. We simultaneously determined the focal mechanisms of 25 mb > 3.9 earthquakes using P-waves and moment tensors by fitting body-wave amplitude spectra and waveform cross-correlations. We performed an accurate resolution study by repeating the inversion using different 1-D velocity models. The results show predominant horizontal T axes with a rotation on the direction from NE-SW in southern Spain to E-W near the African coast. The distribution of intermediate-depth earthquakes and their source geometries provide new evidence of the seismotectonic complexity of the region, which is possibly controlled by the stopping or slowing down of subduction.
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    From an atomistic study of olivine under pressure to the understanding of the macroscopic energy release in earthquakes
    (Geosystems and Geoenvironment, 2023) López Sánchez, Carolina; Mattesini, Maurizio; Buforn Peiró, Vicenta María Elisa; Udías Vallina, Agustín; Serna Valdés, Jaime de la; Talavera, Hernando; Pro, Carmen
    We present a multi-disciplinary study of the rupture process of deep- and intermediate-depth earthquakes in the subducting slab that develops beneath the Peruvian-Brazilian region. This contemplates the understanding of the atomistic fracture mechanism in an olivine model, its energetics budget, and the bridging of these results to the available seismic observables. A theoretical description of the stress-strain curves for the subducting material is initially provided as a key element to discern whether the rupture mechanism changes with depth or not. To this purpose, atomistic modelling was carried out through ab initio techniques for the forsterite olivine at different pressure ranges. The achieved stress-strain curves were compared to the average moment-scaled functions obtained for 43 intermediate (50 km < h < 200 km) and very deep earthquakes (500 km < h < 700 km) at the Peruvian-Brazilian subduction zone. It is found that at both depths operate a common atomistic rupture mechanism that is based on the gliding of the {001} crystal planes. Although the velocity of stress release changes with depth, this finding helps to clarify the controversial rupture process for very deep earthquakes at subduction zones. Likewise, efforts were directed to quantify the total amount of energy freed during an earthquake. Test calculations were carried out for several deep earthquakes providing rupture energy of six orders of magnitudes larger than the observable radiated seismic energy. This indicates that there might be space for redefining the commonly accepted order of magnitude for the seismic efficiency coefficient.
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    Project number: 44
    Geofísica-SMART: Simples experiMentos de enseñanza apRendizaje en entoRnos digiTales
    (2022) Martín Hernández, Fátima; Ledo Fernandez, Juan José; Negredo Moreno, Ana María; Pavón Carrasco, Francisco Javier; Fullea Urchulutegui, Javier; Osete López, María Luisa; Ruíz Martínez, Vicente Carlos; Arquero Campuzano, Saioa; Llanes Estrada, María Pilar; Druet Vélez, María; Valles-Iriso, Javier; Gómez-Paccard, Miriam; Bonilla Alba, Raquel; Rivera Pérez, Pablo; López Sánchez, Carolina
    La Geofísica es una disciplina asociada a la Física experimental con gran desarrollo en multitud de ámbitos que van desde la arqueología a diferentes areas de la ingeniería como la geotécnia, ingeniería de minas o ingeniería geológica o bien el ámbito académico. Precisa de un conocimiento Físico de las leyes de la naturaleza pero también una destreza asociada a la Física más aplicada con multitud de experimentos en campo. Éstos son a veces difíciles de encontrar en libros de texto que se centran en los aspectos teóricos de la disciplina. Por eso, este proyecto pretende hacer ver a los estudiantes el diseño, desarrollo y procesado de experiencias de Geofísica Aplicada o prospectiva dentro de su desarrollo curricular.