Large Holocene morphogenic earthquakes along the Albox fault, Betic Cordillera, Spain

Abstract

The Eastern Betic Shear Zone (EBSZ) in the Betic Cordillera (southern Spain) accommodates part of the Neogene and Quaternary shortening between the Iberian and the African plates. Although the EBSZ is characterised by shallow low to moderate magnitude instrumental seismicity, it seems to be the source of several historical catastrophic events with MSK intensities ranging from VII to X. Despite the fact that it crosses a densely populated area, the seismogenic behaviour of the EBSZ is still poorly understood. The EBSZ is mainly formed by a set of NE–SW-trending left-lateral strike-slip faults, including the Alhama de Murcia and Albox faults. This paper presents a palaeoseismological study of the eastern Albox fault based on surface and trenching observations. This fault ruptures the surface and is probably seismogenic, with short-term slip-rates ranging from 0.01 to 0.4 mm/a. Ground effects of at least two paleoearthquakes were detected: the first one took place not long before 660 years A.D. with an estimated maximum Mw of 6.5±0.1, whereas the second one occurred between 650 a.d. and the XVIII century. The latter produced only a centimetric offset and was not regarded as characteristic. The elapsed time is, therefore, ca. 660 years. The distribution of the long-term cumulative and the short-term ground effects suggest an eastwards migration of the fault tip.