Seismic hazard at a triple plate junction: the state of Chiapas (México)

Abstract

The state of Chiapas (SE México) conforms a territory of complex tectonics and high seismic activity. The interaction among the Cocos, North American and Caribbean tectonic plates, as well as the active crustal deformation inside Chiapas, determines a variety of seismogenic sources of distinct characteristics and particular strong ground motion attenuation. This situation makes the assessment of seismic hazard in the region a challenging task. In this work, we follow the methodology of probabilistic seismic hazard analysis, starting from the compilation of an earthquake catalogue, and the definition of seismogenic source-zones based on the particular seismotectonics of the region: plate-subduction-related sources (interface and intraslab zones), active crustal deformation zones and the shear zone between the North American and Caribbean plates formed by the Motagua, Polochic and Ixcán faults. The latter source is modelled in two different configurations: one single source-zone and three distinct ones. We select three ground motion prediction equations (GMPEs) recommended for South and Central America, plus two Mexican ones. We combine the GMPEs with the source-zone models in a logic tree scheme and produce hazard maps in terms of peak ground acceleration and spectral acceleration for the 500-, 1000- and 2500-year return periods, as well as uniform hazard spectra for the towns of Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Tapachula and San Cristóbal. We obtain higher values in comparison with previous seismic hazard studies and particularly much higher than the output of the Prodisis v.2.3 software for seismic design in México. Our results are consistent with those of neighbouring Guatemala obtained in a recent study for Central America.