Southern Perú coseismic subsidence: 23 June 2001 8.4-Mw earthquake

Abstract

The 23-June-2001 8.4-Mw magnitude earthquake partially filled the 1868-seismic-gap in southern Perú. This earthquake produced a thrust faulting dislocation with a rupture that started at about ∼200km SE from the 1996's Nazca earthquake epicenter, and stopped near Ilo, at about 300 km from the epicenter, near a positive gravity anomaly offshore Ho. The 23-June-2001-earthquake dislocation zone is under the Arequipa sedimentary Basin. Pre- and post-seismic GPS measurements at Camaná and Ho at SIRGAS-GPS points (SIRGAS: Sistema de Referencia Geocéntrico para América del Sur) and the average sea level pre- and post-seismic event at Moliendo tide gauge provide evidence of a regional subsidence of southern Per-, with 84 cm at Camaná, 16 cm at Ilo, and 15 cm at Mollendo. Field surveys post earthquake document significant subsidence in Camaná resort beaches. Results of a simple dislocation modelling of 23-June-2001 earthquake agree reasonably well with the observed data. However, the coseismic subsidence of southern Perú is at variance with the regional uplift of southern Perú based on Neotectonic studies. This fact, suggests that, in recent geological times, the magnitude of the secular uplift due to tectonic plate converge has been larger than the coseismic deformation recovery.