Assessment of tsunami hazards for the Central American Pacific coast from southern Mexico to northern Peru

Central America (CA), from Guatemala to Panama, has been struck by at least 52 tsunamis between 1539 and 2013, and in the extended region from Mexico to northern Peru (denoted as ECA, Extended Central America in this paper) the number of recorded tsunamis in the same time span is more than 100, most...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: B. Brizuela, A. Armigliato, S. Tinti
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Copernicus Publications 2014-07-01
Series:Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences
Online Access:http://www.nat-hazards-earth-syst-sci.net/14/1889/2014/nhess-14-1889-2014.pdf
_version_ 1819195272703508480
author B. Brizuela
A. Armigliato
S. Tinti
author_facet B. Brizuela
A. Armigliato
S. Tinti
author_sort B. Brizuela
collection DOAJ
description Central America (CA), from Guatemala to Panama, has been struck by at least 52 tsunamis between 1539 and 2013, and in the extended region from Mexico to northern Peru (denoted as ECA, Extended Central America in this paper) the number of recorded tsunamis in the same time span is more than 100, most of which were triggered by earthquakes located in the Middle American Trench that runs parallel to the Pacific coast. The most severe event in the catalogue is the tsunami that occurred on 2 September 1992 off Nicaragua, with run-up measured in the range of 5–10 m in several places along the Nicaraguan coast. The aim of this paper is to assess the tsunami hazard on the Pacific coast of this extended region, and to this purpose a hybrid probabilistic-deterministic analysis is performed, that is adequate for tsunamis generated by earthquakes. More specifically, the probabilistic approach is used to compute the Gutenberg–Richter coefficients of the main seismic tsunamigenic zones of the area and to estimate the annual rate of occurrence of tsunamigenic earthquakes and their corresponding return period. The output of the probabilistic part of the method is taken as input by the deterministic part, which is applied to calculate the tsunami run-up distribution along the coast.
first_indexed 2024-12-23T02:10:08Z
format Article
id doaj.art-779ca45798404fdb9e8cfead192b210f
institution Directory Open Access Journal
issn 1561-8633
1684-9981
language English
last_indexed 2024-12-23T02:10:08Z
publishDate 2014-07-01
publisher Copernicus Publications
record_format Article
series Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences
spelling doaj.art-779ca45798404fdb9e8cfead192b210f2022-12-21T18:03:48ZengCopernicus PublicationsNatural Hazards and Earth System Sciences1561-86331684-99812014-07-011471889190310.5194/nhess-14-1889-2014Assessment of tsunami hazards for the Central American Pacific coast from southern Mexico to northern PeruB. Brizuela0A. Armigliato1S. Tinti2Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia, Rome, ItalyDipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università di Bologna, Bologna, ItalyDipartimento di Fisica e Astronomia, Università di Bologna, Bologna, ItalyCentral America (CA), from Guatemala to Panama, has been struck by at least 52 tsunamis between 1539 and 2013, and in the extended region from Mexico to northern Peru (denoted as ECA, Extended Central America in this paper) the number of recorded tsunamis in the same time span is more than 100, most of which were triggered by earthquakes located in the Middle American Trench that runs parallel to the Pacific coast. The most severe event in the catalogue is the tsunami that occurred on 2 September 1992 off Nicaragua, with run-up measured in the range of 5–10 m in several places along the Nicaraguan coast. The aim of this paper is to assess the tsunami hazard on the Pacific coast of this extended region, and to this purpose a hybrid probabilistic-deterministic analysis is performed, that is adequate for tsunamis generated by earthquakes. More specifically, the probabilistic approach is used to compute the Gutenberg–Richter coefficients of the main seismic tsunamigenic zones of the area and to estimate the annual rate of occurrence of tsunamigenic earthquakes and their corresponding return period. The output of the probabilistic part of the method is taken as input by the deterministic part, which is applied to calculate the tsunami run-up distribution along the coast.http://www.nat-hazards-earth-syst-sci.net/14/1889/2014/nhess-14-1889-2014.pdf
spellingShingle B. Brizuela
A. Armigliato
S. Tinti
Assessment of tsunami hazards for the Central American Pacific coast from southern Mexico to northern Peru
Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences
title Assessment of tsunami hazards for the Central American Pacific coast from southern Mexico to northern Peru
title_full Assessment of tsunami hazards for the Central American Pacific coast from southern Mexico to northern Peru
title_fullStr Assessment of tsunami hazards for the Central American Pacific coast from southern Mexico to northern Peru
title_full_unstemmed Assessment of tsunami hazards for the Central American Pacific coast from southern Mexico to northern Peru
title_short Assessment of tsunami hazards for the Central American Pacific coast from southern Mexico to northern Peru
title_sort assessment of tsunami hazards for the central american pacific coast from southern mexico to northern peru
url http://www.nat-hazards-earth-syst-sci.net/14/1889/2014/nhess-14-1889-2014.pdf
work_keys_str_mv AT bbrizuela assessmentoftsunamihazardsforthecentralamericanpacificcoastfromsouthernmexicotonorthernperu
AT aarmigliato assessmentoftsunamihazardsforthecentralamericanpacificcoastfromsouthernmexicotonorthernperu
AT stinti assessmentoftsunamihazardsforthecentralamericanpacificcoastfromsouthernmexicotonorthernperu