Calibrating coseismic coastal land-level changes during the 2014 Iquique (Mw=8.2) earthquake (northern Chile) with leveling, GPS and intertidal biota.

ABSTRACT: The April 1st 2014 Iquique earthquake (MW 8.1) occurred along the northern Chile margin where the Nazca plate is subducted below the South American continent. The last great megathrust earthquake here, in 1877 of Mw ~8.8 opened a seismic gap, which was only partly closed by the 2014 earthquake. Prior to the earthquake in 2013, and shortly after it we compared data from leveled benchmarks, deployed campaign GPS instruments, continuous GPS stations and estimated sea levels using the upper vertical level of rocky shore benthic organisms including algae, barnacles, and mussels. Land-level changes estimated from mean elevations of benchmarks indicate subsidence along a ~100-km stretch of coast, ranging from 3 to 9 cm at Corazones (18°30'S) to between 30 and 50 cm at Pisagua (19°30'S). About 15

SUBMITTER: Jaramillo E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5363922 | biostudies-literature | 2017

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature