Abstract

BUFFONI, Carolina; SABBIONE, Nora C; CONNON, Gerardo  and  ORMAECHEA, José L. Localización de hipocentros y determinación de su magnitud en Tierra del Fuego y zonas aledañas. Geoacta [online]. 2009, vol.34, n.2, pp.75-86. ISSN 1852-7744.

New hypocentre locations of earthquakes with low to medium magnitude have been calculated in order to study Tierra del Fuego seismicity. The region has a complex tectonic setting: the island is crossed by a transforming fault named Magallanes-Fagnano which divides Tierra del Fuego in two continental blocks. This fault system constitutes the major continental segment of the South America-Scotia plate's border. The island has an important seismological history which includes an event of magnitude 7.8 occurred on December 1949. Reports of earthquakes occurred in 1929, 1930, 1944, 1949 and 1970 are known by a study of historical seismicity. In this paper hypocentre locations and error analysis have been carried out. Records at five seismological stations have been analyzed during January-December 2007. More than 180 events have been identified and some of them were compared to events of NEIC (National Earthquake Information Center) and ISC (International Seismological Centre). Magnitude determinations have been calculated with first arrival amplitude. The majority of earthquakes have magnitude mb between 2 and 4 degrees. With respect to hypocentral depths, more than 50% of located earthquakes have their depths in the first 10 km. The seismicity map obtained shows that beyond rather dispersed seismicity related to the Magallanes-Fagnano fault, a concentration of epicentres is found in the Darwin Cordillera area and in the Scotia plate surrounding, displaying evidence of a correlation with the geotectonic area of study.

Keywords : Tierra del Fuego; Magallanes-Fagnano transform system; Earthquake locations; Magnitude mb; Seismicity.

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