The 1995 Colima–Jalisco earthquake occurred on October 9 at 15:35 UTC with a

moment magnitude The moment magnitude scale (MMS; denoted explicitly with or Mw, and generally implied with use of a single M for magnitude) is a measure of an earthquake's magnitude ("size" or strength) based on its seismic moment. It was defined in a 1979 pape ...

of 8.0 and a maximum

Mercalli intensity The Modified Mercalli intensity scale (MM, MMI, or MCS), developed from Giuseppe Mercalli's Mercalli intensity scale of 1902, is a seismic intensity scale used for measuring the intensity of shaking produced by an earthquake. It measures the eff ...

of VIII (''Severe''). The shock occurred off the coast of Jalisco,

Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...

, where a

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from ja, 津波, lit=harbour wave, ) is a series of waves in a water body caused by the displacement of a large volume of water, generally in an ocean or a large lake. Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and other underwater exp ...

was triggered that affected a stretch of the coast. The earthquake could be felt in

Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...

and in high-rise buildings in

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

and

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

. In Mexico, the Cihuatlan-Manzanillo was the most severely affected area. At least 49 people died and 100 were injured.

Tectonic setting

This earthquake occurred in the area where the

Rivera Plate The Rivera Plate is a small tectonic plate (a microplate) located off the west coast of Mexico, just south of the Baja California Peninsula. It is bounded on the northwest by the East Pacific Rise, on the southwest by the Rivera Transform Faul ...

subducts beneath the

North American Plate The North American Plate is a tectonic plate covering most of North America, Cuba, the Bahamas, extreme northeastern Asia, and parts of Iceland and the Azores. With an area of , it is the Earth's second largest tectonic plate, behind the Pacif ...

. It was the result of the relative movements between the North American Plate, the Rivera Plate, and the

Cocos Plate The Cocos Plate is a young oceanic tectonic plate beneath the Pacific Ocean off the west coast of Central America, named for Cocos Island, which rides upon it. The Cocos Plate was created approximately 23 million years ago when the Farallon Plate ...

Damage

Although the tsunami affected a 200 km stretch of coast, severe damage was confined to areas with shallow shoreline topography. Most of the flooding occurred in the Tenacatita Bay area.

Landslides Landslides, also known as landslips, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, deep-seated slope failures, mudflows, and debris flows. Landslides occur in a variety of environments, ...

blocked roads between Guadalajara and Manzanillo. In Manzanillo, 18 people died in the collapse of an eight-story hotel.

Characteristics

Earthquake

The earthquake rupture lasted for about a minute and involved a 200 km long break along the plate boundary. The greatest displacement of the fault is about 5 m. A 14 cm subsidence occurred at Manzanillo. The variations in observed seismic intensity indicate that three asperities were ruptured during this event.

Tsunami

The tsunami had a maximum run-up height of 5.1 m. There were at least two waves recorded. The tsunami was also observed in

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...

, French Polynesia,

Samoan Islands The Samoan Islands ( sm, Motu o Sāmoa) are an archipelago covering in the central South Pacific, forming part of Polynesia and of the wider region of Oceania. Administratively, the archipelago comprises all of the Independent State of Samoa an ...

, Australia and

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

Postseismic moment release

The aftershocks of this earthquake marked a rectangular region of about 170 km by 70 km. Postseismic deformation has been recorded after the main shock. If the postseismic moment release up to about two weeks after the main shock is included, it will be equivalent to 35% of that of the main shock, which will make the additional seismic moment equivalent to that of an 7.7 earthquake.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:1995 Colima-Jalisco earthquake Megathrust earthquakes in Mexico Colima-jalisco Earthquake, 1995 1995 in Mexico 1995 tsunamis 1995 disasters in Mexico