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

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with a

moment magnitude The moment magnitude scale (MMS; denoted explicitly with or Mwg, 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. was defined in a 1979 paper ...

of 8.0 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of VIII (''Severe''). The shock occurred off the coast of

Jalisco Jalisco, officially the Free and Sovereign State of Jalisco, is one of the 31 states which, along with Mexico City, comprise the 32 Political divisions of Mexico, Federal Entities of Mexico. It is located in western Mexico and is bordered by s ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, where a

tsunami A tsunami ( ; from , ) 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 underwater explosions (including detonations, ...

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

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

and in high-rise buildings in

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and

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

. 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 Fa ...

subducts Subduction is a geological process in which the oceanic lithosphere and some continental lithosphere is recycled into the Earth's mantle at the convergent boundaries between tectonic plates. Where one tectonic plate converges with a second pla ...

beneath the North American plate. It was the result of the relative movements between the North American plate, the Rivera plate, and the Cocos 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, rockslips or rockslides, are several forms of mass wasting that may include a wide range of ground movements, such as rockfalls, mudflows, shallow or deep-seated slope failures and debris flows. Landslide ...

blocked roads between

Guadalajara Guadalajara ( ; ) is the capital and the most populous city in the western Mexican List of states of Mexico, state of Jalisco, as well as the most densely populated municipality in Jalisco. According to the 2020 census, the city has a population ...

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, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

French Polynesia French Polynesia ( ; ; ) is an overseas collectivity of France and its sole #Governance, overseas country. It comprises 121 geographically dispersed islands and atolls stretching over more than in the Pacific Ocean, South Pacific Ocean. The t ...

Samoan Islands The Samoan Islands () are an archipelago covering in the central Pacific Ocean, South Pacific, forming part of Polynesia and of the wider region of Oceania. Political geography, Administratively, the archipelago comprises all of the Samoa, Indep ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

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 1990s tsunamis 1995 disasters in Mexico