Deformación cortical de las Béticas Orientales mediante GPS y su relación con el terremoto de Lorca

Abstract

On May 11th of 2011, a seismic series occurred near the city of Lorca (Murcia). The main earthquake of magnitude Mw 5.2 has been attributed to the Alhama de Murcia Fault, one of the most active faults in the SE Iberian Peninsula. We analyzed 15 years GPS survey data from the CuaTeNeo network to obtain the velocity field in the area. The velocities of the stations closest to the Alhama de Murcia Fault show the reverse and strike-slip direction of motion. Stations located on the southeastern side of the fault have higher velocities between (1.4 and 1.8 mm/yr) oriented towards NNW direction, oriented obliquely to the trace of the fault. The calculated focal mechanism of Lorca earthquake matches the kinematics of the fault and the strain rate directions obtained from the CuaTeNeo network GPS measurements. Detailed analysis of the time-series from the continuous GPS station at the city Lorca allows the detection of co-seismic offset of 6 to 7 mm to the North.