Item

Abstract

We study the distribution of the aftershocks of Tocopilla Mw 7.7 earthquake of 2007 November 14 in northern Chile in detail. This earthquake broke the lower part of the seismogenic zone at the southern end of the Northern Chile gap, a region that had its last megathrust earthquake in 1877. The aftershocks of Tocopilla occurred in several steps: the first day they were located along the coast inside the co-seismic rupture zone. After the second day they extended ocean-wards near the Mejillones peninsula. Finally in December they concentrated in the South near the future rupture zone of the Michilla intermediate depth earthquake of 2007 December 16. The aftershock sequence was recorded by the permanent IPOC (Integrated Plate Boundary Observatory in Chile) network and the temporary task force network installed 2 weeks after the main event. A total of 1238 events were identified and the seismic arrival times were directly read from seismograms. Initially we located these events using a single event procedure and then we relocated them using the double-difference method and a cross-correlation technique to measure time differences for clusters of aftershocks. We tested a 1-D velocity model and a 2-D one that takes into account the presence of the subducted Nazca Plate. Relocation significantly reduced the width of the aftershock distribution: in the inland area, the plate interface imaged by the aftershocks is thinner than 2 km. The two velocity models give similar results for earthquakes under the coast and a larger difference for events closer to the trench. The surface imaged by the aftershocks had a length of 160 km. It extends from 30 to 50 km depth in the northern part of the rupture zone; and between 5 and 55 km depth near the Mejillones peninsula. We observed a change in the dip angle of the subduction interface from 18° to 24° at a depth of 30 km. We propose that this change in dip is closely associated with the upper limit of the rupture zone of the main event. We also studied the focal mechanisms of the aftershocks, most of them were thrust events like the mainshock. As the aftershock activity was significantly reduced, on 2007 December 13, an ML 6.1 event occurred offshore of the Mejillones peninsula reactivating the seismicity. Three days later the Michilla intraslab earthquake of Mw 6.8 ruptured an almost vertical fault with slab-push mechanism. The aftershocks locations of this event define a planar zone about 11 km in depth, situated right bellow the subduction interface.