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Location:   Home » Special Events » Earthquake Swarm near Mexicali, Baja, Mexico

Earthquake Swarm near Mexicali, Baja, Mexico

Last updated: 2009-10-29 (301) 23:51:10 UTC

 

The Anza group at the University of California San Diego operates a broadband seismograph network consisting of 17 three component broadband seismograph stations centered near Anza, California (see map).

Between February 2 and March 3, 2008 we recorded an earthquake swarm comprised of approximately 225 events near Mexicali, Baja, Mexico. The border area around Calexico and Mexicali and extending south-east is a very seismically active region. The Imperial Fault Zone, Cerro Prieto Fault Zone and Sierra Cucapa faults are all very active fault zones. Mexicali Valley, the southern part of the Salton Trough, is situated at the tectonic boundary between the Pacific and North American Plates, and is thus related to the San Andreas fault system. The specific area where these events have been occurring is known as the 'Mexicali Seismic Zone'.

View the most recent map of local events near San Diego or a slightly wider regional view of events recorded by ANZA, or a map of events recorded by ANZA from around the globe.

Initial source parameters for this tremor are indicated below. The epicentral distance (i.e. the distance separating the epicenter and the closest station in the recording network) for Anza is 116 km (1.04 degrees).

Event Distribution Map

The map below shows the mainshocks as red star. Associated aftershocks are orange stars. Anza network stations are yellow triangles. Larger stars indicate a larger magnitude. The three red lines near the events represent the Imperial, Sierra Cucapa, and Cerro Prieto Faults. Click on the fault line to display the fault name.

There are 225 events plotted. Click on a star for detailed information about that particular event.

About this map
The event map utilizes Google map technology and requires JavaScript to view. For security reasons the station markers will disappear before zooming in on their location.

Event Parameters

The following table displays event parameters for the events in the map above. The mainshocks have a red background, and the associated aftershocks have an orange background. To view data for each column in ascending or descending order, click the column name. Click the column name again if you want to sort in reverse order, and sort multiple columns simultaneously by holding down the shift key and clicking a second, third or even fourth column header.

* The location and magnitude determined for this event are preliminary and are subject to change upon further review of seismic data.

3-D Visualization

Staff at the SIO Visualization Center have made a 3-D visual object of this event. Viewing the object requires downloading and installing a third-party freeware plugin.

This interactive 3-D visualization includes the location of the mainshock hypocenter (red diamond), historic earthquakes over magnitude 4 (salmon orbs), historical seismicity (~7000 yellow points), town names (orange text), primary roads (purple lines), known fault traces (brown lines), an outline of the state of California (gray lines), and seismic station telemetry paths (green lines). We include topography and bathymetry of the region where regions of high elevation are in browns and light greens and regions of lower elevations are in forest greens, on the sea floor light blue indicates higher elevations than the darker blues.

For more information, visit their webpage for this event:

• Magnitude 5.4 earthquake southeast of Calexico

Search the Internet

To search the internet for more information about this event, click on the button below:

Learn more about the Anza group (including who works here, other networks, nuclear tests in China/India/Pakistan).
Learn more about the ANZA network (includes more station information, research, etc).

Broadband Seismic Data Collection Center (ANZA), Institute of Geophysics & Planetary Physics
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California San Diego
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