The UNAM researchers who published the Plateros-Mixcoac fault are looking at three possible causes why this break was created.
In a press conference, Leonardo Ramírez Guzmán, Jorge Aguirre González and Moisés Contreras Ruiz Esparza, authors of the study, explained that they have three hypotheses for the reasons that created this failure.
“There are three hypotheses: the first has to do with regional tectonics, aquifer recharge. It is a very interesting proposal that is worth evaluating in which the Sierra de las Cruces is recharged at the time of the rains and generates efforts that spread and is probably the mechanism to overcome that friction that keeps the two blocks that form the system stuck together. of failures,” said Moisés Ruiz Esparza.
The researchers published this week the results of the research “The Western Seismicity Puzzle of Mexico City” in which they explain the relationship between the low magnitude earthquakes that occurred at the end of December 2023.
“What we can say is that the fault more or less begins to the west of Periférico and after Avenida Revolución, more than 300 meters to the east. This is what we can see on the surface, this is an expression of the faulting, it does not mean that it is the entire fault
“We are studying the entire area, reviewing the structural geology of the area, there are several proposals for inferred faults in the city’s risk atlas and technical publications on the subject,” said Ramírez Guzmán.
The study has not yet concluded how deep the fault is, as that remains part of the ongoing investigation. However, they explained that the epicenters are on the order of a kilometer and that would indicate that the inclination of the area would have to coincide with that depth.
“With this dip (inclination) that the fault has, we could give a rough estimate, not at this moment but later, once we locate all the earthquakes and can reduce the uncertainty of the depth,” the experts added.
The group of researchers recognized that they require logistical support to continue this analysis.
“UNAM has put its human capital into these investigations but given the magnitude of importance of this phenomenon, we require logistical support and resources to continue the investigations, both from mayors and from the local and federal government,” said Ramírez Guzmán.
The study specifies that they must determine the geometry of the Plateros-Mixcoac fault through continuous GPS monitoring of the speed with which the surface moves. With what results from this they will be able to indicate the impact it has for the area.
“For an earthquake to occur, it is required that it occur on the part of the rock where the accumulation of stress is greatest, which is why it is very important that we have corroborated not only the crack but that we have seen it with both the epicenters and the surface. This allows us to see that it is not a superficial crack or a deformation of the soil but rather the occurrence of the earthquake in the rock that is below the ground,” they added.