Insights on the small tsunami from January 28, 2020, Caribbean Sea MW7.7 earthquake by numerical simulation and spectral analysis

Zhiguo Xu (), Lining Sun, Mohd Nashriq Abd Rahman, Shanshan Liang, Jianyu Shi and Hongwei Li
Additional contact information
Zhiguo Xu: National Marine Environmental Forecasting Center
Lining Sun: National Marine Environmental Forecasting Center
Mohd Nashriq Abd Rahman: Malaysian Meteorological Department
Shanshan Liang: China Earthquake Networks Center
Jianyu Shi: National Marine Environmental Forecasting Center
Hongwei Li: National Marine Environmental Forecasting Center

Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, 2022, vol. 111, issue 3, No 23, 2703-2719

Abstract: Abstract A major left-lateral strike-slip Mw7.7 earthquake occurred in the vicinity of the Caribbean Sea on January 28, 2020. As a result, a small-scale tsunami was generated. The properties of the seismogenic source were described using observational data gathered for the earthquake and tsunami, as well as information on the regional tectonic setting. The tsunami was simulated with the COMCOT model and Okada’s dislocation model from finite fault solutions for MW7.7 Caribbean Sea earthquakes published by the United States Geological Survey. The simulation results were compared to tide gauge records to validate whether the seafloor’s vertical displacement generated by the strike-slip fault caused a small-scale tsunami. We conducted a spectral analysis of the tsunami to better understand the characteristics of tsunami records. The tsunami simulation results showed that the co-seismic vertical displacement caused by a strike-slip MW7.7 earthquake could have contributed to the small-scale tsunami, but the anomalously large high-frequency tsunami waves recorded by the George Town tide gauge 11 min after the earthquake were unrelated to the earthquake-generated tsunami. According to the spectrum analysis, the predominant period of noticeable high-frequency tsunami waves recorded by the George Town tide gauge occurred only two minutes after the earthquake. This indicates that the source of the small-scale tsunami was close to the George Town station and the possible tsunami source was 150 km away from George Town station. These facts suggest that a submarine landslide was caused by the strike-slip earthquake. The comprehensive analysis showed that the small-scale tsunami was not caused solely by co-seismic seafloor deformation from the strike-slip event but that an earthquake-triggered submarine landslide was the primary cause. Therefore, the combined impact of two sources led to the small-scale tsunami.

Keywords: 2020 Caribbean Sea earthquake; Strike-slip fault; Tsunami; Numerical simulation; Spectral analysis; Submarine landslide (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s11069-021-05154-1 Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:nathaz:v:111:y:2022:i:3:d:10.1007_s11069-021-05154-1

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/11069

DOI: 10.1007/s11069-021-05154-1

Access Statistics for this article

Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards is currently edited by Thomas Glade, Tad S. Murty and Vladimír Schenk

More articles in Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards from Springer, International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().