(Mexico City) Mexican scientists have confirmed the existence of a seismic fault under a densely urbanized area in western Mexico City, after studying the origin of several earthquakes that occurred in the capital between December and January.
The existence of this crack, called the “Plateros-Mixcoac fault, had already been put forward in academic conversations and is even suggested in the risk map of Mexico City, but had never been confirmed,” indicates a study from the Engineering Institute of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) published Thursday.
The authors of this study had installed portable stations which allowed an “unprecedented analysis” of seismic activity in the western area of the capital.
Scientists located the epicenters of the earthquakes recorded in December and January, and found differences with previous estimates from the National Seismological Service.
“We were surprised to find a crack just over a kilometer long that runs almost continuously through the Mixcoac area,” a middle-class neighborhood crossed by large avenues and home to residential and commercial areas.
The UNAM study was launched after 23 “micro-earthquakes” felt mainly in western Mexico City between December 3 and January 10, with magnitudes ranging from 1.1 to 3.2 degrees. and depths less than 1.4 kilometers.
“The dimensions and potential of the Plateros-Mixcoac fault” are still being studied, the report indicates.
“The impact it may have on construction has not been quantified and the estimates used in the region [pour la construction] did not take into account the existence of the flaw,” emphasize the experts.
Mexico is located between five tectonic plates whose movements make it one of the most seismically active countries in the world, particularly along the Pacific coast, from the border with Guatemala to the state of Jalisco (west).