1 SUMMARYOF PRINCIPAL SEISMOGENICSOURCES OF GUATEMALA

The Republic of Guatemala is located in a region where three tectonic platescoincide with each other, those are: the Cocos, Caribbean and North Americanplates.

The main seismic sources (see Figure 1) at the tectonic plate limits arethe subduction zone (interaction between the Cocos and Caribbean plates) andthe great north faults (associated with the limits of the North American andCaribbean plates): Motagua, Chixoy-Polochic and Jocotan-Chamelecon.

On the other hand, inside the Caribbean plate can be found the VolcanicArch associated with the subduction zone, as well as a serie of local faults (e.g.Jalpatagua, Santa Catarina Pinula and Mixco), plus some graben systems (e.g.Guatemala City and Ipala). On average, betwen 65-70 % of the local seismicityis asociated with the subduction zone, another 15-20 % is more closely relatedto the Altiplano faults and the remaining 5-10 % with the great north faults.

Throughout Guatemala’s history, these three main sources of seismicityhave sparked many different important seismic events, e.g. 1918-01-25 Ms 6.2(Guatemala City graben), 1976-02-04 Ms 7.5 (Motagua fault) and 2012-11-07Mw 7.4 (subduction zone). Thus, it becomes evident just how important is tokeep constant watch over all three seismogenic regions.

2 STAFF OF SEISMOLOGY DEPARTMENTOF INSIVUMEH

Name ocupationPorras Ardon, Oscar F. department’s head, geophysics, informaticsYani Quiyuch, Robin O. seismic monitoring, strong motion, researchBautista, Luis A. seismic monitoring, researchCastellanos Dieguez, Pablo R. seismic monitoring, informatics, researchAlvarado Sosa, Rodolfo seismic monitoring, GIS, researchArriola, Luis A. seismic monitoring, informaticsValdez Dell, Francisco seismic monitoring, GIStechnician 1 electronicstechnician 2 electronics

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