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Lookup NU author(s): Dr Anne-Sophie Meriaux
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).
Linking earthquakes of moderate size to known tectonic sources is a challenge for seismic hazard studies in northwestern Europe because of overall low strain rates. Here we present a combined study of macroseismic information, tectonic observations, and seismic waveform modelling to document the largest instrumentally known event in the French northern Alps, the April 29, 1905, Chamonix earthquake. The moment magnitude of this event is estimated at Mw 5.3 ± 0.3 from records in Göttingen (Germany) and Uppsala (Sweden). The event of April 29 was followed by several afterschocks and in particular a second broadly felt earthquake on August 13, 1905. Macroseismic investigations allow us to favour a location of the epicentres 5–10 km N–NE of Chamonix. Tectonic analysis shows that potentially one amongst several faults might have been activated in 1905. Among them the right lateral strike-slip fault responsible for the recent 2005 Mw = 4.4 Vallorcine earthquake and a quasi-normal fault northeast of the Aiguilles Rouges massif are the most likely candidates. Discussion of tectonic, macroseismic, and instrumental data favour the normal fault hypothesis for the 1905 Chamonix earthquake sequence.
Author(s): Cara M, Van der Woerd J, Alasset PJ, Benjumea J, Mériaux AS
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: Swiss Journal of Geosciences
Year: 2017
Volume: 110
Issue: 2
Pages: 631-651
Print publication date: 01/06/2017
Online publication date: 02/02/2017
Acceptance date: 17/01/2017
Date deposited: 17/02/2017
ISSN (print): 1661-8726
ISSN (electronic): 1661-8734
Publisher: Springer Basel AG
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00015-017-0262-7
DOI: 10.1007/s00015-017-0262-7
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