Abstract
The Munébrega Plio-Quaternary half-graben is a NW-SE trending neotectonic depression located in the central sector of the intraplate Iberian Range (NE Spain). The master fault of the half-graben offsets an Upper Pleistocene pediment deposit, forming an upslope-facing scarp. A trench dug across the fault scarp exposed a 25-m wide deformation zone consisting of graben and horst fault blocks with fissures in the upper part of the scarp, and a monoclinal flexure affected by normal and reverse faults in the lower part of the scarp. We infer a minimum of three faulting events over the past 72 ka, yielding an average (maximum) recurrence interval of 24 ka. The oldest event (72–41 ka) produced an antislope scarp on the relict pediment surface, confining deposition to the downthrown block. Cross-cutting faults affecting sedimentary units deposited in the sediment trap produced by the first event provide evidence for at least two younger events (33–19? ka). The measured cumulative vertical displacement (7.4 m) yield a minimum vertical slip rate of 0.10 ± 0.01 mm/year (2σ error) for the past 72 ka. If the paleoearthquakes ruptured the whole mappable length of the fault (ca. 20 km), they probably had moment magnitudes ca. 6.9 (Stirling et al. Bull Seismol Soc Am, 2002). Such earthquakes would have been more than a magnitude unit larger than the largest ones recorded historically in the Iberian Range. These results suggest that the official seismic hazard assessments, based solely on the historic and instrumental record, may underestimate the seismic hazard in the area.
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Acknowledgments
The authors are very grateful to Mr. Santiago Galve for giving permission to dig the trench in his property, and to Dr. Juan Herrero for hel** in the interpretation of the soil horizons exposed in the trench walls. Excellent and thorough reviews by Dr. Kris Vanneste and Dr. José J. Martínez-Díaz substantially improved the original version of the manuscript. FG forms part of the consolidated research group “Geomorphology and Global Change-E68” of the Aragón Government. This work has been co-financed by the Spanish Education and Science Ministry and the FEDER (project CGL2007–60766) as well as by the Aragón Government (PM008/2007).
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Gutiérrez, F., Masana, E., González, Á. et al. Late Quaternary paleoseismic evidence on the Munébrega half-graben fault (Iberian Range, Spain). Int J Earth Sci (Geol Rundsch) 98, 1691–1703 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-008-0319-y
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00531-008-0319-y