Potential destructive power of earthquakes in the northern region of the Province of Mendoza, Argentina

Abstract

The Center - North of the Mendoza province, Argentina, is considered of high seismic risk. However, the earthquakes of magnitude greater than 7 degrees are infrequent. So, cataloguing the area in this way does not depend only on the magnitude. There are other characteristics that influence: the depth of the hypocenter, the duration of the principal phase, the proximity of the buildings to the geological faults, the type of ground and its possible liquefaction, are some of them. The destructive earthquake of 1861, reported by people who lived it, confirm what has been said. The magnitude Richter depends mostly on the maximum amplitude of a seismic wave and of the time difference that exists in arriving the wave "S" with respect to the wave "P". This magnitude is correlated directly with the energy released by the earthquake. The released energy is dissipated in various ways; the most quantity of this energy is dissipated in the environment of the focus and in the travel of the waves, always depending on the geological characteristics of the substrates through which they move. The type of destructive earthquake that is expected is of the impulsive type and short duration, unlike those that are of the harmonic type. The result of the work is the tracing of attenuation curves of the released energy of an earthquake upon reaching the earth's surface. The chosen parameters are those that allow determining the Potential Destructive Power of earthquakes of the impulsive type and of short duration.