SRL Early Edition ○E The 1563 M I 8 Puerto de la Navidad Subduction-Zone and 1567 M w 7.2 Ameca Crustal Earthquakes (Western Mexico): New Insights from Sixteenth-Century Sources by Max Suter quake within the overriding North America plate (Fig. 1) are the earliest major earthquakes in west-central Mexico known from historical sources. Based on a contemporary document, ABSTRACT the A.D. 1563 event destroyed the Pacific harbor settlement of Puerto de la Navidad (Muro, 1975; Castillo-Aja and The A.D. 1563 Puerto de la Navidad subduction-zone earth- Ramírez-Herrera, 2017). However, its damage area, source lo- quake and the A.D. 1567 Ameca crustal earthquake in the cation, and magnitude remain unknown and are topics of this Trans-Mexican volcanic belt are the earliest earthquakes in macroseismic study. As for the A.D. 1567 crustal earthquake, west-central Mexico documented in historical sources. The the parameters and location of its surface rupture can be in- 27 May 1563 earthquake destroyed the shipyards at the Pacific ferred from contemporary sources (Suter, 2015). Nevertheless, harbor settlement of Puerto de la Navidad and caused severe the exact origin date of this earthquake and the extent of its damage to structures up to ∼100 km from the coast. The mac- damage area remain open to question and are for that reason roseismic intensity distribution for the 1563 earthquake is further evaluated in this article. M practically identical to that of the 3 June 1932 s 8.2 earth- My macroseismic analyses of the A.D. 1563 and 1567 quake, which ruptured the Rivera–North America plate inter- earthquakes are based on sixteenth-century sources. An excep- face over a length of ∼220 km. This suggests that the 1563 tion is the Crónica miscelánea de la sancta provincia de Xalisco earthquake had comparable rupture location and dimensions (Tello, 1891, 1942, 1945), which was finalized in A.D. 1653, and was of comparable magnitude. about a century after these earthquakes. The Tello chronicle M : : The origin of the w 7 2 0 3 Ameca crustal earthquake can refers repeatedly to earthquakes. However, this information now be pinpointed to 28 December 1567 at dawn, relying on must be examined carefully because Tello often confused or information from sixteenth-century documents not incorpo- conflated events and chronologies (Parry, 1948; Brand, rated in previous studies. These new sources also permit defin- 1971; Murià, 2001; Altman, 2010; Regalado Pinedo and Be- ing more precisely its damage area, which in the north likely cerra Jiménez, 2016), and the two earthquakes were relatively included the region of sixteenth-century Lake Etzatlán but did close in space and time. Note that the recorded origin dates of not reach as far south as Zapotlán el Grande and Tuxpan as these two earthquakes are in the Julian calendar. The change to reported in the A.D. 1653 chronicle by Antonio Tello, who the Gregorian calendar, in which dates were advanced 10 days, partly confused the A.D. 1563 and 1567 earthquakes. occurred in the Viceroyalty of New Spain in A.D. 1582 (Feldman, 1993). Electronic Supplement: Excerpts from contemporary sources M SEISMOTECTONIC SETTING documenting the 27 May 1563 I 8 Puerto de la Navidad subduction-zone and 28 December 1567 M 7.2 Ameca w – crustal earthquakes and the translation of the excerpts into The Rivera North America plate interface has been repeatedly English. the source of major and great earthquakes (Castillo-Aja and Ramírez-Herrera, 2017). Extreme events during the twentieth M M century were the 3 June 1932 s 8.2, 18 June 1932 s 7.8 M (Singh et al., 1985) and 9 October 1995 w 8.0 (Pacheco et al., INTRODUCTION 1997) shallow thrust earthquakes (Fig. 1). On the other hand, no inslab normal-faulting events are known from the sub- An A.D. 1563 subduction-zone earthquake along the Rivera– ducted Rivera plate, whereas such ruptures have originated fre- North America plate margin and an A.D. 1567 crustal earth- quently within the subducted Cocos plate beneath central doi: 10.1785/0220180304 Seismological Research Letters Volume XX, Number XX – 2018 1 Downloaded from https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/ssa/srl/article-pdf/doi/10.1785/0220180304/4575159/srl-2018304.1.pdf by 15260 on 29 November 2018 SRL Early Edition ▴ Figure 1. Plate tectonic overview map showing the rupture areas of the 3 June 1932 (marked in blue), 18 June 1932 (yellow), and 9 October 1995 (black) subduction-zone earthquakes based on their aftershock areas. Red stars mark major historical crustal earthquakes in the overriding plate (with year of occurrence). The sources are provided in the Seismotectonic Setting section. P, Puerto de la Navidad; B, Bolaños graben; T, Tlaltenango graben; J, Juchipila graben. Mexico (e.g., Iglesias et al., 2002; Rodríguez-Pérez and Zúñiga, The overriding North America plate is characterized by 2016; Singh et al., 2018). The aftershock areas of the 1932 and active arc volcanism and active crustal extension along normal 1995 earthquakes were mostly offshore (Pacheco et al., 1997). faults bounding lake basins (Figs. 1 and 2), which are part of Their mainshocks caused tsunamis and coseismic subsidence of the extensional stress and strain regimes in the Trans-Mexican the coastal area (Castillo-Aja and Ramírez-Herrera, 2017; Cas- volcanic belt and the southern Basin and Range Province tillo-Aja et al., 2019). (Suter, 1991). Besides the A.D. 1567 Ameca earthquake under Subduction of the Rivera plate along the Middle America study, major historical crustal earthquakes in the overriding trench (Fig. 1) is associated with counterclockwise rotation of plate (Fig. 1) also occurred (in chronological order) in A.D. the Rivera–North America relative motion, with the pole of 1622 near the northernmost part of the Juchipila graben rotation located off the southern tip of Baja California (Bandy (de la Mota Padilla, 1870); in A.D. 1749 in the Sayula et al., 2000). As a result, the Rivera subduction is the fastest at half-graben (García Acosta and Suárez Reynoso, 1996); in its southern margin at a rate of 38 4mm=yr but becomes A.D. 1774, causing moderate-to-severe damage in several progressively slower and right-laterally oblique farther north- communities of the Bolaños graben and moderate damage west (DeMets and Wilson, 1997), where the Middle America to communities in the Tlaltenango graben (my unpublished trench ends at the Tres Marías escarpment (Dañobeitia et al., data); in A.D. 1847 on the northern shoulder of the Chapala 2016; Fig. 1). This explains the concentration of the major graben (Suter, 2018); and in A.D. 1875 in the southernmost twentieth-century earthquake ruptures on the southeastern part of the Juchipila graben (Iglesias et al., 1877). part of the plate interface, whereas the seismicity decreases far- ther northwest in both frequency and magnitude (Jaramillo HISTORICAL CONTEXT and Suárez, 2011). The 38 4mm=yr convergence rate and a coseismic slip of about 2 m over a large part of the rup- The novohispanic harbor of Puerto de la Navidad (now Barra M ture area in the 9 October 1995 w 8.0 earthquake (Hjörleifs- de Navidad) (Figs. 1 and 2), devastated by the 27 May 1563 dóttir et al., 2018) suggests an average recurrence interval of earthquake under study, was of much importance during the ∼50 yr for great earthquakes along the southern margin of mid-sixteenth century. In A.D. 1540, Antonio de Mendoza y the Rivera–North America plate interface under the Pacheco, viceroy of New Spain, landed at Puerto de la Navidad assumption that the plates are fully coupled. to install shipyards there for maritime ventures; in A.D. 1552, 2 Seismological Research Letters Volume XX, Number XX – 2018 Downloaded from https://pubs.geoscienceworld.org/ssa/srl/article-pdf/doi/10.1785/0220180304/4575159/srl-2018304.1.pdf by 15260 on 29 November 2018 SRL Early Edition ▴ Figure 2. Macroseismic map showing the spatial distribution of intensity levels for the A.D. 1563 Puerto de la Navidad subduction-zone earthquake (diamonds) and the A.D. 1567 crustal Ameca earthquake (squares). Orange squares indicate an intensity of degree VIII and red squares an intensity of degree IX. Heavy red lines mark interpreted trace of the A.D. 1567 surface rupture. Thin red lines show traces of normal faults with neotectonic activity (late Miocene and younger). Triangles mark active volcanoes. he traveled from this same harbor to his new assignment in return voyage (tornaviaje), which was the beginning of trade Peru (Altman, 2010). A Trans-Pacific expedition sailed in between New Spain and Asia. Whereas the earlier expeditions A.D. 1542 from Puerto de la Navidad and reached the Phil- had failed to return against the North Equatorial current, ippines but was not able to establish permanent settlements Urdaneta sailed north with the Kuroshio current and then there nor was able to return to New Spain (Boncan, 2017). back east with the North Pacific current to reach the California The next voyage to the Philippines from New Spain was coast, along which he returned to Puerto de la Navidad the A.D. 1564–1565 expedition by Miguel López de Legazpi (León-Portilla, 1989). The shipyards at Puerto de la Navidad and Andrés de Urdaneta (Rubio Mañé, 1964, 1970; Muro, were closed down in A.D. 1564 immediately after the depar- 1975), who led approximately 200 participants in five boats. ture of the Legazpi-Urdaneta expedition, possibly partly The 7-yr ship construction and preparation of this expedition because of their damage in the 27 May 1563 earthquake at Puerto de la Navidad was interrupted by the 27 May 1563 (Olveda, 2017), and ship construction and maritime activities earthquake.