Earthquake Source Process and Strong Ground
Motions of the 2010 Chile Mega-Earthquake
Nelson PULIDO1, Toru SEKIGUCHI2, Gaku SHOJI3 , Jorge ALBA4, Fernando
LAZARES5, and Taiki SAITO6
1Researcher, National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention(3-1 Tennodai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki, 305-0006, Japan)
E-mail:nelson@bosai.go.jp
2 Assistant Professor, Chiba University, Department of Urban Enviroment Systems(1-33 Yayoi-cho, Inage-ku, Chiba 263-8522, Japan)
E-mail: tsekiguc@faculty.chiba-u.jp
3Member of JSCE, Associate Professor, University of Tsukuba(1-1-1 Tennodai, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-8573, Japan)
E-mail: gshoji@kz.tsukuba.ac.jp
4 Professor, Universidad Nacional de Ingenieria, Peru
(Av. Tupac Amaru 1150, Lima 25, Peru)
E-mail: jalvah@terra.com.pe
4 Researcher, Universidad Nacional de Ingenieria, CISMID, Peru
(Av. Tupac Amaru 1150, Lima 25, Peru)
E-mail: f_lazares@uni.edu.pe
6Chief Research Engineer, IISEE, Building Research Institute(1 Tachihara, Tsukuba-shi, Ibaraki-ken 305-0802, Japan)
E-mail:taiki@kenken.go.jp

We report on a reconnaissance survey on the seismological and geotechnical aspects of the 27 February,
2010 Maule mega-earthquake, Chile, carried out between April 27 and May 1, 2010. The survey wassponsored by the Japan Science and Technology Agency and JICA (SATREPS). In this study we surveyed
the cities of Concepción Viña del Mar and Santiago. We also performed microtremors measurements atstrong motion stations sites that recorded the earthquake. We will give an outline of the fault rupture
process and strong motion characteristics of the earthquake.
Key Words : 2010 Chile earthquake, strong motion, source process, permanent displacement, site effects,
microtremors H/V

1. INTRODUCTION
The 2010/2/27 Maule (Chile) mega-earthquake, the fifth largest earthquake in instrumental history, waslocated in the subduction of the Nazca plate in Meridional Andes beneath the South American plate. This
earthquake fills a well studied seismic gap between the source areas of the largest ever recorded 1960 Great
Valdivia earthquake (M 9.5), and the 1985 Valparaiso earthquake (M7.8) 1). In this study we report on a reconnaissance survey on the seismological and geotechnical aspects of the 27 February, 2010 Maule
mega-earthquake, Chile, carried out between April 27 and May 1, 2010. The survey was sponsored by theJapan Science and Technology Agency and JICA (SATREPS), under the framework of a newly launched 5
years SATREPS project entitled “Enhancement of Earthquake and Tsunami Disaster Mitigation Technology inPeru” 2). In this study we surveyed the heavily damaged city of Concepción, as well as moderately damaged
cities of Viña del Mar and Santiago (Figure1). We performed microtremors measurements at strong motion
stations sites that recorded the earthquake in order to investigate their site characteristics. We also surveyed thedamage to buildings due to tsunami effects in Dichato and Talcahuano among other areas but these results arereported elsewhere3).
1

Figure 2. Intensity distribution of the Maule earthquake
based on questionnaire survey4).

Figure 1. Location of sites for field survey

2. SOURCE PROCESS OF THE MAULE EARTHQUAKEThe Maule earthquake ruptured a source area of nearly 450 km extending from southern Santiago in the
North, down to the Arauco Peninsula south of Concepción city. The intensity distribution obtained from aquestionnaire survey soon after the earthquake4), indicates that a region of nearly 350 km above the fault plane
experienced an intensity larger than 5 upper in the JMA intensity scale (Figure 2). This earthquake was aninter-plate mega-subduction event with a pure reverse mechanism, and had a seismic moment magnitude of 8.8(Figure 3). The source rupture model of this earthquake was obtained by inversion of 38 P-wave teleseismic
waveforms of the FDSN and GSN global seismic networks and using an inversion technique that incorporates
an error component in Green’s function calculation and the Akaike’s Bayesian Information Criteria (ABIC) 5).
The source process is characterized by two asperities with a peak slip of nearly 8m and a rupture area of approximately 450 by 200 km2 6). The first asperity is located at the hypocenter and the second is located approximately 170 km north-east of the hypocenter. The rupture propagated bilaterally starting slightly south ofConstitución and with an average rupture velocity of 2.6 km/s, however the main moment release was locatedtowards the North in the Pichilemu region. The source moment function has a total source duration of 130s anddisplay two sub-events separated by 50s (Figure 3). The average rake angle of this earthquake is 100 degrees
which approximately corresponds to the oblique convergence of the Nazca plate beneath the South American
plate.

3. STRONG MOTION CHARACTERISTICS
The Maule earthquake was recorded by 30 strong motion stations belonging to Universidad de Chile (Servicio Sismológico Nacional SSN, Geophysics department, 10 stations,and Red Nacional de2

Figure 3. Source model of the 2010/02/27 Maule mega-earthquake (Chile)6).

Figure 4. Source model and strong ground motion recordings of the 2010/02/27
Maule mega-earthquake (Chile)6).

acelerógrafos, RENADIC, Civil Engineering department, 20 stations). Instruments are mostly digital (21), anda large number of them is localized in Santiago (10) (Table 1). Published maximum PGA and PGV values
reached 909 cm/s at the Angol station south of Concepción, and 69 cm/s at Constitución (Table 1, Figure 4).
Strong ground motions recorded in the northern region of the source area such as Curicó, Santiago and Viña delMar display two clear sub-events separated by 15s to 30s, which is consistent with a rupture propagation velocity value of 2.6 km/s (Figure 4). Stations towards the central and southern regions of the source area such as
Constitución, Concepción and Angol do not diplay distinct sub-events, as the rupture propagation of thenorthern asperity gradually runs away from southern stations. Angol station displays the largest PGA which
3

Table 1. Strong ground motion stations that recorded the 2010/02/27 Maule mega-earthquake

Longitude

Latitude

PGA(cm/s2)PGV(cm/s)-73.1087-36.8443

637

44-70.6335-33.5691

267

25-71.0156-32.9759

184

21-70.5369-33.3961

220

29

QDR

-71.2138-33.6874

762

46

SSN
SSN2
SSN2

QDR
QDR
Makalu-71.1730-71.4108-70.3510-32.9940-33.3208-33.6440

347
322
471

28
44
63

SSN2
SSN2
RENADIC3

MakaluMakaluSMA-1-70.5308-70.6428-71.4440-33.4518-33.4405-32.5090

302
332
413

34
46
25

RENADIC3

ETNA-71.5099-33.0482

344

45

-

RENADIC3

QDR-71.5508-33.0253

327

33

-

3

SMA-1

-71.5956-33.0346

261

16

3

RENADICRENADIC3
RENADIC3

SMA-1
SMA-1
ETNA

-71.6130-71.6150-70.6617-33.0560-33.6130-33.4572

298
553
162

29
31
22

RENADIC3

SSA-2-70.6520-33.4670

303

26

RENADIC3

QDR-70.7719-33.5087

550

44

RENADIC3

QDR-70.5792-33.5006

289

29

RENADIC3

QDR-70.5811-33.5769

260

31

RENADIC3

K2-70.6060-33.5135

231

19

StationCode

Organization

CCSP

SSN2

Santiago (Campus Antumapu)

ANTU

2

SSN

Cerro El Roble

ROC1

SSN2

Santiago (Cerro Galán)

CLCH

SSN2

Melipilla

MELP

SSN2

Olmué (10 km West of El Roble)
Casablanca, Teatro municipal
San José de Maipó1

OLMU
CSCH
SJCH

2

Santiago (Colegio las Américas)
Santiago (Cerro Santa Lucía)
Papudo (V Región)1
Viña del Mar Marga-marga (VRegión)

LACH
STL
-

Viña del Mar Centro (V Región)

Station Location
Concepción-

Valparaíso UTFSM (V Región)1

Valparaíso Almendral (V Región)
Llolleo (V Región)1
Santiago FCFM RM
Santiago centro RM (Based Isolated building Comunidad Andalucia)1

Santiago Maipú RM (CRS Maipú)
Santiago Peñalolen RM (Hospital
Luis Tisne)
Santiago Puente Alto RM (Hospital Sotero del Rio)
Santiago La Florida RM (Linea 5,
Mirador)--RENADIC

Instrument
Type
ETNA
Episensor,
Earth data
Episensor,
Q330 digitizer
SSA-120SLN,
Terra Techn.

Matanzas (VI Región)-

RENADIC3

SMA-1-71.8734-33.9604

335

43

Hualañe (VII Región)
Curico (VII Región)
Talca (VII Región)-

RENADIC3
RENADIC3
RENADIC3

SMA-1
QDR
SMA-1

-71.8053-71.2364-71.6649-34.9765-34.9808-35.4299

452
461
467

39
33
33

Constitución (VII Región)
Concepción (VIII Región),
Colegio Inmaculada Concepción-

RENADIC3

SMA-1-72.4057-35.3401

627

69

-

3

RENADIC

SMA-1-73.0483-36.8281

394

68

Angol (IX Región)
Valdivia (XV Región)-

RENADIC3
RENADIC3

QDR
QDR-72.7081-73.2133-37.7947-39.8244

909
135

38
18

Notes
1
approximate station coordinates from Google Earth2
Servicio Sismológico Nacional, Universidad de Chile
3
Red Nacional de Acelerógrafos, Universidad de Chile
4
Most infomation for this table was compiled from 7,8,9,10)

4

Figure 5. Attenuation of PGA and PGV for observed strong motions Maule mega-earthquake

indicates the possibility of large slip below the Arauco peninsula (around latitude -37.5 degrees), that is not
sufficiently simulated in our current slip model. In fact a recent study indicates that the Arauco peninsula
experienced a maximum coseismic uplift of 2.5m along the coast, suggesting that the source area could havereached a latitude as far as -38 degrees11), which approximately corresponds the northern end of the 1960
Valdivia earthquake.
In Figure 5 we plotted the PGA and PGV attenuation characteristics of observed strong ground motions of
the Maule earthquake, for all the sites described in Table 1. We plot the data together with an empirical relationship of PGA and PGV for inter-plate subduction earthquakes (Mw=8.8, depth 35 km) for soil, stiff soil androck site conditions12). We may observe that all observed data falls within one sigma (+/-0.3) around thevalues for a stiff soil. This result implies that the observed peak ground motions characteristics from the Maule
earthquake can be satisfactorily explained by a typical empirical attenuation relationship for inter-plate subduction earthquakes.

4. PERMANENT DISPLACEMENT AT CONCEPCION
GPS measurements from the Maule earthquake in South America indicate a coseismic displacement to theWest as large as 3m at the CONZ station in Concepción (Figure 7). CONZ is a high sampling GPS (cGPS)
station located at the Transportable Integrated Geodetic Observatory (TIGO), which recorded in real time theMaule earthquake 13). We attempted to calculate the permanent displacement at Concepción by using a strong
motion recording of the earthquake at the CCSP station, which is closely located to the TIGO observatory. For
that purpose we double integrated and de-trended the unfiltered acceleration data. Our results show nearly 3mof permanent displacement to the West, which is in very good agreement with the results by the cGPS recording at TIGO (Figure 7). Displacement time series obtained from this strong ground motion recording arealso in close agreement with the observed cGPS from the arrival of the rupture up the static displacement value.
We also calculated the theoretical displacement time series at CONZ by using our source model of the Maule
earthquake (thick gray line in lower panel of Figure 7). For this purpose we calculated the convolution of thesource time function at every subfault with the corresponding source-site Green’s functions, and added every
subfault contribution by considering the appropiate subfault rupture time delay 6). Our simulation results show
a very good aggreement with the observed displacement time series obtained from the observed strong groundmotion and cGPS (lower panel of Figure 7). Our results show that the final dislocation value of 3m is achieved
approximately 20s after the arrival of the rupture front.

5. MICROTREMORS MEASUREMENS AT STRONG MOTION SITES

5

Figure 6. Coseismic displacements at South American GPS stations during the2010/02/27 Maule
mega-earthquake (Chile). Displacements at Concepción are as large as 3 m to the West14).

Figure 7. Strong ground motion recording of the 2010/02/27 Maule
mega-earthquake (Chile) at the Colegio San Pedro (Concepción),
strong motion site. Upper panel shows the unfiltered acceleration,
middle panel the unfiltered and de-trended velocity, and the lower
panel the calculation of the permanent displacement at this station 6).

In order to estimate the site characteristics at strong motion sites that recorded the mainshock we performed
microtremors measurements in Concepción, Viña del Mar and Santiago cities. We do not introduce results ofmeasurements in Santiago in this report as similar results were presented elsewhere15). The microtremors
measurements where performed by using a velocity sensor with predominant period of 2s and a sampling
frequency of 200 Hz. Measurement time at each site was set to 300s.
(1) Measurements at Concepción city
In Figure 8 we show the microtremors measurements sites as well as other survey sites on a microzonation
map of Concepción city16). This microzozonation is based on H/V measurements as well as other geologicaland geotechnical information. A yellow region on the map (Z-I) corresponds to H/V peaks of 1.0-1.4s. We canobserve that the dowtown area is largely characterized by a predominant peak around 1s. On the other hand in
the South-West area of downtown runs the Bio-Bio river which suggest that the soil condition in this region
might be characterized by thick alluvial deposits. We performed microtremors measurements at four sites
including two schools in down-town; Colegio inmaculada Concepción (CIG), Colegio María Inmaculada(CMI), a heavily damaged (to be demolished) 12 stories reinforced concrete building (Edificio Salas 1334,
SLS), and another school located in the opposite shore of the Bio-Bio river in a mountain footslope area
(Colegio San Pedro) (Figure 8). Our H/V measurements at CIG and SLS show a predominant peak larger than1s, and a peak of 0.7s at CMI (Figure 9). The heavy damage sustained at SLS might be related with the large
H/V peak at this site. The underground floor of the CIG building accomodates a RENADIC analogue acelerograph that recorded a PGA value of 394 cm/s2 and a PGV of 68 cm/s. This building sustained a moderate
damage and according to the shool principal an older section of the school also experienced the 1960 Valdivia
earthquake. Our H/V measurements at Colegio San Pedro where located near the CCSP strong motion station
within the school premises. This site recorded a PGA value of 637 cm/s2 and a PGV of 44 cm/s. The school isbuilt on a sandy soil area within a small valley, and the CCSP is located at the egde of the valley near a slope.
A 1 story classroom located close to the strong motion station sustained significant damage produced by
6

Figure 8. Microzonation map of Concepción city16). Survey
sites are shown within the figure

Figure 9. H/V ratios of microtremors in downtown
Concepción city

subsidence of the ground. Although H/V measurements close to the CCSP station do not show significant
peaks (Figure 9), another H/V measurement at the school ground in the middle of the valley show a clear peakaround 0.3s. This indicates that the CCSP station is located at the edge of the valley sandy soil deposits17).
(2) Measurements at Viña del Mar city
We surveyed two areas in down town Viña del Mar. The first area (VMS) is located in the southern region of
the Marga Marga river close to the RENADIC Viña del Mar Centro strong motion station (Figure 10). Our
survey indicates no building damage around this area. We also surveyed the area to the north of Marga-Margariver (VMB). In this case we found a heavy concentration of damage to medium rise apartment buildings. Our
H/V measurements at VMS indicate a clear peak around 0.4s. This site experienced a PGA value of 327 cm/s2
and a PGV of 33 cm/s respectively. On the other hand H/V measurements at VMB show a clear peak at 1s.
These measurements suggest that the site effects may have had a big contribution to the building damage at
VMB, and indicate the ground motion might have been stronger at the Nothern part of Marga-Marga rivercompared to the Southern area.

6. CONCLUSIONS
We performed a field survey of the 2010 Chile earthquake which included visits to several universities inSantiago, Concepción and Viña del Mar, as well as microtremor measurements near strong motion stations atthese cities. Near-source strong ground motions characteristics of the mainshock are largely influenced bycomplexity in source rupture process. On the other hand ground motion attenuation characteristics of thisearthquake can be satisfactorily explained with a typical empirical law for inter-plate subduction earthquakes.

7Figure10. H/V of microtremors measurements near strong motion station Viña del mar Centro[VMS], and within the building damage area [VMB] in Viña del mar

Based on a strong motion recording of the mainshock we obtained a 3m permanent displacement to the west atConcepción city, which is in very good agreement with the results obtained by a 1Hz GPS recording of the earthquake at the TIGO observatory in Concepción. Our theoretical calculations of the displacement time series at
Concepción are also in good agreement with the observed data. Our microtremors measurements and fieldsurvey indicates a clear relationship between site effects and building damage. Future research work includes
the improvement of our source model using constraints from near-source data as well as the strong motion
simulation of this earthquake.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT: We would like to thank Sergio Barrientos, Jaime Campos, Ruben Boroschek aswell as other members of Universidad de Chile, Universidad de Concepción, and Universidad de Valparaiso.
Strong motion data used in this study belongs to Servicio Sismológico Nacional, Universidad de Chile.
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