The Puebla–Morelos earthquake (19 September 2017) was the most damaging event in central Mexico since 1985. The seismic shaking produced hundreds of shallow landslides on the slopes of Popocatépetl Volcano. The larger landslides transformed into large debris flows that travelled for kilometers. We describe this exceptional mass wasting cascade and its predisposing factors, which have important implications for both the evolution of the volcanic edifice and hazard assessment.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, most countries put in place social interventions, aimed at restricting human mobility, which caused a decrease in the seismic noise, generated by human activities and called anthropogenic seismic noise. In densely populated eastern Sicily, we observed a decrease in the seismic noise amplitude reaching 50 %. We found similarities between the temporal patterns of seismic noise and human mobility, as quantified by mobile-phone-derived data and ship traffic data.

In this work we provide a 2D finite-element modelling of the stress field conditions around the Fuego de Colima volcano (Mexico) in order to test the response of the commercial Linear Static Analysis software to increasingly different geological constraints. Results suggest that an appropriate set of geological and geophysical data improves the mesh generation procedures and the degree of accuracy of numerical outputs, aimed at more reliable physics-based representations of the natural system.

The Mexican subduction zone along the Pacific coast is one of the most active seismic zones in the world, where every year larger-magnitude earthquakes shake huge inland cities such as Mexico City. In this work, we use TREMOL (sThochastic Rupture Earthquake ModeL) to simulate the seismicity observed in this zone. Our numerical results reinforce the hypothesis that in some subduction regions single asperities are responsible for producing the observed seismicity.

We analyzed reported oceanic earthquakes in Mexico. We used data from different agencies. By analyzing the occurrence of earthquakes, we can extract relevant information such as the level of seismic activity, the size of the earthquakes, hypocenter depths, etc. We also studied the focal mechanisms to classify the different types of earthquakes and calculated the stress in the region. The results will be useful to understand the physics of oceanic earthquakes.

Earthquake aftershocks display spatiotemporal correlations arising from their self-organized critical behavior. Stochastical models such as the fiber bundle (FBM) permit the use of an analog of the physical model that produces a statistical behavior with many similarities to real series. In this work, a new model based on FBM that includes geometrical faults systems is proposed. Our analysis focuses on aftershock statistics, and as a study case we modeled the Northridge sequence.

The Fuego de Colima volcano (Mexico) shows a complex eruptive history, with periods of rapid and slow lava dome growth punctuated by explosive activity. Here we reconstructed the 1998–2018 average discharge rate by means of satellite thermal data and the literature. Using spectral and wavelet analysis, we found a multi-term cyclic behavior that is in good agreement with numerical modeling, accounting for a variable magmatic feeding system composed of a single or double magma chamber system.

Earthquakes are the result of brittle failure within the heterogeneous crust of the Earth. In this article, we present a computer code called the stochasTic Rupture Earthquake MOdeL, TREMOL v0.1, developed to investigate the rupture process of asperities on the earthquake rupture surface. According to our results, TREMOL is able to simulate the magnitudes of real earthquakes, showing that it can be a powerful tool to deliver promising new insights into earthquake rupture processes.

The Volcán de Colima (Mexico) is commonly hit by hurricanes that form over the Pacific Ocean, triggering multiple lahars along main ravines on the volcano. Rainfall-runoff simulations were compared with the arrival time of main lahar fronts, showing that flow pulses can be correlated with rainfall peak intensity and watershed discharge, depending on the watershed area and shape. This outcome can be used to implement an early warning system based on the monitoring of a hydro-meteorological event.

We present the morphological changes experienced by Montegrande ravine (Volcán de Colima, Mexico) during the 2013, 2014 and 2015 rainy seasons. A total of 11 lahars occurred during this period of time, and their erosion/deposition effects were quantified by means of cross sections and rainfall analysis. The major factors controlling the E/D rates are the channel-bed slope, the cross-section width, the flow depth and the joint effect of sediment availability and accumulated rainfall.

On 27 May 1937, a voluminous flood caused the death of at least 300 people in the mining region of Tlalpujahua, Michoacán, central Mexico. The flood was triggered by the breaching of the impoundment of the Los Cedros tailings. The flood reached maximum speeds of ~25 m/s and deposited 1.5 x 10^6 m3 of material. The FLO-2D hydraulic model reproduced the breached flow (0.5 sediment concentration) with a maximum flow discharge of 8000 m3/sec and a total outflow volume of 2.5 x 106 m3.