Abstract

We have relocated 1658 earthquakes whichoccurred in Costa Rica, and its vicinity. Theserelocated earthquakes were then used to investigatethe stress and orientation of fault planes within thestudy area. The analysis was made using the polaritiesof first motion P-waves. We found that the subductionzone for Costa Rica is mainly characterized by thrustfaulting, with some areas also exhibiting a componentof strike-slip motion. The intraplate Caribbeanseismicity in central Costa Rica shows a predominantshallow left-lateral strike-slip faulting. In southernCosta Rica, the subduction of very young oceaniclithosphere beneath the Caribbean plate (i.e. PanamaBlock), enhanced by the collision and subduction ofthe Cocos Ridge, has produced a highly compressivestress regime. This highly compressive regime ischaracterized by strike-slip faults oriented in aNE-SW direction, extending all the way from thePacific margin into the back-arc, connecting with theNorth Panama Deformed Belt.

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