Supplementary Files
Keywords
1991 Costa Rica Earthquake and Tsunami
Tsunami Questionnaire
Field Records and Observations
Limón
Bocas del Toro
tsunamis del Caribe
terremoto y tsunami de Costa Rica de 1991
cuestionario de tsunami
registros y observaciones de campo
Limón
Bocas del Toro
How to Cite
Abstract
A small tsunami (tsunami magnitude, m ~ 1) was observed following the 22 April 1991 Mw 7.7 Limón, Costa Rica earthquake along the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica and Panama. This report summarizes eyewitness observations from 26 sites along 150 km of affected coast from Rio Matina, Costa Rica to Bocas del Toro, Northwestern Panama, as well as tide gauge recordings from Panama, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. No emergency warnings were issued before the tsunami occurred. While little or no tsunami-related property damage was reported, two or more drownings were attributed to the tsunami. The maximum runup/wave height was reported to be 2 to 3 m, and inundation and coastal flooding extended up to 100 m inland in some locations. Both coseismic coastal uplift and the presence of fringing offshore reefs appear to have provided protection against major runup effects in some coastal areas. Elsewhere, runup effects were amplified at river mouths due to differential compaction of unconsolidated sediments. Widespread tsunami sand deposition near the Costa Rica-Panama border in 1991 is similar to deposition associated with the 7 May 1822 earthquake and tsunami.
References
Adamek, S., Frohlich, C. & Pennington, W.D. (1988). Seismicity of the Caribbean-Nazca Boundary: constraints on microplate tectonics of the Panama region, Journal of Geophysical Research, 93, 2053-2075.
Alvarado, G. E., Benito, B., Staller, A., Climent, Á., Camacho, E., Rojas, W., Marroquín, G., Molina, E., Talavera, J.E., Martínez-Cuevas, S. & Lindholm, C. (2017). The new Central American seismic hazard zonation: Mutual consensus based on up to day seismotectonic framework, Tectonophysics, 721, 462–476. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tecto.2017.10.013
Camacho, E. (1994). El tsunami del 22 de Abril de 1991 en Bocas del Toro, Panama, Revista Geólogica de América Central, Special Volume: The Limón Earthquake, April 22, 61-64.
Camacho, E. & Víquez, V. (1994). Licuefacción y hundimientos costeros en el noroeste de Panamá durante el Terremoto de Limón. Revista Geólogica de América Central, Special Volume: The Limón Earthquake, April 22, 133-138.
Camacho, E., & Víquez, V. (1993). Historical seismicity of the North Panama deformed belt, Revista Geólogica de América Central, 15, 49-64.
Denyer, P., Personius, S. F. & Arias, O. (1994). Generalidades sobre los effectos geologicos del terremoto de Limón, Revista Geólogica de América Central, Volumen Especial: Terremoto de Limón, 22, 29-38.
Duda, S. K., Khattri, N., Purcaru, G. & Schick, R. (1990). Weichert seismograms of the Gottingen Observatory – microfilming and reinterpretation, Gerlands Beitr. Geophysik, 99, 313-336.
GEBCO Compilation Group 2020 (2020). The GEBCO_2020 Grid - a continuous terrain model of the global oceans and land. British Oceanographic Data Centre, National Oceanography Centre, NERC. doi:10/dtg3
González-Víquez, C. (1910). Temblores, terremotos, inundaciones y erupciones volcánicas en Costa Rica 1608-1910.Tipografia de Avelino Alsina.
Earthquake Engineering Research Institute [EERI] (1991). Costa Rica earthquake of April 22, 1991 Reconnaissance Report, Earthquake Spectra, 7 (Suppl. B), 1-127.
Iida, K. (1970). The generation of tsunamis and the focal mechanism of earthquakes. In W. M. Adams (Ed.), Tsunamis in the Pacific Ocean (pp. 3-18). East-West Center Press.
Iida, K., Cox, D. C. & Pararas-Carayannis, G. (1967). Preliminary catalog of tsunamis occurring in the Pacific Ocean, Data Rep. 5, HIG-67-10. Hawaii Institute of Geophysics, University of Hawaii.
Mendoza, C. & Nishenko, S. (1989). The North Panama earthquake of 7 September 1882: evidence for active underthrusting. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 79, 1264-1269.
National Geophysical Data Center / World Data Service (NGDC/WDS) (2021). Global Historical Tsunami Database. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information. doi: 10.7289/V5PN93H7
Nishenko, S. P. (1987). A questionnaire for rapid tsunami damage assessment. In E. N. Bernard (Ed.), Proceedings of the International Tsunami Symposium, IUGG, August 18 to 19, 1987 (pp. 36-48). NOAA/PMEL Contribution 1041, U.S. Dept. of Commerce.
Nishenko, S. P., Camacho, E., Astorga, A., Morales, L. D. & Preuss, J. (1994). The 1991 Limon, Costa Rica tsunami. Unpublished manuscript.
O’Loughlin, K. F. & Lander, J. F. (2003). Caribbean Tsunamis: A 500-Year History from 1498-1998. Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Plafker, G. & Ward, S. (1992). Backarc thrust faulting and tectonic uplift along the Caribbean Sea coast during the April 22, 1991 Costa Rica earthquake. Tectonics, 11, 709-718.
Preuss, J. (1994). Field Report: Investigation of the September 2, 1992 Nicaragua tsunami. University of Colorado Boulder, Institute of Behavioral Sciences, Natural Hazards Research and Applications Information Center, Quick Response Research Report 66, Boulder, CO 16 pp.
Preuss, J. & Nishenko, S.P. (1992). The National Earthquake Information Center Tsunami Questionnaire. EOS (Transactions, American Geophysical Union), 73, 267.
Protti, M. & Schwartz, S. Y. (1994). Mechanics of back arc deformation in Costa Rica: Evidence from an aftershock study of the April 22, 1991, Valle de la Estrella, Costa Rica, earthquake (Mw=7.7). Tectonics, 13(5), 1093–1107. https://doi.org/10.1029/94TC01319
Reid, H. F. (1917). Note on the earthquake at Almirante, Republic of Panama, in April 1916. Bulletin of the Seismological Society of America, 7, 27-30.
Roberts, O. W. & Irving, E. (1827). Narratives of voyages and excursions on the east coast and in the interior of Central America; describing a journey up the river San Juan, and passage across the lake of Nicaragua to the city of Leon: pointing out the advantages of a direct commercial intercourse with the natives. Constable & Co.
Silver, E. A., Reed, D. L., Tagudin, J. E. & Heil, D. J. (1990). Implications of the North and South Panama Thrust Belt for the origin of the Panama Orocline, Tectonics, 9, 261-281.
Suárez, G., Pardo, M., Domínguez, J., Ponce, L., Montero, W., Boschini, I. & Rojas, W. (1995). The Limón, Costa Rica earthquake of April 22, 1991: Back arc thrusting and collisional tectonics in a subduction environment. Tectonics, 14, 518-530.
Víquez, V. & Toral, J. (1986). Sismicidad historica sentida en el Istmo de Panama. Geofisica, 27, 135-165.