REGIONAL SEISMOTECTONICS ANALYSIS AS A CONTRIBUTION TO THE STUDY OF LOCAL SEISMOGENIC SOURCES IN CALIMA RESERVOIR ZONE, VALLE DEL CAUCA, COLOMBIA

Abstract

Dams and reservoirs are engineering structures of great importance for the beneft of human population; this type of projects should strictly follow the standards and design codes. In the past three decades, have been some advances in the study of the seismic hazard of this type of structures, in particular through the formulation of earthquake resistant codes in different countries. This work is focused on the analysis of the seismotectonics characteristics, as contribution to the study of the seismic hazard, in the area of the Calima reservoir, this structure has more than 50 years of construction and constitutes an important source of power generation that provides energy to a large proportion of the population in Valle del Cauca Department. The seismicity of the area its analyzed taking recorded and located seismic events by the National Seismological “Red Sismologíca Nacional de Colombia” (RSNC), run by the “Servicio Geológico Colombiano” (SGC), in the period 1993-2011. Hypothetical models of horizontal displacements and deformations that could be generated by the faults activity located near the dams such as, Rio Bravo, Roldanillo and Dagua-Calima Faults are also generated. We also estimate the seismotectonics dislocation rate using focal mechanisms of earthquakes with magnitude (ML≥ 3.0 ) that occurred between 1995 and 2011 and the typology of  the respective faults; the Coulomb 3.3 is used for that modeling. Finally, is showed a seismotectonic model map that can be used in the future for the analysis of the hazard, vulnerability and seismic risk of the area. The agreement with some geodesic results are point out by the region.