Boletín de la Sociedad Geológica Mexicana

Volumen 78, núm. 2,  A160126, 2026

https://doi.org/10.18268/BSGM2026v78n2A160126   

 

Source study of the 28 January 2020 (MW 7.7) and 8 February 2025 (MW 7.6) North

Caribbean margin earthquakes

Estudio de los terremotos ocurridos del 28 de enero de 2020 (MW 7.7) y 8 de febrero de 2025

(MW 7.6) en el margen norte del Caribe

 

Quetzalcoatl Rodríguez-Pérez1,2,*, F. Ramón Zúñiga2

 

1 Secretaría de Ciencias, Humanidades, Tecnología e Innovación (SECIHTI). Avenida Insurgentes Sur 1582, Crédito Constructor, Benito Juárez, 03940, CDMX, México.

2 Instituto de Geociencias, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Blv. Juriquilla 3001, Juriquilla, 76230, Querétaro, México.

*Corresponding author: (Q. Rodríguez‑Pérez) This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

 

How to cite this article:

Rodríguez‑Pérez, Q., & Zúñiga, F. R. (2026). Source study of the 28 January 2020 (MW 7.7) and 8 February 2025 (MW 7.6) North Caribbean margin earthquakes: Boletín de la Sociedad Geológica Mexicana, 78(2), A160126. https://doi.org/10.18268/BSGM2026v78n2A160126

 

Manuscript received: June 29, 2025. Corrected manuscript received: October 22, 2025. Manuscript accepted: October 24, 2025

 

ABSTRACT

We studied the source characteristics of the 28 January 2020 (MW = 7.7) and 8 February 2025 (MW = 7.6) North Caribbean margin earthquakes. We employed two distinct methodologies to characterize the seismic source: spectral analysis and finite‑fault slip inversion. Our results suggest that the analyzed events have a regular nature in terms of apparent stress, stress drop, and radiated seismic energy. The obtained apparent stresses combined with the reported centroid time shift observations indicate that the studied earthquakes can be classified as regular events compared to other oceanic transform fault earthquakes that have been identified as slow earthquakes. Finite‑fault slip distributions exhibit complex slip patterns with very large rupture lengths, resulting in maximum displacements of 18.49 and 14.80 m for the 2020 and 2025 events, respectively. The 2020 event shows an almost unilateral rupture propagation with a rupture velocity of 2.9 km/s, while the 2025 event describes a bilateral rupture propagation with a rupture velocity of 2.5 km/s. 

Keywords: finite-fault mod- els, seismic source parame- ters, Caribbean, strike-slip earthquakes.